Page 30 of Tempting Harriet
He took her hand from his shoulder as he got to his feet and kissed it before laying it on his arm. “I just hope,Grandmama,” he said, smiling down at her, “that my wifehas the good sense to present me with a son the first timeand does not make him follow along behind two or threedaughters.”
She held herself very straight. “The duchesses of our line have always known their duty, Tenby,” she said. “There isnot a one of us for almost a century who has not produced ason first, and within a year of marriage. It is all in thebreeding. Choose a bride of the right breeding and this timenext year it will be the christening of the heir to Tenby wewill be planning instead of a dinner.”
“Eh?” Lady Sophia asked as they drew close.
Chapter 10
It was with great trepidation that Harriet stepped down from Sir Clive’s carriage outside the mansion on St.James’s Square the following Monday evening. She hadlooked hopefully at Lady Forbes’s pile of letters on Fridaywhen her own invitation had come, but there was no matching one there. She alone was being invited to dinner and tospend the evening.
Her first instinct had been to refuse. If he had been angry with her for going there to tea, he would be furious if sheturned up for dinner, doubtless with other guests. But hemust know about the dinner and he must know the guestlist. The invitation was in his name and the duchess’s. Besides, her unexpected burst of anger when he had accusedher of impropriety had reminded her that she was not unrespectable bytonstandards. There was no reason at all torefuse the invitation.
She did not want to go. She would rather do anything else than go. And yet she would not allow him to make herfeel inferior. Besides, she knew why she had been invited.An event like a formal dinner and party was a sore trial toLady Sophia Davenport, who so much enjoyed companybut whose deafness cut off her pleasure in it. Harriet hadbeen invited as her companion. She was not offended. Indeed, she was pleased. She would not have to join the company feeling conspicuously alone.
And yet she felt trepidation as she stepped down from the carriage. She had been awed by the size and magnificenceof the mansion the first time she had been there. She hadthought then that it was more like a palace than a privatehome. This time, knowing that it was his, she had to fightagainst that sense of inferiority she was determined not to feel. But it did seem indeed that he came from a differentworld from hers.
They had met during the afternoon and said not a word about the evening. She had not asked him why she hadbeen invited. He had not asked her why she had accepted.She did not want to think about the afternoon. Not now.Not until she was home again and alone. It had been toodisturbing.
The grand hall was lined at intervals with footmen splendidly liveried in pale blue and white, all wearing snowy white wigs. One servant—the butler, perhaps, or a steward—bowed low to her, clicked his fingers to a footman,who took her wrap, and escorted her upstairs past large andancient portraits, doubtless of Vinney ancestors, to thedrawing room, where he announced her in a voice whoserich tones must have reached to the farthest corners of theroom. Harriet wished fervently for Amanda and Clive’spresence. Or Godfrey’s.
The Duchess of Tenby, regal in purple and nodding plumes, swept toward her. “My dear Lady Wingham,” shesaid, one hand graciously extended, “how gratifying thatyou were able to attend at such short notice. What a delightful shade of pink.” She glanced down at the silk gownof deep rose-pink that Harriet was wearing for the firsttime.
Harriet curtsied. “Your grace,” she murmured.
The room behind the duchess seemed filled with people. But Harriet saw only one of them. He was walking towardher, looking quite magnificently handsome in burgundy andsilver and white.
“Lady Wingham,” he said, taking her hand, bowing over it, and raising her fingertips to his lips. “I am happy to seeyou again, ma’am. I hope I see you well?”
“Thank you, your grace.” She curtsied again.
He had held her hand in the carriage during the afternoon, and talked to her the whole way on a variety of topics. It was the first time they had not traveled in near silence. They had been silent on the return journey, but ithad been a comfortable silence, and he had held her handagain. He looked at her now with a polite expression and blank eyes.
“You will see to it that Lady Wingham has a drink, Tenby,” the duchess said. “I do believe Sophie is eagerlyawaiting her arrival.”
Harriet smiled. She had not mistaken, then. She took the duke's arm and was borne off to where Lady Sophia wassitting talking with the Earl and Countess of Barthorpe.They smiled rather gratefully at the interruption and movedoff.
“Ah, my dear Lady Wingham,” Lady Sophia said, indicating by the movement of her hands that she expected to be kissed. “Looking as fresh as a rosebud in June. Andtwice as lovely. Wouldn’t you agree, Archibald?”
“I could hardly have put it better, Aunt,” he said. “I shall fetch you a glass of sherry, Lady Wingham.”
Harriet bent over the old lady and kissed her heavily rouged cheek before sitting down close to her. “Thank you,ma'am,” she said quietly, making sure that she enunciatedher words clearly and that Lady Sophia could see her lips.“It is the color Godfrey always liked me to wear.”
“Everyone else here tonight is whispering,” Lady Sophiasaid irritably. “I told Sadie and Archibald in no uncertainterms that I would not attend if I could not have my littlepet here to bear me company. You shall tell me all the gossip that you hear at the table, and you will tell me all thatyou have been doing in the past week and how many slainbucks you have left in your wake. Ah, it does my heartgood to see your pretty, smiling face, child.”
“Fourteen,” Harriet said with a laugh. “Fourteen slain bucks, ma’am, if one discounts the Prince of Wales.”
The old lady barked with laughter, drawing to herself not inconsiderable attention. The Duke of Tenby handed aglass to Harriet.
“That must have been too rich a joke not to be shared,” he said.
“My little pet here has stolen the hearts of fifteen young bucks in the past week, including Prinny’s!” Lady Sophiaroared. “Ah, if I were only fifty or sixty years younger,child. We would make a team such as the ton has never seen before.”
Harriet’s cheeks flamed scarlet. She did not look up to note the duke’s expression—or anyone else’s.
“One must be careful, then,” he said softly, “to stay away from Lady Wingham unless one wishes to leave one’s heartbehind.”
“Eh?” Lady Sophia asked “What did he say, my pet?”
Harriet, still feeling uncomfortably hot, related his words just as softly, and the old lady chuckled.
