Page 85 of The Duke Who Loved Me (The Duke's Estates 1)

It was true.

“I won’t leave you to be…swarmed by them.” She smiled at her feeble jest.

Must she be? Cecelia had faced down the gossips before the play. She’d shown them she wasn’t cowed. She’d cut the prince in public. She had nothing more to say to thetonand much to ponder. “I believe I will tell the servants that we are not in to visitors today.”

“Really?” Her aunt looked absurdly hopeful.

“Really.”

Cecelia went down the stairs to give the order and encountered Sarah, Charlotte, and Harriet, arriving at the earliest possible moment for a morning call. Cecelia beckoned to them before telling the footman to admit no one else.

“Oh, Cecelia,” said Sarah when they’d settled in the drawing room. “Such a furor. We had to come. We said we were going walking in the park.”

“You shouldn’t visit here secretly,” Cecelia replied. “I don’t want to cause trouble in your families.” The idea was mortifying on a number of levels.

“We don’t care!” replied Charlotte Deeping.

Harriet Finch’s expression suggested to Cecelia that this wasn’t true for all.

“Ada was sorry not to join us,” Charlotte added. “She is arguing with her mother about bride clothes today.”

“Still! With the wedding only two days away,” said Sarah, shaking her head.

“Ada wants garments suitable for restoring a moldering castle,” said Charlotte. “Her mother is partial to delicate gauze and lace.”

“Peter made the mistake of getting between them,” said Harriet dryly. “Social skills not being part of his…charm.”

“Who is Peter?” asked Aunt Valeria, looking interested for the first time since their visitors arrived.

“Ada’s future husband.”

“A groom should never intervene in wedding plans,” said Aunt Valeria, as if it was an adage she’d heard and committed to memory with no expectation of ever needing herself.

“I believe he has learned that,” replied Harriet.

Sarah leaned forward. “But Cecelia, the play last night! How I wish I had been there.”

“It was too bad of you not to warn us so that we could observe,” said Charlotte.

“It wasn’t planned,” said Cecelia. “It was more of a spontaneous…”

“Combustion?” finished Harriet.

Cecelia had to smile. “Of a sort.”

“Prince Karl must be dreadfully angry,” said Sarah.

“Well, I am extremely angry athim,” said Cecelia. “Should my anger matter any less?”

She received three surprised looks and a frown from her aunt.

“Do you remember those jokes we made?” Cecelia continued. “Young men gamble, young ladies amble. Young men drink, young ladies shrink. Why should it be so?”

“It’s not a case ofshould,” said Harriet. “But rather ofis.”

“Unless one wishes to be…” Sarah broke off self-consciously.

“Gossiped about?” replied Cecelia. “Criticized, even ostracized?”

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