Page 86 of The Duke Who Loved Me (The Duke's Estates 1)

“Well, yes,” said Sarah. “I find malice very hard to bear.”

“Who does not?” answered Cecelia. “That is what they count on. But if one…” Her voice trailed off.

“Cecelia,” said Aunt Valeria.

They were all looking at her with varying degrees of concern, Cecelia saw. “Don’t worry, I shall think before I act.”

“Act how?” asked Charlotte.

“I’m not completely certain. Yet.”

There were sounds below and a moment later, James strolled into the drawing room, every inch the handsomest man in London. He stopped and surveyed the company. “A footman keep me out? Really, Cecelia?”

The three young callers broke into a round of applause.

James looked startled, then acknowledged their reaction with a smile and a bow.

“The cut direct,” said Charlotte. “Delivered with great style, it seems.”

“Indeed,” he said. “And this morning I am here to take the consequences.”

“Consequences?” echoed Cecelia.

“The onslaught of hideous harpies,” James replied. “The morning callers ravenous for scandal. Present company excepted, of course.” He turned to Cecelia. “You didn’t think I would leave you to face them alone?”

The look in his eyes made Cecelia’s heart pound. The idea that had sprouted in her mind produced branches.

“We can plot strategy in the intervals of routing the enemy,” he added.

“I have decided not to receive visitors today,” she said. “Any more visitors, that is.”

“Ah.” James looked thoughtful. “Thus my…discussion with your footman. Do you think that wise?”

“I don’t care. Let them wonder.”

“Our adversary is unlikely to be silent,” James said.

“The prince? What can he do? Whine that we turned our backs on him?”

“He does seem rather more…resourceful than that.”

“He’s already done his worst,” said Cecelia. She felt somehow certain of that. He’d expected to frighten and cow her. He was a bully unused to opposition, and he’d gotten far more than he’d imagined.

“It seems I have no reason to stay then.” James waited, but Cecelia didn’t protest. She needed to speak to him. But it must be alone, and Aunt Valeria had begun making that difficult. He acknowledged all of them with another bow and took his leave. Had he looked regretful? She thought so. She’d discover the truth soon.

“You sound so confident,” said Charlotte.

“Do I?” Cecelia looked at her three younger friends. She so appreciated their steadfast support. “You should go,” she told them. “You shouldn’t call here when you’ve been forbidden.”

“We want to help!” said Sarah.

“If we can,” added Harriet.

“I shall help myself,” said Cecelia, her mind suddenly made up.

Sixteen

“A footman brought this note,” Ned said to James, making a small, rather elegant obeisance as he held out a folded sheet of paper. James received the page appreciatively. Despite his youth, Ned had settled into Hobbs’s position and small chamber with enthusiasm. He had examined James’s entire wardrobe with great pleasure and absorbed information about the latest men’s fashions. He watched and learned bits of polite behavior and observed every move James made like a scholar presented with original sources. Given what seemed to James an absurdly small sum, Ned had outfitted himself in a decent coat, shirt and breeches from some mysterious source of used clothing. Handed one of James’s neckcloths for his own, he’d achieved a creditable waterfall style on the second try, and his hair had been brushed into something resembling a Brutus. Roughly. Even his way of speaking had begun to shift. He was a remarkable mimic. Clearly, with just a bit of help, Ned was going far.

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