“Have I been so transparent?”
Sir Charles grinned. “I know you, Nick … and I fancy I know Babs. You two were an inevitable match … Lord help you both.”
“Do I take that for approval or warning?” The duke grinned.
“Both, because if I couldn’t have her a
s wife, might as well have her as a cousin.”
“Well, you shan’t have her for either if we don’t conclude our business in London quickly.”
“Why?” Sir Charles’ eyes narrowed.
“The lady in question has been persuaded to accept Sir Edward’s suit,” said the duke grimly.
“What?” It was a shout. “Impossible. Babs doesn’t even like him!”
“That is what I thought, but I had the news from Ned himself.”
“Confirmed by Babs?” Charles obviously could not believe this.
“In a manner of speaking,” the duke answered thoughtfully. “That is why I have to see her before we leave.”
“Not wise. You will end in telling her you don’t go to London for another woman, and Babs will wheedle the truth out of you, and we are not in a position to give her the truth.”
“But … I must see her,” the duke objected. “Or I don’t go.”
Sir Charles gaped at him with a fascinated eye. “Here is Lord Wildfire, rakehell of hearts, pining to answer to a woman, a chit of a woman!”
“Not answer to her … keep her for my own,” the duke corrected.
“Well then, jot off a note … ambiguous as may be.”
“Will it do?”
“He can’t very well whisk her off to the altar in the few days we shall be in London. After all, there hasn’t even been an announcement, let alone, a posting of the banns.”
“Right then …” The duke knew precisely what he would write.
Twenty
LADY BABS WANDERED about the house and stopped by the open dining room window. At her back soft candlelight glowed, and through the window the soft fragrance of summer floated in the air.
The dining room doors opened, and she turned to greet her aunt’s guests as they wandered inside and took their places according to their name cards.
How Sir Edward had wrangled an invitation was more than she could fathom, since her aunt had remarked that she didn’t trust the fellow’s eyes.
However, he glanced her way and smiled as he took his seat, and Babs was thankful that her seat was across the table from him. She found a deep-seated loathing had taken over her feelings when she looked his way.
Her day had been awful. She had gone into the park with Otto and had hoped to see the duke, but he was nowhere in sight. Sir Edward was, though, and he took it upon himself to join her and Otto, thus ruining her day.
Now, here he was again.
She simply had to find a way short of murder that would get rid of him! Murder? Hmmm … no, she couldn’t—could she?
***
Lady Jane’s watchful eyes rarely missed anything. She was fairly certain that Sir Edward held some kind of threat over her niece. No doubt, she thought, Babs had done some foolish thing, and he had perhaps threatened to go to her father with it if she did not … if she did not … what? Jane was certain that he held something over Babs’ dear head; she would not otherwise have accepted his suit. Even her brother was not pleased. He remarked to her that something was wrong and that it wasn’t like Babs to marry for money, and he could see no other reason why she had accepted Sir Edward.