“You will understand if I take leave to doubt you.”
“You may doubt all you like, but my conduct still is not your concern.”
“But it is definitely your guardian’s concern. And I collect I have an obligation to tell him about your subterfuge.”
“Oh?” Her gaze was a challenge. “Are you in the habit of bearing tales then, your grace?”
“Are you in the habit of kissing perfect strangers?”
That took her aback. “You kissed me, you should recall.”
“But you allowed it.”
“I couldn’t very well protest without giving myself away-” Roslyn stopped suddenly and took a deep breath, then managed a disarming smile. “I don’t intend to spoil my sister’s wedding, and I won’t allow you to do so, either. Perhaps you would condescend to continue your interrogation at some more convenient time?”
Drew felt a surge of annoyance tinged with amusement at being so summarily dismissed. “You may count on it, Miss Loring. We shall resume our discussion after the wedding service.”
Her smile never faltered. “I fear I will be extremely busy afterward. We have six hundred guests attending the wedding breakfast, and I am responsible for seeing that everything runs smoothly. Now, pray excuse me, your grace. The ceremony will be starting shortly.”
Surprised to discover that he was enjoying sparring with her, Drew was reluctant to let her go. “Allow me to escort you to your seat.”
“I can manage on my own, thank you.”
“One might think you are eager to avoid me,” he said dryly, repeating the words he had used when she had tried to escape him on the balcony.
Her answering smile was just as wry, although more charming. “One might indeed. It is perfectly understandable why you are so full of your own consequence, your grace, but you shouldn’t expect every woman to fall at your feet. I certainly won’t.”
Leaving him standing there staring after her, Roslyn turned to accompany her sister Lilian into the church. Drew eventually followed them up the front steps and along the center aisle to the front pews, which held the only remaining empty seats.
To his surprise, he recognized Fanny Irwin among the honored guests on the bride’s side. He hadn’t expected to see a famous courtesan sharing the family pew.
The sisters embraced Fanny warmly and then settled beside her. Drew took his own place on the right side of the aisle, next to Marcus’s younger sister, Eleanor, and her elderly aunt, Viscountess Beldon.
When Eleanor caught Drew watching the opposite aisle, she leaned toward him to whisper over the hushed murmurs of the crowd, “You remember when we first met Arabella, she told us that Fanny was their longtime friend? Well, Fanny remained loyal to them during all the years of scandal, and they aren’t going to snub her simply because she is no longer received in polite circles.”
“There is a vast difference,” Drew remarked in an under voice, “between supporting a friend and courting notoriety.”
“I beg your pardon?” Eleanor asked.
“Never mind, love.” He didn’t intend to discuss the last time he had seen Fanny Irwin. But it seemed curious that Marcus would allow her intimate connection with his wards to continue.
Drew knew all about the Loring family scandals, which had undeservedly made the sisters social pariahs. He also knew that Marcus had done his best to improve his wards’ standing in society, but those efforts would only be undermined if Roslyn’s brazen antics became known.
She was half turned away from him now, and Drew found his eyes fixed on her slender back, a variety of emotions warring within-curiosity, pique, disapproval. He was intrigued and perturbed at the same time.
“Roslyn is quite beautiful, is she not?” Eleanor whispered. “She would be considered an Incomparable if not for the disgrace her family suffered.”
She was indeed beautiful, Drew had to admit. Her hair was pale gold, the color of fine champagne. And with her tall, willowy figure and exquisite features, she was as lovely and delicate as gilded crystal.
Eleanor evidently took his silence as agreement. “You cannot tell simply by looking at her, but Roslyn is the most clever and studious of the three sisters.”
“Studious?” Drew replied with skepticism.
“Yes, indeed. She even knows Latin. She has read nearly every tome in her late uncle’s library, and Marcus has begun sending her books from his own library in London. Her delicacy gives one a false impression. Lily, on the other hand, is quite the hoyden. She is the passionate one in the family.”
Heath joined them just then, in time to overhear Eleanor’s last remarks. Bending closer, he murmured with amusement, “Marcus was right, Drew. Miss Roslyn looks suited to the role of duchess.”
“Stubble it, you old bleater,” Drew murmured.