The Duke Conspiracy (2 page)

Rose watched her mother's effort to pull
herself together, rather awestruck at the woman's transformation.
Within a moment she could see no evidence of her mother's momentary
distress.

“Thank you, dear, for your concern, but there
is no need to disturb your father. I shall be perfectly fine. We
cannot leave now; we have practically just arrived. You have not
yet set foot upon the dance floor. How are we going to get you
creditably established if we return home at the first discomfort?
Now come along, Rosamund, quit your dithering, we should be in the
ballroom.”

Rose stifled another grin at her mother's
commandeering of the situation. She would have been happier if Mama
had agreed to go home, even though she hated the thought of being a
quitter. But this debutante business was deadly dull in her
estimation. With another suppressed sigh, she dutifully followed
her mother back to the ballroom. Not even the unsettling presence
of the Duke of Wrentham could make this irksome event more
interesting.

****

Back in the ballroom, Alex let out the breath
he hadn't realized he was holding as she had turned away from him.
His hand rubbed his chest absently as though to soothe away the
ache in his heart. A sense of foreboding rested upon him
momentarily. Rose being here for the Season was not going to help
him in his quest for a quiet, unassuming duchess.

Clearly their family feud had not lessened
with the passage of time. His mother would disown him if she knew
how he felt, but he considered the conflict that had divided their
families to be idiotic. He sighed with resignation as he forced his
eyes to stop gazing at the beautiful woman moving from the corner
of the ballroom.

Her hair was piled up in some intricate,
inexplicable way that young ladies so loved. It looked stunning on
her; her elegant neck was accentuated by the one piece that dangled
down from the complicated knot on top. She had blossomed into a
woman in the past three years, he noticed, feeling the tug of
attraction. She had always been a pretty girl, but now she was a
beautiful young woman. As he was greeted and hailed by many in the
crowd, the thought niggled at the back of his mind that she
couldn't possibly be a wallflower.

“The Smythes are here, aren't they, Your
Grace?” his good friend, Wesley, asked him quietly, careful not to
look at the subject of his question.

“Have you seen them?” Alex asked, also
keeping his voice low so as not to be overheard, but trying not to
appear as though he was whispering. Alex was well aware that if it
appeared he had a secret the entire
ton
would be agog to
know its source.

“No,” Wesley grinned, “but I have heard that
they are back in Town and I can tell from your posture that you are
even more tense than usual.”

“And you attribute that to the Smythes?” Alex
was incredulous over his friend's assumptions. “You do not think it
is just the atmosphere of salivating mamas trying to sink their
matrimonial claws into me for the sake of their darling daughters
that has me tied up in knots this evening?”

“But that is always the case whenever you
attend one of these infernal affairs, Ancroft,” Wesley explained
patiently, using his former title as a term of familiarity. “I am
telling you, you are markedly different tonight.”

With a snort, the duke chose to ignore his
friend's observation as he really could not effectively dispute it
since the Smythes
were
in attendance and the headache that
was beginning to form would confirm that he was, in fact, more
tense than usual. He would be willing to argue the subject upon
some other occasion, but clearly now was not the time.

With a sigh that he tried to keep to himself,
Alex turned back to survey the crowd. “We might as well invite
someone to dance. Our hostess will look at us askance if we do
not.”

Alex was surprised as his friend's grin
turned devious. “Which hearts are you willing to set aquiver this
evening, Your Grace?” Wesley asked with a suggestive lift of his
eyebrows.

“Truth be told, none,” the duke answered
rather stiffly.

Wesley, surveying the crowd, brought his eyes
back to his friend's face with a grin. “Come now, Your Grace, it is
not such a trial as all that. Just ensure you dance with a diverse
number of ladies and no one will be able to murmur overmuch.”

“They always murmur overmuch,” came Alex's
plaintive reply, “but never mind about that, you are right, let us
dance.”

With that, Alex forced his eyes to stop
looking for Rose. There was no way he would be able to approach her
in such an environment anyway, even if he wanted to. The fact that
she had turned her back on him in such a way made him doubt
strongly that she would be receptive to any overtures of peace from
him even if he dared. Not that he had any wish to make peace with
the Smythes, he reminded himself as he stopped in front of a lady
he had been introduced to on some previous occasion.

“Lady Castleton, might I have the pleasure of
dancing with your daughter?” he asked politely, bowing over the
older woman's hand gallantly.

The usually starchy matron giggled like a
schoolgirl over his courtly gesture. “Get on with you, you young
scamp. Of course, my darling Elizabeth would be delighted to dance
with you.”

Alex noticed the “darling Elizabeth's” slight
roll of her eyes at her mother's words, but she turned a welcoming
smile upon the duke. Offering his elbow to the young lady, he
escorted her to the dance floor as the musicians struck up the next
quadrille.

“Thank you for partnering me, Lady
Elizabeth,” Alex began the conversation with his companion.

“Was I given much choice, Your Grace?” she
returned with a straight face.

Alex looked at her sharply, wondering
fleetingly if he ought to apologize before he noticed the twinkle
in her eye. Relaxing into the familiar steps, the duke allowed a
smile to lighten his features.

Ignoring her unanswerable question, he turned
the subject. “Are you enjoying your evening?”

Lady Elizabeth tilted her head in slight
inquiry as she thought on the subject. With a delicate shrug she
replied, “It is passable, Your Grace.”

“You do not enjoy events of the Season, do
you, my lady?”

“I pray you do not tell my mother I admitted
such to you, but no, not overmuch. I would so much rather remain on
our estates forever. Not that I wish to remain under my mother's
watchful eye for the rest of my life, mind you. I guess you might
say this Season business is a necessary evil.”

Alex grinned at the young lady before him,
wondering if he should admit that he agreed wholeheartedly with
her. He pressed for more information. “Then why did you bother
coming for the Little Season? Why not wait until the Spring
Session?”

“My mother was so disappointed with my lack
of success in my first season. She thought I could use the extra
exposure of the Little Season. I believe she thought there would be
less competition as some ladies do not come to Town for the Fall
Session but most of the lords who need to be present for Parliament
do, thus giving me more selection.”

“Your mother is a shrewd strategist.”

“I believe all determined mamas are,”
answered the duke's dance companion, “but it would seem that many
of the mamas had the exact same strategy. If you will note, this
ball is barely less crowded than one would experience during the
regular Season.”

“'Tis true, my lady, but one could attribute
that to the popularity of Lady Chorney as a hostess, rather than
the number of people who have come to Town for the Fall
Session.”

“She is quite lovely, is she not? Do you know
the Chorneys very well, Your Grace?” Elizabeth was glad to change
the subject.

“Not that well, but I have been their guest a
couple of times as well as hearing the viscount speak in the House
upon occasion.”

“Last Season I was a guest at the most
darling breakfast Lady Catherine hosted. We dined al fresco, which
was a novel experience for me as my mama tends to think it is
unhealthy. I thought it was divine.”

“It does sound novel. Were you not cold?”

“It was near the end of the Season, so we
were quite comfortable. It was absolutely lovely despite the
challenge of getting ready for a
ton
event so early in the
morning. Most of the assembled guests were not used to seeing the
day much before noon. I do believe that was part of the amusement,
watching how everyone tried to hide the evidence of their excesses
from the previous night.”

“You do have a perverse sense of humor, do
you not?” the duke commented with a wry chuckle.

“Oh, that is exactly what my dear friend
Rosamund tells me every time,” declared Lady Elizabeth with a
smile, causing a sudden hitch in Alex's breathing. “Would I have
met this Rosamund?” Alex asked tactfully, feeling his heart race in
reaction as he thought of his old friend, forcing his eyes not to
stray to the side of the ballroom where he was sure she was
standing. He could hardly fathom his constant awareness of her.
Controlling his reaction, he carried on the conversation as though
he were unaffected. “She sounds like a sensible woman,” he
teased.

“I do not know if you have met her, she has
never mentioned you. Not that I have known her for all that long,
mind you, and we rarely discuss gentlemen, particularly not dukes,”
she replied pertly before elaborating. “She was not out before she
went away to Vienna with her parents. She is just making her debut
now, even though she is a trifle old to be a debutante. She is a
delightful girl. We enjoy making fun of the Season together. She is
finding it nearly as dull as I am, although I believe it is for far
different reasons. She says life in London is not nearly as
exciting as it was in Vienna, where she has been for the past two
years with her father, who is a diplomat.”

Lady Elizabeth paused for a moment as she
gazed at the duke with rapidly widening eyes. Her mouth fell agape
before she shut it with a snap. After swallowing a gulp of air she
continued in far different tones. “Of course you know Miss
Rosamund, how silly of me,” she prattled as she tried to change the
subject. “Is this orchestra not one of the best you have ever
heard? I must inquire of Lady Catherine where she managed to find
such accomplished musicians for her ball. I know my mama will want
to see if she can hire them for our next rout. Do you like to
attend routs, Your Grace?”

Alex could not help admiring the young
woman's attempts at covering the awkward moment, wondering
fleetingly what she would do if he were to ask her why she was
suddenly so uncomfortable discussing Rose with him. Of course, a
gentleman ought not to put a lady to the blush, one of the myriad
lessons he had been taught from the cradle. With a silent sigh he
tried to recall what she had last asked him. Oh yes, something
about routs.

“At times, my lady. It often depends on who
is hosting them, would you not agree? The very nature of a rout
calls for it to be quite different from hostess to hostess.”

“Quite right, Your Grace,” Elizabeth replied
with a false little laugh. “I trust you would consider my mama and
me to be acceptable rout hostesses. Shall I put you on our guest
list?”

“By all means,” Alex answered with a
tightening smile. Starting to find his companion to be a bit of a
trial, he was relieved to hear the end of the quadrille as the
musicians wound down to a conclusion.

Escorting his partner back to her waiting
mama, Alex gallantly bowed over each lady's hand before making good
his escape.

Going in search of refreshments, the duke
asked himself yet again why he bothered attending such events. It
was not as though at the age of twenty-six he was in
desperate
need of securing his succession. Of course, as he
knew only too well, calamities could occur even in someone's prime,
but he had several strapping young cousins who would be delighted
to take over the house of Wrentham. Well aware that the
on-dit
was that he was ready to settle down to matrimonial
bliss, Alex was very much of two minds on the matter.

No, he attended such things on occasion just
to be perverse, as he had accused Lady Elizabeth of being. And out
of respect for his political connections. As he sipped from the
glass he had been handed by a passing footman, Alex wondered if it
was too early to leave without causing offense.

With a sigh he realized that it would most
definitely be remarked upon if he departed after dancing with only
one lady. He set himself to the task of partnering many ladies so
that none would be remarkable.

Across the ballroom Rose watched the duke's
antics with a jaundiced eye. He appeared to be having a lovely
evening as he led one lady after another onto the dance floor while
she remained firmly on the side lines. Not that she would have ever
accepted his invitation even if he had asked her to dance, but she
so wished
someone
would ask her, she thought with another
quickly suppressed sigh. She tried not to notice how very handsome
he looked as he maneuvered expertly amongst the dancing
couples.

How was it possible that she was left
standing on the sidelines when so many other ladies were dancing
holes in their slippers? she thought with a twinge of desperation.
This had never happened to her in Vienna, she thought with wistful
longing. In Vienna she had been, if not the belle of every ball, at
least rather highly popular. Here in London she knew almost no one.
Of course, she had made a few friends in the weeks they had been in
residence, but it was not at all the same as the tight community
the expatriates had formed in Vienna. She fervently hoped some of
those old friends would soon turn up in the capital.