The Unexpected Duchess (15 page)

“It’s true,” he ground out.

“Does that mean you intend to stop pursuing Cass then?”

“I certainly will if she wishes me to.”

“Of course she wishes you to. She’s madly in love with Julian and he’s about to die. How can you possibly imagine that she wants to be courted by another man at the moment?”

The duke’s brow drew up into an alarming frown. “Wait a minute.
Julian?
I thought Julian was engaged to her cousin.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Lucy’s mouth fell straight open. She stared at the duke aghast. They stopped dancing and he quickly maneuvered them both to the sidelines of the room, his hand on Lucy’s back.

“How do
you
know about Julian?” Lucy asked as soon as they were standing near the wall.

The duke glanced around the ballroom. “I believe this conversation is best had in private.”

Woodenly, Lucy allowed him to escort her from the ballroom, through the long corridor, and out onto the stone-paved street. A few attendees were coming and going, but for the most part they were alone in the moonlight.

As soon as they reached a private spot, Lucy tugged her arm from his grasp and turned to face him. “I’ll repeat my question, how do you know about Julian?”

The duke paced away. “Captain Julian Swift is my closest friend.”

Lucy stood entirely still. She was frozen, couldn’t believe it. She supposed it stood to reason that Julian and the duke could know each other. They’d both been in the army and were in Brussels, but closest friends? Truly? And if that was the case, then …

“Did Julian tell you about…?” Oh, now all the pieces were falling into place. “You said Cass had been recommended to you as a potential wife. Julian recommended her?”

“The very same. And it’s a bit more complicated than that. I promised Julian I’d marry her. When he was dying.”

Lucy pressed both hands to her cheeks. “I don’t know what to say.” But she understood now. She finally understood. The duke had been chasing Cass around for days, unsuccessfully trying to court her, refusing to take no for an answer, putting up with all of Lucy’s ill-tempered attempts to dissuade him—and he’d done it all for his friend, Julian. Julian who was dying. Julian who’d recommended Cass to him. No, made him
promise
to marry her. Made him promise a dead man he would marry her. Lucy shook her head. She wrapped her hands around her middle and paced back and forth, too.

“I had no idea she’s in love with him,” the duke continued. “From what he told me, he was all but engaged to her cousin, Penelope something.”

Lucy paced away, feeling vaguely nauseated. “He is,” she whispered. “They’ve had an understanding since they were quite young.”

The duke braced a hand against the side of the building. “But you’re telling me that Lady Cassandra loves Julian?”

“Yes. She’s loved him since she was a girl.”

“Does Julian know?”

“He might by now. She wrote to him as soon as she learned he was dying. But no, before that she never told him. What was the point?”

The duke snatched his palm away from the wall and ran his fingers through his hair while his other hand rested on his hip. “Blast it. I had no idea she was in love with him. Though I must say it explains quite a lot.”

Lucy couldn’t help her snort. “What? You cannot imagine a lady not being interested in you unless her heart is already taken?”

His shrug gave her his answer.

“You are unbelievably arrogant,” she said. But for some reason she couldn’t help her smile. It was all just too much. Here she’d been trying to chase him away like an angry bird protecting her chick and he’d sworn an oath to a dying man to succeed in his courtship. The same courtship she’d been desperately trying to thwart. If it wasn’t all so sad, she would laugh.

When he spoke, his voice was soft. “Truly, Lucy, I didn’t know she was in love with Julian.”

He’d called her Lucy. It made her catch her breath a little. Oh, she
could
insist he not be so forward with her but at the moment she didn’t want to argue any longer. They’d just had a breakthrough, the two of them. He finally understood that Cass loved another man. Not just any man,
Julian.
And she finally understood why he hadn’t given up. Besides, he’d given her a kiss to nearly singe off her eyelashes the other night; allowing him to call her by her Christian name didn’t seem half so scandalous. She might as well begin calling him Derek, too.

When he smiled at her, her heart forgot a beat.

“So you can understand now why you should leave Cass alone?” she said softly, but the words made her inexplicably sad. If he did go away and leave Cass alone, Lucy would never see him again, either. It’s what she’d been telling herself she wanted. But did she?

“I can’t do that,” he said.

Lucy’s head snapped up. “What do you mean? Why not?”

He turned to her and looked her in the eye. “I made a promise to my friend.”

“But Cass doesn’t love you.”

He groaned. “Believe me, I understand. It’s been no great fun chasing her around. But it sounds as if Cassandra won’t love anyone but Julian. He holds her in the highest regard, I can tell you that. But even if Julian were to live, he’d come back here and marry her cousin. He planned to do that. I know he did. He told me as much. I promised Swift I’d marry Lady Cassandra and I intend to keep that promise. I’ll be a good husband. She’ll receive a generous allowance after she provides me with an heir, she can go anywhere, do anything. I won’t stand in her way.”

Lucy clenched her fist. She couldn’t believe it. Even after what they’d just discussed, he didn’t intend to stop his pursuit of Cass. This man was refusing to listen to reason. And he was being so cold … so calculating about the prospect of marriage. It shouldn’t surprise her. Many
ton
marriages were based on much less but for some reason, coming from him, it made her angry. He wasn’t from the
ton
, damn it. It wasn’t his world. Or hadn’t been, at least. Why did he have to be so matter-of-fact about a proposal?

Lucy nearly scratched her nails down her arms in frustration. “Why do you want a woman who doesn’t want you?”

“You’re wrong. I want to marry a woman who doesn’t
love
me. That’s quite different than whether she’ll accept me. Don’t confuse marriage with love.”

Lucy’s head rang as if she’d been slapped.
Don’t confuse marriage with love
. What a mad, mad thing to say. But wasn’t it what she expected from her own marriage? If so, why was it making her so angry right now? It made no sense. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.
Me? Speechless? There’s a first time for everything indeed.

The duke nodded solemnly. “I plan to give Cassandra time to come to terms with all of this. But I will marry her.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“My dear cousin, I have some good news for you,” Garrett announced to Lucy two nights later, just as they were preparing to leave for yet another ball at the Assembly Rooms. They were walking down the stairway together.

Lucy eyed him askance. “Good news? Whatever do you mean?” She had spent the last two days, vowing,
vowing
, to keep her nose out of the affairs of her friends. Well, Cass’s at least. After her last frustrating and disappointing interaction with the maddening Duke of Claringdon, she decided to remove herself from the entire situation. She’d done what she could. If Cass wanted him to stop, it was up to her now to say so. He wasn’t listening to Lucy. He was on a blasted mission to honor a dying friend. No, the Duke of Claringdon had no intention of heeding Lucy’s pleas. Never had and never would. She hated to admit defeat but it was time. Only a fool didn’t know when to quit.

Garrett looked dashing in his black formal evening attire and snowy white cravat. “I just learned my friend Berkeley is in town. He’ll be at the ball tonight. He told me he’s very much looking forward to meeting you.”

Lucy wrinkled her brow, trying to remember her cousin’s friend. “Berkeley? Berkeley? The name sounds familiar.”

“We went up to Eton together. Capital fellow. A viscount, don’t you know?” Garrett said. He handed Lucy down onto the landing and followed her off the steps.

Lucy cocked her head to the side. “Why have I never met him?”

“What she means to ask is,
Is he handsome?
” Jane added from the foyer where she was busily pulling on her pelisse.

“That is not what I meant,” Lucy said, marching into the foyer to retrieve her own pelisse.

“If Lucy doesn’t want to know, I do.” Cass came quietly plodding down the stairs in a pretty green dress. She’d been doing her best the last two days to stop crying and remain brave in the face of the news about Julian. If the idea of a new gentleman’s interest in Lucy kept her preoccupied from her grief, Lucy was more than happy to oblige.

Jane, her pretty silvery pelisse smartly fastened, turned to face them all. “I do, too.”

Garrett arched his brow at all three of them. “Don’t tell me you’re all interested. He’s only one man.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “I’m not interested in
that
way. I simply want to know for Lucy’s sake.”

“Me too,” Cass agreed.

Lucy pulled her cloak over her shoulders. “I find it quite suspect. In all these years, Garret, you’ve never introduced me to any of your friends. Trying to get rid of me finally?”

“I have a strict rule. I don’t try to matchmake with my friends. I suspect it’s one reason my friends are still my friends. I am making an exception in this case because Berkeley specifically mentioned to me that he wanted to meet you. I am now asking you if you’re interested in meeting him. That is the extent of my involvement in this little affair.”

Lucy snorted. “You never answered my question. Why have I never met him before?”

Garrett shrugged. “Because he lives in the North and rarely comes to town.”

Lucy nodded sagely. “Ah, he must not have heard the rumors about me.”

“He must have heard rumors that you are beautiful,” Jane said. “That’s why he wants to meet you, Lucy.”

“Oh, how sweet of you, Janie. And here all this time, all I’ve needed to do was to wait for gentlemen who’d never come to London,” Lucy replied. “It’s been so simple, really.”

“Or those back from the war,” Jane said. Lucy and Jane exchanged a glance.

“He doesn’t have a goiter on his neck or a clubfoot or anything, does he, Garret?” Jane asked.

Garrett pulled on his leather gloves. “No, why do you ask?”

“We merely want to ensure that Lucy may actually want to meet him,” Jane pointed out.

Lucy sniffed. “I can’t be such a chooser. A goiter and a clubfoot may end up being my fate what with my prospects. Neither sounds particularly bad at present.”

“He has neither,” Garrett replied, shaking his head. “Honestly, the way you ladies talk, I swear it’s a wonder any matches are made in this country at all.”

“You’ll notice that no matches have been made for the three of us,” Jane added with a laugh.

“Coincidence?” Garrett shot back.

Cass finished with her own pelisse. “No goiter and no clubfoot. Sounds entirely promising, Lucy.”

“But how do we know our friend Lucy here won’t chase the poor man off, as usual?” Jane said with a laugh.

“Because her cousin has recommended him. He cannot be objectionable, given that,” Cass replied with a nod.

Lucy laughed. “I’ve no objection to meeting him, but let’s not plan my wedding quite yet. And if I’m to curb my tongue, you must help me, Cass.”

“My pleasure,” Cass replied with a curtsy.

Lucy smiled at her cousin. “Come now, Garrett, there must be something wrong with your Lord Berkeley. What is it?”

“There is nothing wrong with him,” Garrett insisted. “He’s handsome, or so the ladies always say, he’s dashing, fashionable, wealthy, well educated. He may be a bit … Oh, you’ll see for yourself.”

“A bit what?” Jane asked. “Gouty? Old? Smelly?”

Garrett rolled his eyes again. “None of those things. And I’m finished talking about this. I already wish I’d never brought it up.”

“Who is gouty, old, and smelly?” Aunt Mary came hurrying out of her rooms to join them.

“No one, Mother,” Garrett said, giving the other three a warning glare.

The three ladies exchanged laughing looks as the butler held open the door for them and they all trotted down the steps and climbed into Garrett’s coach.

Once they arrived at the Assembly Rooms their little group seemed to scatter to the four winds. The Duke of Claringdon was there, Lucy noted with some ire, but she refused,
refused
, to acknowledge him or to go anywhere near him—or Cass for that matter, if he was speaking to Cass. It was the first opportunity to test her self-imposed abstinence from the matter of Cass and the duke, and she meant to stand by her resolve.

Lucy was tapping her slipper in time to the music, drinking a glass of punch, and having a lovely conversation with Mrs. Periwinkle about the flowers in the gardens along the Upper Crescent when Garrett tapped her on the shoulder.

“Lucy.”

She stopped tapping and turned at the sound of her cousin’s voice. “Yes?”

Standing beside Garrett was a gentle man who could be described as nothing other than gorgeous. He had golden hair, crystal blue eyes, and a physique any man would admire. Tall and muscled with a bit of a cleft in his chin, when he smiled at her, his perfectly aligned white teeth twinkled in the firelight. Ooh, in addition to having neither a goiter nor a clubfoot, it seemed Lord Berkeley was, in fact, amazingly good looking. Lucy felt a bit light-headed.

“Lucy, may I introduce you to my friend, Christian, Lord Berkeley?” To Lord Berkeley he said, “Christian, this is my cousin, Lady Lucy Upton.”

Lucy curtsied. A promising beginning, to be sure. Oh, she mustn’t make a mess of this and say anything outlandish or rude. “A pleasure to meet you, my lord,” she managed. That was well done, wasn’t it? Neither outlandish nor rude. A good start, actually.

Lord Berkeley gallantly bowed over her hand. “My lady, the pleasure is entirely mine.”