by Amelia Grey
“No, and at this point, Mr. Rexford, I would rather not. I want this matter to be handled privately, if possible. I don’t relish the idea of personal business landing in the scandal sheets.”
“I understand completely and I will do my utmost to see that doesn’t happen, Your Grace.”
“My hope is that you can contact Lord Raceworth’s solicitor and handle this directly with him and not involve others.”
He leaned back in his chair. It squeaked noisily. “All right, I’ll see what I can do for you, Your Grace. It might take me a few days to get back to you. First, I’ll have to find out who the marquis’s solicitor is and make an appointment with him. I’m sure he’ll want time to look at this.” He patted the folder. “And after we have spoken, I’ll be back in touch with you.”
Susannah studied over what he said.
“Is there something you don’t like? Just tell me.”
“Those papers are all I have to substantiate my claim. I would be devastated if anything happened to them.”
He held up his hands. “Don’t worry, Your Grace. I will not let them out of my sight, and I will not leave them with anyone.”
Susannah let out a deep breath of relief and rose. “Thank you, Mr. Rexford, I’ll leave this in your capable hands.”
Later that evening, there was no trepidation in her movement as Susannah walked up the steps to the Great Hall with Mrs. Princeton by her side. She had been eagerly awaiting the time for them to leave for the ball. The night was almost balmy, which was unusual for the month of May. A golden glow came from the massive double doors that had been thrown wide, and the sounds of lively music drifted on the heavy, damp air.
At the marble landing to the entrance of the building, Susannah stopped in the doorway and looked down into the crowded ballroom. It had been so long since she’d been in the Great Hall, but judging from the swirling throng of people inside, it didn’t appear as if any part of it had changed, especially not the impeccably dressed gentlemen and the elaborately gowned ladies filling the open, spacious floor.
The magnificent ballroom was lined down each side with fluted Corinthian columns. Some of the stately pillars formed little alcoves where intimate groups could shield themselves from the masses. The detailed woodwork around the ceiling was touched in gilt, and the walls were decorated with silks, brocades, and ornately painted landscapes. The enormous columns had been draped with vines of bright green ivy, colorful spring flowers, and wispy yards of white and sky blue satin.
From out of the center of the crowd below, Susannah saw Race striding toward her. She turned to Mrs. Princeton, who was dressed in a dark brown gown with white lace collar and cuffs, and said, “You may feel free to enjoy your evening. I will find you when I am ready to leave.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Mrs. Princeton said and walked away.
Susannah turned back toward Race and smiled as he approached. His expression was tender, and it touched her heart. He looked splendid in his formal evening attire of a black cutaway jacket and slim-legged trousers. His crisp white shirt was covered by a gold-colored, quilted waistcoat.
He stopped in front of her. His gaze skimmed down her face and then back up to her eyes, telling her with his expression that he was happy to see her.
“I’ve been waiting quite impatiently for you to arrive,” he said.
Susannah tilted her head back a little and smiled at him. “I didn’t know I needed to be here at any specific time.”
He chuckled lightly. “The devil you didn’t. I think you were intentionally late just so I would squirm.”
“Not so,” she argued good-naturedly. “I thought it was still fashionable to be late.”
She felt his gaze caress her lips, and somehow she knew he wanted to kiss her. And that made her stomach tingle expectantly.
“You are a beautiful lady, Susannah, and well worth the wait. I’m glad you came.”
She looked into his magnificent brownish-green eyes and, without delay, said, “So am I. I haven’t been to a big party like this in many years. I intend to enjoy every moment of it. I want to dance and drink champagne. I want to smile at all the handsome gentlemen and be envious of all the beautiful ladies.”
Race’s eyebrows rose, questioning her. “I’m not sure I want you smiling at any of the gentlemen, handsome or not, and there is no reason for you to be envious of any of the ladies in attendance.” His gaze swept easily down her face and then back up to rest on her eyes. “There is not one lady in London who can compare to your beauty tonight.”
Susannah gave him a teasing smile. “You say that only because you are smitten with me. I can assure you other gentlemen will not think as you do.”
His eyebrows lifted in mock surprise. “So, you think I’m smitten with you, do you?”
“I do.”
“Guess what? You’re right, and if you keep looking at me that way, I will show you just how smitten I am right here in the doorway.”
Susannah shook her head. “That wouldn’t be wise, my lord. You kissed me in public the other day and, somehow, fate smiled on me, and no one managed to see you. I do not want to tempt fate twice and possibly be ruined once again here on my first night back in the center of Polite Society.”
He moved closer and smiled warmly at her. “I don’t want that either, because I don’t want you to have any reason to say ‘no’ should I decide to ask you to go riding in the park with me again.”
“So there is some doubt as to whether you will invite me again?” she said good-naturedly.
His eyes shimmered with humor. “Of course. A lot depends on whether you step on my toes when we’re dancing.”
They both laughed.
“What the devil are you two doing standing in the entrance way of the ballroom? Are you trying to make a spectacle of yourselves?”
Susannah spun to see a tall, extremely handsome man, with longish, dark brown hair, walking toward them. Everything about him projected power, privilege, title, and wealth. He had the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen, and his gaze immediately zeroed in on her. Without question, she knew this man had to be one of Race’s notorious cousins.
“Morgan,” Race said, smiling. “I was hoping you would be here.” He turned to Susannah. “May I present my cousin, the Earl of Morgandale. Morgan, may I present the Dowager Duchess of Blooming.”
Susannah didn’t miss the curious glance Lord Morgandale threw his cousin’s way before the earl bowed and kissed her gloved hand. In the way he looked at her with narrowing eyes and a tightness around his mouth, she got the distinct impression that he had reservations concerning her, and she had a feeling it had nothing to do with her ruined reputation twelve years ago.
“It’s a pleasure, Duchess,” he said, looking straight into her eyes but with enough chill in his voice to belie his words and send icy fingers of disapproval running down her back. “I was wondering when you were going to make your first appearance in Society.”
Susannah didn’t like feeling as if she had to defend her reluctance to enter Society, but she did understand Race’s cousin’s curiosity about her.
Keeping a smile on her face, she pleasantly said, “First appearance? Perhaps you didn’t know that I was in the park with Lord Raceworth just a few days ago.”
Lord Morgandale cleared his throat uncomfortably and then said, “Pardon me, Your Grace. I should have said at a party or ball.”
She gave him a knowing smile. “There has been so much to do that it has taken me longer than I expected to get settled into my new home.”
“So I understand. I was actually at Race’s house for the card party when you arrived there a couple of weeks ago, though we didn’t manage to meet that day.”
Susannah thought she heard a hint of disdain in his voice, though he kept his face passive. No doubt he knew that she claimed the Talbot pearls belonged to her family. She couldn’t expect Race to keep something as important as that from his cousins. And according to all she had read about them, the
three men were quite close.
“I’m sorry we didn’t meet at that time. I remember how busy with activity his house was that day, and I’m sure my unexpected arrival only added to it.”
He lifted one eyebrow and said, “In ways you’ll never know, Duchess.”
“Morgan,” Race said, “are Blake and Henrietta here?”
“Yes, and Gibby’s here, too,” Morgan said, turning to Susannah. “Though I believe you have already met our dear friend.”
A warm feeling washed over Susannah. Just thinking about the spunky old gentleman made her feel good. “Indeed, I have met Sir Randolph. I look forward to saying hello to him later in the evening.”
“I thought it was you two I saw standing in the doorway when I walked by. What is this? Are the two of you having a meeting without me again?”
Susannah heard a very pleasing and friendly voice, but Race and Lord Morgandale were standing side by side, and their wide shoulders blocked her view of the man approaching them.
But when Lord Raceworth and Lord Morgandale turned, it allowed Susannah to see another magnificent man of towering height and broad shoulders, striding toward them. He wasn’t quite as tall as Race or the earl, but he was equally handsome, and he walked with a stately air befitting a king. Somehow Susannah knew this man was Race’s other cousin, the recently married Duke of Blakewell.
Susannah smiled with pleasure and lightly shook her head in awe. How had one woman, the legendary Lady Elder, been blessed with three such masterful and powerful-looking grandsons?
Something Susannah had read just recently in one of Lord Truefitt’s columns came back to her as Race made the formal introductions once again.
Everyone in the ton knew that Lady Elder had tried many times by fair and foul means to force her grandsons to marry. After all, she had been married four times. Decades earlier she had successfully married off each of her three daughters to titled gentlemen. And in turn, each daughter had given her a grandson, all in the same year.
The grandsons turned out to be rogues of the highest order, notorious for many reasons, including their titles, handsomeness, and rumored debauchery. But nothing made them more popular than the fact that all three remained bachelors into their thirtieth year. Not even vast fortunes had tempted any of them to propose matrimony to any of the young ladies who fancied them, until the fair Miss Henrietta Tweed made her way to London and captured the heart of the handsome Duke of Blakewell, and she became his duchess.
The duke turned to Susannah and said, “My wife, Henrietta, has been anxious to meet you. She was sorry you declined her invitation to tea.”
Though the duke said the word sorry, she was quite sure he meant she was miffed. Perhaps Susannah had been too hasty in her refusal of the duchess’s invitation to tea, but at the time, she was still reluctant to open herself up to too many people, especially those connected to the marquis.
She was momentarily at a loss for words but finally managed to say, “I’m sure no excuse will make up for my being unable to attend that afternoon. Perhaps I can meet her tonight and offer my personal apology.”
His Grace remained silent and looked her over as thoroughly as Lord Morgandale had. Susannah’s chin lifted ever so slightly, but otherwise she stood perfectly in stature and without shame or guilt and let him assess her for as long as he wanted.
Susannah was pleased with her appearance for the evening. Her amethyst-colored gown had a demure neckline befitting a dowager, though she was far younger than the average widowed duchess. The capped sleeves of her bodice were adorned with plum-colored velvet ribbon that had been tied into perfect bows. The decoration banded her high-waisted gown and trimmed the four flounces of her full skirt. Her maid had swept her hair up and threaded small violet flowers through the curls. At the base of her throat rested a large amethyst circled by diamonds, held around her neck by a velvet ribbon.
Though she felt good about herself, Susannah certainly hadn’t impressed either of Race’s cousins. But what could she expect? She didn’t have much to recommend her. She had been compromised as a young lady, and now in their eyes, she was after Race’s inheritance from his grandmother. She really couldn’t expect to find favor with them. She content with that.
Her gaze drifted over to the marquis. His sensuous eyes were riveted on her. Even though he had remained quiet and let her assess his cousins, she hadn’t lost sight of his nearness. Susannah felt an unexpected rush of joy. It didn’t matter what the earl or the duke thought about her; Race found her desirable, and he was the only one she wanted to please.
“That will not be a problem, Blake,” Race said, looking completely at ease. “I’ll make sure Henrietta meets Susannah before the night is over.”
“So it’s Susannah,” Morgan said, looking from Race to Susannah. “Race wasn’t sure what your given name was when I last spoke to him.”
“That said, Duchess,” the duke said, “may Morgan and I be allowed to call you Susannah?”
Susannah faced the handsome man who had no real friendliness in his tone. The duke knew that, out of respect to her title, they must call her Duchess or Your Grace unless she gave them permission to be so informal and use her Christian name. She had the feeling from both Race’s cousins that they would be quite comfortable calling her names that couldn’t be used in mixed company.
That thought made her smile.
Because she understood their reluctance to befriend her, she smiled sweetly at first the duke, and then she turned to the earl and said confidently, “You are both free to call me Susannah or anything else you might prefer, including that witch who wants my grandmother’s pearls.”
Seeing the surprise on their faces, she looked at Race, and they both started laughing.
Race cleared his throat to hide his chuckle. “Now, if you two don’t mind, I think it’s time Susannah and I had a glass of champagne.”
Race and Susannah walked past a shocked earl and stunned duke.
“You are a brave woman, Duchess, to take on my cousins as you just did,” Race said as they started down the three steps that led into the grand ballroom.
“I have nothing to fear from them, my lord. Your cousins are predisposed to dislike me, and I understand that. But perhaps now they can, at least, be comfortable around me, knowing that they don’t have to pretend to approve of me, or perhaps I should say approve of the reason I am in London.”
His eyes were sparkling with laughter when he said, “I’d say you made that quite clear. It’s the first time I’ve seen both of them totally speechless at the same time. That was worth a handful of gold coins, and you gave it to me for free.”
“Delighted to be of service,” she said as they melted into the mob of revelers in the ballroom.
The first couple of hours at the Great Hall were a blur to Susannah as people were presented to her without a break in the steady flow. Everyone wanted to be able to say they had met the new duchess in Town. She became reacquainted with a couple of ladies she had known years ago, and several of the older women had inquired after her mother. Somehow in the crush of people she and Race had become separated, but every once in a while she would see him watching her from across the crowded room.
If anyone even remotely remembered why she had left London and married the duke so suddenly, no one made mention of it, nor did she feel any hesitancy in the warm greeting she received from everyone she met, except for Race’s cousins.
“There you are, Your Grace,” Mrs. Princeton said, walking up to Susannah with a tall, slender gentleman she had met a few minutes earlier. Lord Snellingly was a handsome man and easy to remember because not only was his neckcloth and collar so ridiculously high and tight he could hardly move his head, he carried a white lace handkerchief and painted porcelain snuff box in one hand.
The man bowed and then said, “Your Grace, first let me say I have never seen beauty that compares to yours.”
“Thank you, Lord Snellingly.”
He sniffed and then smiled at
her. “Your companion has just told me that you play the pianoforte.”
“Yes,” Susannah answered, cutting her eyes around to Mrs. Princeton. The woman was positively beaming, and Susannah knew what that meant. Mrs. Princeton thought this man would make Susannah an excellent beau or husband. Even though she had warned Mrs. Princeton not to do any matchmaking, she guessed the woman couldn’t help herself.
“I was hoping you might allow me to call on you tomorrow or perhaps another day that would be at your convenience, so that I might listen to you play.”
“I’m flattered that you would want to, Lord Snellingly, but I really don’t play for anyone but myself, so that won’t be possible.”
“Oh, but you don’t understand,” he said, stepping a little closer to her. “I write poetry. Perhaps you’ve read some of my published works?”
Susannah shook her head and started thinking about how she was going to politely get away from this man.
“No matter.” He paused and sniffed. “I’ll bring some of my best poems and read them to you. I know if I could sit and admire you, while you play, that I would be able to write the most inspiring poetry. I can feel it deep in my heart that I could create verse that would make all the ladies in London weep.”
“Thank you, Lord Snellingly, but I really couldn’t do that.” She turned to her companion. Mrs. Princeton was obviously in awe of the man she thought to be a poet and thereby a perfect beau for Susannah, so she would leave Mrs. Princeton to talk to the man.
“Lord Snellingly, Mrs. Princeton. You must excuse me. I see someone I need to speak to.” Susannah quickly turned away, not giving either of them the time to respond and delay her.
To escape, she headed for the champagne table and was thrilled to see Race standing there, his back to her. As she approached, he turned around, holding two glasses. He smiled when he saw her and started toward her.
“You are too popular this evening, Duchess,” he said, handing a glass to her. “It seems every time I ask you to dance, someone arrives and diverts our attention from dancing to conversations. And the next thing I know you are talking to someone like that fop Lord Snellingly.”