Page 30 of Love, the Duke
“Fredericka doesn’t know where the two of you went to meet.”
Just as well. Wyatt certainly wouldn’t have liked the reason.
“You mean she didn’t follow me to find out?” Hurst asked with a mock look of surprise.
Wyatt gave him a lopsided grin. “I told her she should have. Instead, she only kept watch on the doorway for your return. She knew the lady came back first, collected her nervous-as-a-cat mother, and they left almost immediately. You returned to the ballroom only minutes later, stayed only a short time, and left before speaking to either one of us.”
Hurst blew out a disgruntled snort of disbelief. It was laughable that he was being observed while he watched Miss Stowe. “What’s this?” he grumbled in mischievous amusement. “Am I being spied on in your house now?”
“Do you need to be?” Rick asked.
“What we really want to know is, are you in trouble that we don’t know about?”
“No,” Hurst stated, cocksure about that.
“Is someone trying to trap you in a parson’s mousetrap?” Wyatt asked.
Frowning, Hurst gave another resounding, “No.” A forced marriage was the last thing Miss Stowe had on her mind. Her mother didn’t seem to have any leanings in that direction either. He would have picked up on that when he talked to her.
“You left before you’d even said hello, which is unusual for you,” Wyatt said as the server quietly placed a glass of claret in front of each of his friends.
“Which we knew meant you didn’t want to talk about her,” Rick added.
That was an accurate assessment. “I’ll have to remember how astute Fredericka is and be more diligent about who she is watching every time I pass under your doorway.”
“We are curious,” Wyatt admitted, picking up the conversation again.
“Since when can’t a man have a rendezvous with a lady without anyone knowing about it or questioning him about it should they discover the secret meeting?”
“You can have all you want.” Wyatt grinned. “We just want to know who she is.”
Hurst chuckled. He was warming up to the idea that his friends were interested in who he was with. “She was in your house, at your party, Wyatt. Why ask me about her? Besides, I assumed you conveniently forgot to tell me you invited her.”
“Hurst has a good point,” Rick said, a wrinkle of concern forming between his eyes. “Why did you invite her to your house and not tell him?”
“How the hell do I know why she was invited? I don’t know her,” he grumbled, good humor vanishing from his face. “Unfortunately, I didn’t see her. Fredericka only knew the young lady was new to Town. Mrs. Bristolasked if she could bring Mrs. Roberta Stowe and her daughter.”
Hurst picked up his glass for the first time and took a drink. The wine went down easily and gave him time to take a much-needed deep breath when he realized they didn’t remember the name Stowe.
“Who is she?” Rick asked impatiently.
“Winston’s sister.”
Wyatt and Rick locked eyes with each other.
Hurst knew what that meant. They didn’t remember the name Winston from the hunting lodge. For a moment he wanted to be offended, but then he realized they had moved past the hunting trip, past the messenger who was so prepared he brought ink and quill with him so that Hurst could respond to the letter. Hurst had written the answer declining to offer marriage, and to Wyatt and Rick that was the end of it. The event was no more than a passing of ships in the night. They had no reason to remember. He understood.
“My friend who asked me to marry his sister when we were on our hunting trip.”
Remembrance dawned on both his friends.
“The vicar’s sister. The lady he asked you to marry,” Wyatt said, rubbing the back of his neck thoughtfully.
“Yes. We talked about it and decided I had the option to consider it. The three of us did and I declined.” And now Hurst wondered if he had made the right decision that night.
Had he gone to meet Miss Stowe and seen her for the first time dressed as a lady instead of a man, if he hadn’t known about her schemes to find the sacrament, would he have known without the doubt churning inside him that she was the lady for him on first sight? Had all thathappened tilted fate and clouded what he’d always felt to be true? He wouldn’t know because he’d never gone to see his friend.
“And a vicar’s daughter.” Rick whistled through his teeth. “I’m remembering it now. He said she had a good soul.”
