Page 33 of Love, the Duke
While the men were moving about, the servers came around with silver trays offering dainty confections, delicacies, and fresh glasses filled with champagne.
Georgina reached across the table and laid her gloved hand on top of Ophelia’s and dreamily cradled her chin on her slender fingers. “Don’t you think Mr. Sawyer is simply divine?”
“He is most handsome when he smiles.” Ophelia paused and then finished by saying, “At you.”
“I know.” Georgina’s breathy sigh embodied her besotted feelings for the young man. “I was so tempted to rub my foot up and down his leg.”
Almost choking on the champagne she’d just sipped, Ophelia coughed. “I don’t think that would have been a good idea.”
“Why not?” Georgina asked innocently. “Perhaps you don’t know, but I’ve heard it is a safe way for a young lady to let a gentleman know she’s interested in him and would like for him to call on her.”
“No, I haven’t heard that before. Did your mother tell you about this approach?”
“Of course not. I would never mention this to my mother, nor would she to me.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t try. It seems a risky way to get a gentleman’s attention. I would be afraid he might question the reason you were doing it and possibly think you wanted to see him for inappropriate purposes?”
“I suppose a man could think that. Katherine told me about this after you left the ball the other night. She heard—”
“Good afternoon, Miss Bristol, Miss Stowe.”
Ophelia knew that voice. Glancing behind her in a rush, she saw the Duke of Hurstbourne joining them. His compelling presence caused her heart to lurch with apprehension. He wasn’t present for the first round of games. She was sure.
Was he there to keep an eye on her whereabouts? She didn’t know, but manners dictated that she and Georgina rise from their chairs and curtsey. But in their haste to do so, they bumped into each other, which made Georgina lose her footing. As if the stumble had been practiced between the two of them, the duke reached out and kept Georgina from falling. As he drew away from her friend his gaze met Ophelia’s and held briefly. Then the heat of his palm lightly touched the back of her shoulder as if to make sure she was all right too. The twinkle in his eyes redirected every thought and feeling in her being.
The duke’s unexpected arrival threw her out of sorts.Focusing intently on his face, she barely listened to what he was saying until she heard the name of the man standing with him: Mr. William Halaway. And much to her delighted surprise, the duke and his cousin would be playing the next round of cards with them. Ophelia couldn’t believe one of her suspects was at hand, ripe to answer any questions she had. She could barely manage to hold in her joy.
She could have thrown her arms around the duke’s neck and kissed him. On the cheek. Or maybe the lips. Her stomach tightened at the thought, and she quickly brushed it aside.
He’d brought his cousin to the party and, somehow, managed to secure them both a seat at her table. Unable to rein in her broad smile, she pinned her gaze on the duke when she was once more seated on her chair, her mind in a scatter of thoughts.
Ophelia wanted some way to let the duke know how happy she was as they made themselves comfortable in their chairs, but that was impossible. Georgina picked up the conversation with gusto, unabashedly telling the duke what an honor it was that he had joinedherfor the next round. She couldn’t have been showier if she’d been a prized songbird twittering her good fortune on a crowd in the park.
The duke remained attentive to her flirtation, and odd as it was, Ophelia couldn’t help but wonder if Georgina was going to rub her foot up and down the duke’s leg. And if she was brazen enough to do so, would he accept her invitation? Best Ophelia put thoughts about that out of her mind and center her attention on the other man at the table.
“Would you mind being the first player to shufflethe deck for us, Your Grace?” Georgina asked in a voice as sweet as nectar, while she slid the whist deck toward the duke. Apparently, the sparks that had been flying between her and poor Mr. Sawyer were a distant memory.
“Not at all, Miss Bristol.” The duke’s features pulled into a disarming smile, sending Ophelia’s pulse racing even if his smile was intended for another. She felt as if she were melting snow in the warm sun. With a tingling shiver, she composed herself to address the matter at hand. She owed him her gratitude but couldn’t say that in front of the others.
She couldn’t resist a glance at him, and, in a low whisper, she noted, “Verycleverof you, Your Grace.”
“The addition of my cousin?” he answered just as softly. “I thought so too. I knew you would approve.”
The ease with which he picked up her implication delighted her. No doubt he could play any game with marked expertise. He gave her a light nod and a knowing grin as his fingers rippled through the cards.
Perplexed, Georgina asked, “What was clever?”
At first, Ophelia dismissed Georgina’s question with a shrug and focused her full attention on the duke’s hands. Though he shuffled the cards with the same technique most any man would, Ophelia took the opportunity to continue the impetuous word dance she and the duke found themselves in.
“The way His Grace is shuffling the deck is very clever.”
“Yes, it is superb,” she gushed.
Seeming unable to curb his wink, he boasted, “I do have a clever trick or two up my sleeve from time to time, Miss Stowe.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” she answered, and was pleased to say it. “I hope we get to see more than one.”
“I’ve only just started, Miss Stowe.” He chuckled and kept shuffling the cards.
