Page 12 of The Duke on Her List
“I am,” Gabriel said. “But when I hear her say that she wants to meet a spinster…” He pressed his lips together. “I don’t wish to be rude.”
“My life isn’t what you want for your niece.”
“No, it isn’t.” He certainly didn’t want to think about her coming up with her own List of Improper Ideas ten years down the line. The thought made him shudder.
For the first time, it occurred to him that he had no idea what might be on Agnes’ list. She had never told him.
“You’ve raised her well,” Agnes said. “She’ll have no trouble finding a match once she comes out. I truly believe that, Your Grace. I don’t think she wants to be me. I think she simply finds me a curiosity. She’s never met anyone like me, and I’m sure she’s heard the talk. All the rumors. She simply wants to know the truth.”
That made sense to Gabriel. “I suppose it’s better for her to take the mystery out of the thing,” he said. “Let her see what it means to be a spinster.”
“Because if she sees it, she’ll understand that it’s a misery no one would ever choose voluntarily?” Lady Agnes raised an eyebrow.
“That isn’t what I said.” But it was what he was thinking. Lady Agnes might well insist that she was perfectly happy with her spinster life, but it couldn’treallybe true. Or if it was, it would be because she was such an odd duck that she found happiness in things that would make other people miserable. Seeing the way she lived might actually be a good thing for Helena. Perhaps Gabriel shouldn’t try to keep them apart.
Lady Agnes reached over and picked up her book, obviously ready to return to her own reading.
Gabriel took the chair across from her once more. “Before you get back to that, I think we should speak,” he said.
She looked up. “I’m not going to lure your niece into my sinful ways.”
Why did his heart stutter when she said that? Why was he suddenly noticing her full lips, her smooth skin, her long eyelashes—why was he yearning to touch them? That wasn’t even what he had been planning to speak to her about. “It isn’t that,” he said. “I think we should talk about our plans for our courtship. We should decide when we’re going to see one another, and how we’re going to present ourselves to society.This isn’t going to work unless we have some sort of plan in place.”
“Oh.” She put her book back down. “By the way—does Helena know about our arrangement?”
“She doesn’t.”
“She doesn’t know that our courtship is a charade? Or?—?”
“She doesn’t know anything about any of it. All she knows is that I told her there would be a guest in the library today and she wasn’t to be a disturbance—not that she listened, clearly.”
“She may know more than you think she does.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “What doesthatmean?”
“Nothing. I just mean she’s perceptive,” Lady Agnes said quickly. “But I asked whether she had been informed about us because I wasn’t sure what to say when she asked about my business here. I told her I was just here to read—that’s how we got into our conversation about books in the first place. But you’re very right that we need to have a plan in place, and it needs to be something we have discussed and agreed upon. The next time I’m asked a question, I want to know how I should answer it.”
He nodded. That made sense. “I’m going to come up with something to tell her about it all, and when I do, you’ll know,” he said. “I just haven’t done that yet.”
“All right. What about the rest of the ton? What are we going to show them?”
“There’s a ball set to take place in three days’ time,” he said. “It will be hosted by my friend the Duke of Henshaw—he loves a party, so I’m sure it’s going to be a good time. I think you and I should both make plans to attend that. We shouldn’t arrive together, but we should both be there, and we can use the opportunity to present ourselves as a couple.”
“I haven’t been invited to this party,” Lady Agnes pointed out.
“Well, that’s no obstacle,” Gabriel assured her. “I can see to it that you get an invitation. I’ll speak to Nathaniel and have one sent to you. He’ll be only too happy to help us.”
“Is that right? Why would he feel that way about it? He doesn’t even know who I am.”
“Well, of course he does. He also reads the scandal sheets.”
Her face flamed. “I see. So he thinks I’m your mistress.”
“No, no. He actually is aware of the true nature of our arrangement,” Gabriel said. “I confided in him about it.”
Lady Agnes frowned. “I don’t like that,” she said. “I don’t think we ought to tell anyone the truth about it. I’m not planning on telling anybody. The more people know, the more likely it is that it will get out around the ton, and then someone we were tryingto keep it secret from is bound to piece it together. It’s not a good idea to reveal these things. I know too well how gossip spreads.”
“All right,” Gabriel said. “I can agree with your terms. I won’t tell anybody else about it, but I can’t help that I already told Nathaniel—and my friend Jonathan as well.”
