Page 3 of The Earl and the Reluctant Lady
“I feel as if I should apologize,” she said.
“For what?”
“My mother.”
He chuckled. “I get the sense she is quite the force.”
Agnes shrugged. “I hope she didn’t make you feel uncomfortable.” Then her forehead furrowed. “Or perhaps now that you’ve met her, you’d prefer a dance with her.”
“I’m right where I want to be.”
She smiled up at him and the effect was so genuine, so lovely, he could have sworn his heart cracked open. He released a low breath.
“I’m certain you must hear this again and again, but your eyes are breathtaking,” he said.
“Thank you. I have been told they’re unusual.”
“As blue as the flowers that grow in the fields by my family estate,” he said. “Bluebells.”
“You flatter me, my lord.”
“I should hope so, as that is most assuredly my intention.” Their dance was coming to an end, but he was not ready to let this woman go. “I wonder if I could persuade you to walk in the gardens with me. I’m told there are none in London quite as lovely as Winthrop’s.”
She bit down on her lip, then resolve steeled her features. “I would love to, my lord.”
As soon as the song ended, Fletcher maneuvered them into the crowd so if her mother was keeping a watchful eye, she would lose them. Were it anything akin to protectiveness that he thought her mother felt toward her, he’d be more inclined to indulge the older woman. But he’d seen it in her face, a deep and spiteful jealousy, which likely made her rather unkind to Agnes.
“Tell me, Miss Watkins, have you ever heard anything said about my grandfather, the Duke of Harcourt?” He knew if she’d been in Society any length of time, she would have heard rumors. He was a vastly powerful man, but an overbearing bastard to all around him.
Agnes’s eyes rounded. “I have heard the name. He is persuasive in Parliament.”
“He is a tyrant,” Fletcher said simply. “Obsessed with bloodlines and other such nonsense.”
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked.
“I want to ensure that had you heard anything about him that it didn’t affect your thoughts on my person. One should never be judged based on the members of his or her family.”
