How to Dazzle a Duke (35 page)

the drawing room and into the stair hall. He looked curious and

not a little bewildered. Perfect. There was nothing worse than a

man who was too sure of himself in affairs of the heart. They

behaved very negligently, very quickly and she would have none

of it, most especially not from her future husband.

The stair hall at Lanreath House was not exceptionally large,

though it was exceptionally well-appointed. The walls had been

faced with white marble, the stair treads of pale stone, and the

stair rail was of nicely wrought iron. The candlelight from the

massive candelabra at the base of the stairs created a very ap

pealing glow. More importantly, there was no one, not even a

servant, using the stair hall at the moment. The moment the door

to the drawing room closed behind Lord Iveston, he placed both

of his hands around her waist, pushed her up against the closest

wall, and kissed her savagely.

Well. He seemed to have no control at all when it came to her.

It was very nearly comical.

In fact, she felt like laughing. The only thing keeping her from

it was his mouth pressed firmly against hers, doing hot and

tantalizing things with his tongue that the groom had never

managed. As to that, Lord Iveston seemed to be using every

opportunity to do more. This kiss was very much more than the

last one.

It was so nice when a man made every effort to surpass

himself.

She really ought to push him away from her. Or at the very

least she should take a step back so that her breasts were not

252 CLAUDIA DAIN

rubbing against his chest. Yes, she really ought to do that. And

she would. Eventually. Certainly there was no rush about it, was

there?

“You do this very well,” he said, nearly echoing her own

thoughts about him. She sometimes had the strange sensation

that Iveston could read her mind. She didn’t like it in the least.

“You think I do it very well. We get on, don’t we, Pen?”

“Miss Prestwick,” she said against his mouth. “You are too

familiar.”

“Yes, I am that,” he said, grinning. She could feel the move

ment of his mouth against hers, his breath nuzzling against her

skin, the vibration of his words tickling along her spine. “You

don’t mind, do you, Pen? You like what I do. You like the way I

do it. You would like more of it. You—”

“You talk rather a lot, don’t you?” she said, pushing at his

cravat, putting her mouth on his neck and biting him gently.

“Only to you. There seems so very much to say,” he said,

moving his hands so that they pressed beneath her breasts. Her

nipples tingled in invitation.

“Does there? I hadn’t noticed,” she whispered, licking his ear.

He shivered. He also, perhaps in retaliation of sorts, fl icked

his thumbs over her nipples. She moaned and bit his earlobe.

“How much more can you stand?” he said softly, pulling her

against his hips, his leg pressing between her knees.

“I was about to ask you the same,” she said, running her

hands around and under his waistcoat, nipping at his throat.

He had the most tantalizing throat. Someone should be paid to

write a sonnet about it.

“I’m a half step from taking you on these stairs,” he groaned,

his mouth at her neck, her throat, the swells of her breasts.

“That sounds miserably uncomfortable. I shouldn’t like it in

the slightest.”

“Oh, yes, you would,” he said, chuckling.

How to Daz zle a Duke

253

She giggled in reply, which truly wasn’t much of a reply, was

it? But it was all she could think of, being that thinking was be

coming increasingly difficult and the reason for engaging with

Lord Iveston all but forgotten in the mist of desire and longing

he created whenever, and she would never admit this to him,

naturally, but whenever he looked at her.

The door to the drawing room opened suddenly, throwing

noise and reason all over them. Iveston pulled away from her

instantly, so sudden a movement that she lost her balance

and nearly fell to her knees. He put a hand on her elbow, steady

ing her, all the fun of the situation completely gone, and looked

with the most bland demeanor at the intruder to their . . .

experiment.

It was Sophia. Penelope found she was not a bit surprised.

Sophia was just the sort of person who intruded into the most

private of situations, and she did it without a hint of reluctance.

“Can you sing?” Sophia said, looking at them without any

degree of censure or even curiosity that Penelope could detect.

As her vision was a bit clouded by remnant passion, she was not

entirely certain of her conclusion.

“Are you speaking to me?” Penelope asked.

“I am. Can you sing?” Sophia said, the door having been

fi rmly closed behind her.

“Passably well,” Penelope said a bit curtly. “Why? Do you

think I should sing now?”

She was more than a little frustrated. She and Iveston had

been having such a pleasant time and truly got on better than she

would have believed twelve hours ago, if she had bothered to

think of him at all, which she nearly hadn’t. Oh, a passing

thought, a speculation, but nothing serious.

And still, it was nothing serious. Edenham took all her

serious thoughts. But perhaps Iveston could have whatever was

left over.

254 CLAUDIA DAIN

“I should say it’s essential that you do,” Sophia said, walking

over to them. “Iveston, you shall play for Miss Prestwick. That is

why you have sequestered yourselves, to choose your music and

your key.”

And with that, the doors burst open and Lady Lanreath beck

oned them in with a cautious smile and the beginnings of a

frown. It might have been possible that Lady Lanreath did not

care to have a girl ruined at her house, not when she entertained

so rarely. But of course, if Penelope could arrange for Edenham

to ruin her tonight, then Lady Lanreath would just have to live

with the results. As would Penelope.

The thought was not as cheering as it had been just an hour

previous. She couldn’t think why, except that it must have some

thing to do with her impending performance.

Yes, that was logical, wasn’t it?

Twenty

“WHAT song can you sing passably well?” Iveston murmured as

they walked with as much innocence as was possible given that

their clothing was horribly mussed.

“What can you play?” she countered, smiling at her brother,

who did not smile in return.

Oh, bother. If she weren’t careful, George would make a fuss

over the wrong man entirely and botch the whole thing. She sim

ply had to get him alone and explain things, though she could not

but wonder if George was perhaps beyond the point of explana

tions. Brothers did have a notoriously short leash when it came to

their sisters. What they felt about other women was entirely differ

ent, which did seem the worst sort of illogic. Did they really be

lieve that their own sisters were any different from any other

woman? How was a sister supposed to do all that was required to

catch a man if her brother put all sorts of hindrances in her way?

Hindrances of the
no touching before marriage
variety? How could a

woman get a man if she wasn’t allowed to touch him? Innocently,

of course.

256 CLAUDIA DAIN

Or nearly so.

“I play beautifully,” Iveston said.

“I suppose you think you do everything beautifully.”

Iveston smiled and said, “Only because I actually do.”

She couldn’t help it. She chuckled.

Lady Paignton looked at her in distinct disapproval. As if she

had the right! Lady Paignton was a scandal and should be more

tolerant of others, a defi nite
judge not lest ye be judged
approach. Of

course, there was nothing about Lady Paignton that suggested

one whit of intelligence so Penelope was forced to allow her a

great degree of latitude. But she did not like her.

She could ignore Lady Paignton: who was she but the sister

of the hostess? She could not as easily discount Lady Richard,

Edenham’s sister. Lady Richard, a remarkably beautiful woman,

was looking at her with a great degree of scrutiny. That never

boded well. No one, especially a woman on the marriage mart,

could well tolerate scrutiny. Why, Society would crumble into

ruin if anyone actually looked very hard at it.

The pianoforte was in the front corner of the room, near one

of the windows that faced Berkeley Square. Iveston walked to it

with an easy stride, displaying no hesitation or discomfort that

she could detect. She did so hope she was matching him in that.

What to sing? She couldn’t think of a thing. Every song she had

ever learned, and she’d learned upwards of one hundred as she

did enjoy singing very much, had run out of her head like a pack

of braying dogs. Not a single song.

Iveston sat with singular elegance, looked up at her with a

pleasantly bland expression, and began to play “Of Plighted

Faith,” an air from the opera
The Siege of Belgrade
. She knew it. Of

course she knew it. Everyone knew it.

And with the melody lifting her, she opened her mouth and

began to sing.

How to Daz zle a Duke

257

6

“I didn’t think it was possible, but his cravat looks even worse.

He should sack his valet,” Lord Raithby said.

“It’s not the fault of his valet,” Lord George Blakesley said, his

gaze fastened on Miss Prestwick.

“Ah, the girl then,” Raithby said. “I shouldn’t have thought

she had it in her, though I can’t say that I know her even slightly.

However, she does give one the impression of severe respectabil

ity, doesn’t she?”

“I hadn’t given it a bit of thought,” George answered.

“Well, I had,” Lord Penrith said, entering their number with

out qualm, which really was very bold of him given George’s

state of mind, “and I, while finding Miss Prestwick pleasant

enough, also thought her a bit unusual. Perhaps it is only that

Lord Iveston magnifies the unusual bits in her, though how or

why remains a mystery.”

“I should think it all remains a mystery, wouldn’t you?”

Raithby said. “The wagers are all over the field, though Edenham is still quite the favorite.”

“As he hasn’t even approached her yet this evening, I fi nd that

inexplicable,” George said, not at all wanting his brother to ap

pear lacking, yet not wanting him to be married just to win a bet.

It was a most uncomfortable state of affairs.

“Perhaps that is the answer. Get Edenham with her, let us

observe them together, and the wagers will likely level off. Iveston

may even pull ahead,” Raithby said.

Penrith said nothing more, but he did appear to be watching

Sophia Dalby with pointed interest. That was not an unusual

occurrence on the most ordinary of days, but George did not

think in this instance that Penrith’s interest was amorous.

“Ten pounds more on my brother,” George said abruptly.

258 CLAUDIA DAIN

“That’s family loyalty, I must say,” Raithby said.

“Not at all. It’s his cravat, Raithby. One simply cannot ignore

the evidence revealed upon his crumpled cravat.”

6

“IT looks to me as if she attempted to pull his cravat off with her

teeth,” Lady Richard said, looking quite severe. But then, Kath

erine had developed the knack or perhaps the need of looking

severe upon her marriage to Lord Richard, her completely irre

pressible late husband.

“She may have done,” Sophia said mildly, nodding a greeting

to Anne Warren, wordlessly encouraging her to join them.

Katherine, more than ever, was sunk into an abyss of misery

that hadn’t got a bit better, and indeed, may have actually got

worse since her husband’s death. Completely understandable,

even with a husband such as Richard Becklin had been. Hand

some, charming, dangerous, and dead. That was the usual order

of things. The problem was that Katherine had married for love

and love, in the form of Richard Becklin, had betrayed her. It

wouldn’t do Katherine a bit of harm to spend a little more time

out of her own thoughts and into the light of the world, as dirty

and spoilt as it sometimes appeared. Why, look at Anne, and she

did hope Katherine would look hard at Anne. Anne Warren had

suffered more in her life than Katherine had in her brief marriage.

Surely some resiliency was expected. She was the daughter of

duke, after all. Did these delineations mean nothing anymore?

But of course they didn’t, which was the entire point,

wasn’t it?

“And you say she would very much like to marry my brother?”

Katherine said. “She has an interesting way of going about gain

ing his attention.”

“And yet she has it. Fully,” Sophia said, taking a glass of

Madeira as a footman passed them.

How to Daz zle a Duke

259

“They do sound lovely together,” Anne said, staring at Iveston

and Penelope. “Almost as if they had practiced before tonight,

but that’s not possible, is it?”