had changed, that a smile meant nothing. That even if it did, this was what she agreed to. He was free to follow his heart. She had never imagined that hers would be lost to him.
It isn’t, she tried to assure herself as she sat by her mother to hear the latest news. It would be impossible in the mere week since we met. We are simply friends, and I am trying to adjust to my new life. But either way made no difference. She would have to endure.
For now, she tried to concentrate on what her mother was saying. Stephen had fallen and skinned his knee. Giles thought he might like Harrow School, though it was horrifically expensive, and Lucy…
“Mama,” Lucy said between her teeth, from which Deborah gathered her mother had been about to say something indiscreet, just as Mr. Ireton was approaching them. He was a slightly raffish looking man of medium height and smooth, good looks. His posture declared boredom, although there seemed to be a gleam of at least pretended interest in his eyes as he sat down by Deborah.
“Mrs. Halland, how charming to meet you at last. I have heard so much about you.”
“Have you?” Deborah said in surprise.
“Indeed, and I believe it is my honor to escort you to dinner this evening, so I thought we should begin our acquaintance at once.”
“How thoughtful.” For some reason, his gaze disconcerted her. It seemed to imply too great an intimacy, though she could not tell how or why. Scratching around for trivial topics of conversation, she said, “Do you and Mrs. Ireton make a long stay at Coggleton House?”
He shrugged. “My wife might stay here for the summer, but I plan to return to my own estates in the south next week.” He smiled. “So, you must make the most of me.”
She smiled politely in response, although she had no idea what he meant.
She was glad when dinner was announced. Although she would have to spend it beside Mr. Ireton, at least she would have company on her other side. Mr. Ireton rose, bowing, and when she laid her fingertips lightly on his sleeve, he covered them with his hand in a gesture that was not quite a friendly pat.
With relief, it came to her that he was flirting with her. Some gentlemen considered it the only way to converse with a lady, so she knew she should not refine upon it. On the other hand, she could not help wondering if he actually found her attractive, if she was attractive. This question had never much concerned her before. Lucy was the beautiful sister who would make a good marriage. Deborah, as the eldest, had been more concerned with duty and earning enough money to keep the family until said marriage. She had never expected to be married at all, and it had never entered her head that she might be pretty, let alone that she might care.
I don’t care, she assured herself as Ireton held her chair and bent solicitously over her. Dudley sat on her other side.
“So, are you not terribly bored over at Gosmere Hall?” Ireton asked as they began to eat.
“Oh, no. There is much to be done in the house to open it up and refurbish it. Then there is the garden, and Christopher is founding a school in the old dower house.”
Ireton looked amused. “Which is why I ask about boredom. Forgive me, but it sounds deadly dull. Do you not miss London?”
“No. I prefer a quieter life.”
He smiled. “That isn’t what I hear.”
Startled, she couldn’t help her gaze flying to his. His eyes glittered, warm and knowing and absolutely without respect.
He knew about the scandal, the ruin from which her marriage was supposed to save her.
She forced an amused smile to her lips. “I assure you, I know my own mind best.” She turned to Dudley, who, fortunately, had reached a gap in his conversation with her mother. “Did Christopher warn you against the boats you might find by the lake?” she asked, seizing at the first topic to enter her head.
“Why, no, are they rotten?”
She entertained him with a shortened version of the afternoon’s adventure. He laughed, and she even won a quick grin from Christopher seated on the other side of the table beside Mrs. Ireton.
Of course, she could not avoid talking to her other dinner companion for the rest of the meal, but she tried to preempt unsuitable or insulting subjects by throwing out mundane