Quigley, the wife of an industrialist who was working on expanding the rail, leaned forward. “Did I hear someone say Gilmore’s name?”
“You did, Mrs. Quigley,” Pippa said. “The duke is an old friend of my husband’s. Are you and Mr. Quigley acquainted with him?”
Mrs. Quigley waved her hand at her husband down the table. “I’m sure he’s pestered the duke for investment money, but no. I am curious because he is a fine catch, isn’t he? I know many mamas are interesting in landing him. Including me, truth be told.”
“Isn’t your daughter just sixteen?” Abigail asked with a shake of her head.
“Our Belinda won’t be out for a couple of years, no,” Mrs. Quigley said. “But why not plan ahead?”
Abigail pressed her lips together tightly at this ridiculous topic. The very idea that Gilmore would make his match with an eighteen-year-old child was outrageous. What in the world would he have in common with some blinking ingénue who would have no opinions of her own yet? Who had never seen or experienced anything of the world? He would bore of her in twenty seconds. No, he would be much happier with someone who would challenge him. He needed a challenge, pompous prick that he was.
“He is most eligible,” Lady Blain said, jolting from her supper nap and right in the mix of things again. “I can think of twenty ladies who would cut off their big toe to be his.”
“Money, power and looks,” Mrs. Quigley sighed. “How could one not aspire to make the connection?”
Abigail somehow kept herself from rolling her eyes and forced herself to stop staring at the duke. Let the debutantes and their mamas have him if they wanted him so badly. She felt nothing about it except pity for the poor lady who would land him, only to find he was a cold fish, indeed.
A short time later, the supper concluded. Rhys had announced that the ladies would join Pippa in the sitting room and the men would go to the billiard room for port. One by one, the couples paired off, strolling together down the hallway to their respective destinations. Abigail looked for a gentleman who could take her, but was surprised, as the last couple made their way out of the room, that Gilmore was standing by, waiting for her.
She pursed her lips as she approached him and took the elbow he offered. “Shouldn’t you be first in line? Your rank should make you the leader behind Rhys.”
He arched a brow at her. “I am only being a good loser, Abigail. I had to believe you would want to gloat about the wager.”
She glanced at him briefly and couldn’t smother her smile. “I suppose you must hate that I bested you.”
“No, actually,” he said with a slight chuckle that made her stomach do the strangest flutter. “I am impressed, despite myself.”
She blinked. He sounded…sincere. But that couldn’t be true. Gilmore disliked her as much as she disliked him. She knew him to be utterly disagreeable when it came to her. So how could she have truly impressed him? And why did that make her chest swell a little? As if she was proud of that questionable feat!
They were almost to the sitting room where the ladies were gathering, and she sighed in relief. This was too odd an interaction and it was best to end it before it got even stranger.
“And here is where we say goodbye, Your Grace,” she said, and slid her arm from his. But before she could escape him, he caught her hand and drew her back.
“I have a request,” he said, his voice soft in the quiet of the hall, his gaze intent on hers.
She almost stopped breathing. “And what is that?”
“Give a man a chance to win his money back,” he said with a slight smile.
She drew her hand away. She should have known this was just about his pride. He didn’t like losing to her, even with such a silly wager. And if he was soft with her, it was only to make her agree to give him this second chance.
She shrugged. “How do you propose you do that?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure yet. May I have time to ponder it and get back to you?”
“As you wish,” she said, and then turned her back to him. “Good evening, Your Grace.”
“Mrs. Montgomery,” he drawled.
She glanced over her shoulder, but he was already heading off down the hall toward the billiard room with the other men.