Lady Guinevere and the Rogue with a Brogue - Julie Johnstone Page 0,31
met his gaze straight on.
He sensed steel behind her stare. As her mother raced around the room flailing her arms, Lady Constantine arched challenging eyebrows at him, but the moment her mother halted and looked at them—the servants had finally captured the runaway dogs—Lady Constantine’s face transformed into that of an obedient daughter.
Ah, so the lady was putting on a show for her mother.
The servants bustled out of the room with the dogs in tow, and Lady Longford stood there wringing her hands and opening and closing her mouth like a fish gasping for air.
“Mother, should you go change?” Lady Constantine offered. It was sly the way the lady had given the suggestion but made it sound like she honestly did not know what her mother should do.
“Of course,” she sputtered, “but I don’t suppose I should do so while the duke is calling. Let me ask your father to step—”
“Papa has gone to Town, as has Miss Hollymirth,” Lady Constantine said. “Oh dear.” She looked to Asher. “I suppose you will have to return another day since there is no one available to chaperone us.”
He narrowed his gaze upon the lady. Her words conveyed regret, but her eyes conveyed relief.
“Let’s not be so hasty, Daughter!” Lady Longford patted the large wet spot upon the front of her skirt. “I shall leave the drawing room door open, and the servants will be back and forth in the short time I’m gone, so it is all perfectly proper still. Yes?” She looked to Asher as if she needed reassurance.
Whether it was proper or not according to the ton, he couldn’t say, nor did he care. The lady taking her leave, even if for only a short time, was far preferable than posing the marriage of convenience to her daughter in front of her mother.
“I think it within the bounds of decorum,” he said, offering a smile, “and I vow not to move from my chair until ye have returned.”
“Such gallantry!” Lady Longford twittered, to which her daughter’s lips pressed together in annoyance. Lady Constantine’s facade was slipping.
The moment Lady Longford departed, Lady Constantine spoke before Asher had thought of a good way to present his idea in a way the lady would not find offensive. “Your Grace, may I have leave to speak plainly?” she asked.
It seemed that was the question of the day. “I am a Scot at heart, Lady Constantine, and though we have only just met, I can assure ye I prefer blunt talk to prevarication.”
“Excellent. So do I. We do not have long, so I must ask, why are you here? I’m not as foolish as my mother to think you have been lured to my doorstep by my charms or my dowry, which is only passable. And I take it you are not desperate like Lord Charolton.”
He’d passed the lady in the dark passage last night on his way to the library, and then he’d seen her skittering away beside Guinevere when Guinevere had stormed out of the library. Lady Constantine must have hidden after Guinevere came to her rescue instead of immediately fleeing.
“I’m nothing like Lord Charolton,” he said.
“In case you are musing,” she said slowly in a firm tone, “I am not normally a foolish woman who is easily lured into dark libraries in the middle of a ball.”
He liked how truthful she was being. He arched his eyebrows. “And yet…”
“And yet,” she said, clearing her throat, “I was foolish last night. Lord Charolton used my greatest weakness against me.”
“Which is?” Asher asked, deciding he liked Lady Constantine. She awoke no desire, which made him like her even more. He would never lose his senses in her presence. One woman with the power to render him a fool was enough for this life, plus ten more.
“A secret,” she returned as the servant from earlier popped into the room with a new tea tray. While the servant refreshed their cups, which had not been touched and did not need refreshing, Lady Constantine showed off her impeccable skills at subterfuge in conversation. She talked of the weather, food, and embroidery, but the minute the servant disappeared, so did her facade. She got a direct look upon her thin face. “If you see Lady Guinevere, please convey again my utmost gratitude for her aid. I cannot imagine what brought the both of you into that corridor—” she gave him a look that said she could imagine, though she politely said otherwise “—but I’m very glad you both