When a Duke Loves a Governess (Unlikely Duchesses #3) - Olivia Drake Page 0,87

parrots, in the hope that Tessa would come, too, though it had been the nursemaid, Winnie, who had escorted his daughter.

Today, however, he had decided to take more direct action. By shamelessly exploiting the occasion of Sophy’s fifth birthday, he intended to tempt Tessa out of her self-imposed exile.

Directly after that botched offer four days ago, he’d had the foresight to ask Banfield to procure ringside tickets to Astley’s Amphitheatre and had shelled out an exorbitant fee for an entire private box, which normally would have seated a dozen or so people. Then this morning, he had dispatched a note to the nursery, asking Miss James to accompany him and his daughter to the afternoon’s performance.

Alas, the passage of time appeared not to have softened her.

During the carriage ride, Tessa paid him little heed. She encouraged Sophy to engage him in a game of seeing who could spot more dogs on the street. Guy enjoyed the interaction with his daughter, although Tessa resisted his every effort to coax her to participate. All cool courtesy, she was back to hiding her beauty with high-necked, long-sleeved gowns, this one a charcoal gray. She also wore a matching gray bonnet with a discreet cream bow that somehow looked stylish despite her obvious effort to fade into the background.

Guy suspected it was her way of showing disdain for the rank of duchess that he had so ineptly presented to her. She took pride in being a member of the working class. And that put him at a distinct disadvantage. While other ladies viewed the acquiring of a title as a prized asset, Tessa spurned it as a hindrance. She scorned the trappings of status, and his misbegotten proposal had failed to take her views into account.

For that, he bore her cold shoulder as his rightful penance. He hoped this outing would help make amends and restore their camaraderie. Without any rapport between them, his wooing of her was doomed to failure.

As he ushered them into their box on the lowest tier, Tessa placed Sophy in between them. Despite it being October, when London was thinner of company than in the spring season, most of the seats were filled. There were benches for the masses while a finer circle filled the more expensive boxes. He spied a few familiar faces, members of the ton who were here with their families, and he thought it best not to catch their eye. If they were to visit this box, he had no confidence they might not snub Tessa and turn her even more against joining their ranks.

They were situated just above the circular shallow pit and could not have had a more perfect view. Laughter and chatter enlivened the air, along with the scent of sawdust and the discordant sounds of an orchestra tuning its instruments. At one end of the ring stretched a large stage where roustabouts were preparing scenery backdrops for one of the events.

Sophy bounced up from the seat and hung her elbows over the low ledge, her lacy petticoats visible beneath a lemon-yellow gown. “Look, Miss James! That man is throwing three balls in the air all at once.”

A juggler and a few other performers were warming up the crowd before the start of the main show. Her eyes alight with interest, Tessa appeared as excited as Sophy, and Guy suspected this was her first time at any such venue.

“I’m sure I would drop them,” she said. “Oh, my, now he’s added two more balls. And do you see those acrobats doing cartwheels?”

“There’s a clown, too,” Sophy said, “riding in a wagon pulled by a dog.”

Listening to his daughter’s happy giggles, Guy smiled. As much as he hoped to win Tessa, he also had a strong wish to please Sophy. She had expressed a longing to visit the circus, and although this entertainment would be largely equestrian, it was as close to a circus as anything in London.

The show commenced to great fanfare and the roar of the crowd. They were treated to a series of performances, trick riders doing handstands and other amazing feats on the backs of cantering horses, then a quartet of mares dancing the minuet in perfect time to the music, and next, fencers on horseback, the clash of steel blades ringing out with the trample of hooves.

Sophy cheered and clapped. She and Tessa looked especially awed as the show switched to the stage, where tightrope walkers nimbly performed stunts high above the ground. Women in fancy skirts danced