Who Wants to Marry a Duke - Sabrina Jeffries Page 0,30

her as a young woman whose entire focus was on ensnaring a husband. Or even his newer picture of her as a bluestocking.

Either way, he must be on his guard concerning Juncker. When she’d mentioned Lady Grasping and Lady Slyboots, he’d nearly cursed aloud. She must never guess who they were based on. She wouldn’t understand. She’d be hurt.

Why he cared whether she was hurt was a mystery he didn’t want to examine very closely.

Olivia put down the paper with a sigh of pleasure. “That was the best prize you could give me. I feared I would miss getting to read The Chronicle of the Arts and Sciences while I was away. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I subscribe.” He had to keep up with what was going on in theater, after all.

“So do I,” Grey said. “Feel free to read my issue if you wish. Mother always does. I send it to her once I’m done.”

“Wait, I do that, too,” Thorn said. “Mother is getting two issues every week? Why didn’t she say something?”

“Probably didn’t want to hurt our feelings,” Grey said. “And she may very well be passing one on to her friends. You know how generous she is.”

Beatrice shifted on her seat. “Speaking of your mother and her friends, did either of you know she had her come out at the same time as Grey’s Aunt Cora?”

“I certainly didn’t,” Grey said. “How can that be? Mother is nine years younger than Aunt Cora and married at seventeen, which, if they came out at the same time, would mean that Aunt Cora had her debut at twenty-six. But I suppose it’s not terribly unusual to wait that late, is it, my love?”

When Olivia looked confused, Beatrice said, “My husband is alluding to the fact that I was presented at court at twenty-six, after I had already married.”

“And Gwyn wasn’t presented until thirty,” Thorn pointed out. “But she’d been living abroad. And Beatrice had an inattentive guardian in her Uncle Armie. He never did his duty by her.”

“In my aunt’s case,” Grey said, “her family wasn’t wealthy, and they had four daughters. She was the youngest and had to wait until they could afford a London Season for her, although I’ve been told she was beautiful in her youth.”

Thorn mused on that a moment. “Actually, Lady Norley told me she came out with Mother, too.”

“When did she tell you that?” Beatrice asked with a particularly devious smile. “I thought you only met her last night, and I didn’t see you talking to her at the party.”

Grey’s eyes twinkled. “Nor I.”

Feeling Olivia’s gaze on him, he said, “Mother wasn’t aware of this, but I had actually met both Lady Norley and Miss Norley years ago.” Then to stave off more questions along that line, he added hastily, “And don’t forget that Lady Hornsby and Mother also came out together. They’ve been friends for years. Is it purely coincidence that we know all four women?”

“Of course not,” Beatrice said. “Our ages are roughly within a span of ten years, so it follows that our mothers might have known each other or even been close friends. Besides, ladies who have their debuts together have an unbreakable connection, forged of spending so much time in each other’s company. They meet the same men, go to many of the same events, and possibly even see the same sights, if they haven’t been to London before.”

Thorn glanced at Grey. “‘Meet the same men.’ Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Sorry, old chap, but I haven’t yet developed a talent for reading minds.”

Huffing out a breath, Thorn said, “If the four women met the same men, then they might also have competed for those men. And, with the obvious exception of Mother, one of the ladies might have been angry that your father didn’t pick her to marry.”

“Angry enough to poison the man?” Beatrice said.

Thorn frowned. Lady Norley had been angry enough to stoop to blackmail, so it was possible she at least would go so far as that. Although it was hard to see what she might gain by murdering the other dukes.

He looked over to find Olivia listening wide-eyed to the conversation. “Perhaps we should leave this discussion for family.”

“Why?” Grey said. “Miss Norley knows we asked her to Carymont to find out if my father was poisoned. So she obviously knows that we think he was murdered. No reason to mince words about it now.”

Olivia paled. “Wait a minute. Are you saying my stepmother might have