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“No,” she said quickly, “of course not. It was my mistake. I was just sitting back there.” She motioned behind her. “You looked rather like the duke as you walked by.”
Indeed, the two gentlemen even shared the same stride. How odd. Amelia had not realized that she could recognize Thomas’s walk, but the moment she’d seen this man, she immediately realized that they moved in the same way.
He swept into a gracious bow. “Captain Jack Audley, at your service, ma’am.”
She bobbed a polite curtsy. “Lady Amelia Willoughby.”
“Wyndham’s fiancée.”
“You know him, then? Oh, well, of course you do. You are a guest here.” Then she recalled their conversation back at the Happy Hare. “Oh, you must be his fencing partner.”
Captain Audley stepped forward. “He told you about me?”
“Not much,” she admitted, trying not to look at the bruise on his cheek. It could not be a coincidence that both he and Thomas showed signs of an altercation.
“Ah, this,” Captain Audley murmured. He looked somewhat embarrassed as he touched his fingers to his cheek. “It looks much worse than it actually is.”
She was trying to figure out the best way to ask him about it when he added, in a most conversational tone, “Tell me, Lady Amelia, what color is it today?”
“Your cheek?” she asked, surprised by his forthrightness.
“Indeed. Bruises tend to look worse as they age, have you noticed? Yesterday it was quite purple, almost regally so, with a hint of blue in it. I haven’t checked in the mirror lately.” He turned his head, offering her a better view. “Is it still as attractive?”
Amelia stared at him in awe, unsure of what to say. She had never met anyone quite so glib. It had to be a talent.
“Er, no,” she finally replied, since it made absolutely no sense to lie when he was within ten feet of a mirror. “I would not call it attractive.”
He laughed. “No mincing words for you, eh?”
“I’m afraid those blue undertones of which you were so proud have gone a bit green.” She smiled, rather pleased with her analysis.
He leaned in, smiling wickedly. “To match my eyes?”
“No,” she said, finding herself quite immune to his charms, although she did recognize them to be legion, indeed. The man probably had women falling at his feet at every turn. “Not with the purple overlaying it,” she explained. “It looks quite horrible.”
“Purple mixed with green makes…?”
“Quite a mess.”
He laughed again. “You are charming, Lady Amelia. But I am sure your fiancé tells you that on every possible occasion.”
She was not quite certain how to reply to that. Certainly not every possible occasion. But today had been different. Better.
“Do you await him here?” the captain asked.
“No, I just—” She caught herself before she said that she’d just seen Thomas. She had never been good at telling tales. “I am here to see Miss Eversleigh.”
Something intriguing flickered in his eyes, so she asked, “Have you met Miss Eversleigh?”
“Indeed I have. She is most lovely.”
“Yes,” Amelia said. Everyone thought so, didn’t they? She pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth just long enough to hide the fact that she wanted to frown, and added, “She is universally admired.”
“Are you and Miss Eversleigh acquaintances?” the captain asked.
“Yes. I mean, no. More than that, I should say. I have known Grace since childhood. She is most friendly with my elder sister.”
“And surely with you, as well.”
“Of course.” Amelia dipped her chin in acknowledgment. To do anything else would imply that Grace was less than gracious, which would be a falsehood. It was not Grace’s fault that Thomas held her in such high esteem. And this gentleman, too, if his interest was any indication. “But more so with my sister. They are of an age, you see.”
“Ah, the plight of the younger sibling,” he murmured sympathetically.
Amelia looked at him with interest. “You share the experience?”
“Not at all,” he said with a grin. “I was the one ignoring the hangers-on. I was the eldest of the brood. A fortuitous position, I think. I should have been most unhappy not to have been in charge.”
Amelia understood that well. She’d often thought she was a different person with Elizabeth than she was with Milly. “I am the second of five,” she said, “so I can appreciate your sentiments as well.”
“Five!” He looked impressed. “All girls?”
Amelia’s lips parted with surprise. “How did you know?”
“I have no idea,” he replied, “except that it is such a charming image. It would have been a shame to have sullied it with a male.”
Good heavens, he was a rogue. “Is your tongue always this silver, Captain Audley?”
And, indeed, the smile he gave her was positively lethal. “Except,” he said, “when it’s gold.”
“Amelia!”
They both turned. Grace had entered the room. “And Mr. Audley,” she said, with some surprise.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Amelia said, somewhat confused. “I thought it was Captain Audley.”
“It is,” he said with a very slight shrug. “Depending upon my mood.” He turned to Grace and bowed. “It is indeed a privilege to see you again so soon, Miss Eversleigh.”
Grace curtsied in return. “I did not realize you were here.”
“There is no reason why you should have done,” Mr. Audley said politely. “I was heading outside for a restorative walk when Lady Amelia intercepted me.”
“I thought he was Wyndham,” Amelia told Grace. “Isn’t that the oddest thing?”
“Indeed,” Grace replied.
Amelia thought Grace’s voice sounded a bit irregular, but it was probably just a bit of dust in her throat. It seemed impolite to mention it, however, and so she said, “Of course I was not paying much att
ention, which I am sure explains it. I only caught sight of him out of the corner of my eye as he strode past the open doorway.”
Captain, er, Mister Audley turned to Grace. “It makes so much sense when put that way, does it not?”
“So much sense,” Grace echoed. She glanced over her shoulder.
“Are you waiting for someone, Miss Eversleigh?” he inquired.
“No, I was just thinking that his grace might like to join us. Er, since his fiancée is here, of course.”
Amelia swallowed awkwardly, grateful that neither one of them was looking at her. Grace did not know that she had spent the entire morning with Thomas. Or that she was supposed to have been shopping in Stamford. And she never would, Amelia thought, with the beginnings of irritation, if Mr. Audley did not go on his way. Hadn’t he said he wanted to take a walk?
“Is he returned, then?” Mr. Audley asked. “I was not aware.”
“That is what I have been told,” Grace said. “I have not seen him myself.”
“Alas,” Mr. Audley said, “he has been absent for some time.”
Amelia tried to catch Grace’s attention but was unable to do so. Thomas would not like it to be well-known that he had been so impaired the night before—and this morning as well, for that matter.
“I think I should get him,” Grace said.
“But you only just got here,” Mr. Audley said.
“Nonetheless—”
“We shall ring for him,” Mr. Audley said firmly, and he crossed the room to the bellpull. “There,” he said, giving it a good yank. “It is done.”
Amelia looked at Grace, whose face now held a vague expression of alarm, and then back to Mr. Audley, who was placidity personified. Neither spoke, nor did either seem to recall that she was in the room with them.
It did make one wonder just what, exactly, was going on.
Amelia looked back to Grace, since she knew her better, but Grace was already hurrying across the room to the sofa. “I believe I will sit down,” she mumbled.
“I will join you,” Amelia said, recognizing an opportunity to have a private word. She took a seat directly next to Grace, even though there was quite a length of cushion. All she needed was for Mr. Audley to excuse himself, or look the other way, or do anything other than follow the two of them about the room with those catlike green eyes of his.
