“Oh, yes, Nathan and I are very happy, but we are hardly a boring, settled-down family,” she said, her eyes glittering. “I am raising his daughters from his first marriage, after all, and they are a handful! Arianna is only six years younger than me! It has created quite a few dramatic moments, let me tell you.”
Leah laughed. She was well aware of the dramatic moments caused by the fact Vivian, at twenty-five, was the chaperone for her nineteen-year-old step-daughter this Season. But it was also what she admired about Vivian: despite the potential hardships of marrying Lord Bellmond, she had done so, because she loved him. And he loved her so much that he had been sure it was true love from the moment he set eyes on her.
They were Leah’s favorite couple in the ton, and she never could quite understand why they were friends with her.
“Well, I would be happy with fewer dramatics in my own marriage,” Leah said. “Being quiet, comfortable, and settled down sounds very nice to me.” She didn’t add that the one aspect of Vivian’s marriage that she did envy--the passionate love between her and her husband--was something she would have to live without. It wasn’t worth even thinking about.
“Well, if you are happy with Lord Trembley, then I am happy for you,” Vivian said. “Now, we should get downstairs, before Emery comes looking for us. We don’t want to keep your future husband waiting.”
Leah followed Vivian down the stairs and into the drawing room, where drinks were being served. Sure enough, Lord Trembley was there, and the moment he saw her, he came over to her side.
“How lovely it is to see you again this evening, Lady Leah,” he said. “I took the liberty of bringing you a glass of champagne.”
“Thank you, Lord Trembley,” she murmured as she took the glass from him. “That is very thoughtful of you.”
“I was wondering,” he said, with a slight hesitation in his voice, “if I might ask for a moment alone with you tonight. There is something I very much wanted to--”
“Ahh, Lady Leah, there you are!” Leah looked up to see another suitor, Mr. Harding, walking toward her, a wide smile pasted onto his face. “I hope that Lord Trembley is not monopolizing you this evening.”
“Mr. Harding,” Lord Trembley said, his eyes narrowing. “What excellent timing, as always. Ahh, and there is Nottington.” Trembley gave Leah a pained look. “It seems as if I will be fighting for your attention again this evening.”
Her heart hammering, Leah looked around in the direction Trembley had been staring. Sure enough, the Duke of Nottington had just entered the drawing room, and he was headed straight to where she was surrounded by Trembley and Harding.
Leah’s heart leapt at the sight of him. He was here! He would witness her triumph tonight when Lord Trembley proposed. She smiled at him and nodded for him to join them. But as he drew closer, her smile slipped, and there was a small flutter of trepidation in her stomach. She wasn’t exactly sure why, but there was something about the steely glint in his eye that gave her a bad feeling.
Lady Leah looked more confident than Dorian had ever seen her. She was surrounded by two handsome gentlemen, both of whom he felt fairly certain would be very happy to have her as their bride, and she was beaming. G lowing, even. For a second, he felt a flicker of happiness for her: she was slowly but surely overcoming her fear of talking to gentlemen.
He also felt no small amount of pride and vindication in himself. If there was one thing Dorian loved, it was being right. And he had been right about Lady Leah, that she was not a hopeless case, and that he could find her a husband very quickly.
But there was another, darker feeling lurking beneath his satisfaction , and it was this one that seized hold of him as he walked over to where she was standing with Mr. Harding andLord Trembley. And right now, it was screaming at him that these men were not worthy to share the same air she breathed--let alone marry her.
“Your Grace,” Harding said, nodding to Dorian as he joined them. “How are you this evening?”
“Well, I would be better if you had paid me back the sum you have owed me for the past few months,” Dorian said, looking very pointedly at the man.
Mr. Harding flushed at once. “Of course, Your Grace,” he mumbled, shuffling his feet. “I should have had that back to you at the agreed-upon date.”
“Yes, you should have,” Dorian said dryly. He glanced over at Lady Leah, a smug smile on his face, and was stopped short by the furious look on her face. His stomach squirmed. Of course she was going to be annoyed at him for revealing one of her suitors was a lout who didn’t pay his debts. But he was doing her a favor! She wouldn’t want to be married to a man who couldn’t pay back a small sum.
“Please excuse me,” Mr. Harding said, bowing to Lady Leah. “I just remembered that I… need to be somewhere.”
He backed away from the group, red-faced, and then turned and hurried away. Dorian felt a flicker of satisfaction, even if Lady Leah was still looking daggers at him.
“Dispensing with your rivals, Your Grace?” Tembley said with a raised eyebrow. “For a sportsman, that wasn’t very sportsmanlike. ”
“The man owes me money,” Dorian said curtly. “I don’t need to apologize for reminding him.”
“Perhaps now is not the best time to do so,” Trembley said. “Especially in front of a lady. She does not want to hear about such unpleasantness.”
“No,” Lady Leah said coldly, “I do not.” She turned to Trembley and gave him a wide smile. “Perhaps we could go out to the garden for some fresh air? You said you wished to speak to me about in private…?”
Dorian’s stomach lurched. In private? Is Trembley really ready to propose after just three days?
“Before you go,” he interrupted, “I wanted to ask you, Lord Trembley, how Lady Claire Watson is? Or are you not still courting her?”
To his immense satisfaction, the superior look on Lord Trembley’s face immediately evaporated, and a sour expression replaced it. At the same time, Lady Leah’s face went rigid, and she glanced up at Trembley with wide eyes.
“I-I do not know of what you speak,” Trembley stammered, his eyes also darting to Lady Leah and then back to Dorian. “Lady Claire and I were only ever friends.”
