“Gertie willneveruse them,” Cynthia replied drily. “They’re the Duke of Nottingvale’s skis now.”
“Isn’t it bad form to give away someone else’s possessions?”
“Isn’t it bad form to skate down a mountainside strapped to someone else’s possessions?”
“Touché. My skis. I’m happy to pay her for them.”
“I’d rather you introduce her to a young, single, eligible gentleman with deep pockets, an old title, a kind heart, and a penchant for pianoforte music.”
“Hmm.” They kept walking. “Well... there’s me.”
“You’re not young,” she reminded him. “You’re a spinster like me.”
He snorted. “No one thinks of you as a spinster.”
“Everyonethinks of me as a spinster. I have only to enter your ballroom and the mothers’ whispers begin at once.”
“Ah, well, I meant ‘no one with any sense.’ But I do see your point. Lady Gertrude is eighteen years, one month, and… let me count… nine days old.”
Cynthia giggled. “She regaled you with a few choice facts?”
“All of the facts,” he assured her. “I am now a Lady Gertrude expert. Which of the previous qualities you mentioned are the ones she seeks?”
“Penchant for pianoforte music,” Cynthia replied without hesitation. “Gertie would marry an actual pianoforte if she could.”
The duke was silent for a moment. “Why not let her?”
“I don’t... know if you know this,” Cynthia said slowly, “but pianofortes have a difficult time walking down wedding aisles in the local chapel.”
“I don’t mean literally marry one. But if she’d rather have music than a husband, why not let her, at least for a little while? She’s only eighteen. She has at least thirty-six more months before she turns irrevocably dusty and unmarriageable.”
“I would do so,” Cynthia said with feeling, “if it were up to me. Unfortunately, the only person with any say in the matter is Gertie’s father. The earl has decreed he will marry off his final daughter in January, come what may. EitherImatch her to deep pockets and a coronet, or her father will hand her off to a roué three times her age.”
“I see.” Alexander was silent for a moment. “I’ll make a few inquiries.”
“You will?” she said in surprise.
They exited the trees and emerged back atop the peak.
He turned to face her. “Why wouldn’t I? If it’s in my power to avert what sounds like a lifetime of misery for Lady Gertrude, then of course I’ll do my best to find her a match she can live with.”
A weight lifted from Cynthia’s chest.
“Thank you,” she said with a grateful smile. “It will be a Christmas miracle.”
“Shall I make inquiries for you as well?”
The smile slid from her face.
The duke was trying to be kind,not cruel, she reminded herself. He might kiss her at every opportunity, but they both knew those opportunities would soon end. He had never tried to mislead her. She’d understood the situation long before her lips first met his.
“I’m on the shelf,” she said tightly.
He shrugged. “People remove things from shelves all of the time.”
She stared at him, then swallowed.
“I’m not the right fit for the people in your echelons, and we both know it.”
