With some relief, she dashed across the room, just as Orchid and Rose skipped inside.
“Thereyou are, Miss Jasper!” Rose said brightly. “Look who we’ve brought—oh, ma’am, don’t you look lovely!”
“Thank you,” Carina said repressively. “I have to make up the numbers at...” She broke off for a complete stranger had entered at Lily’s heels—a youth with rather wild dark blond hair and a wide smile. He must have been about Lily’s own age.
“This is Duncan,” Rose said, beaming. “He goes to school, so he doesn’t need a governess.”
“How heartening,” Carina said. “Good evening, Duncan.”
They boy bowed civilly, but Carina barely noticed for a shadowy figure entered behind him and smiled at her and stopped her heart.
Lord Durward.
DURWARD SMILED SIMPLYbecause he had found her at last and just seeing her filled him with happiness. Obviously, with what seemed like a roomful of children between them, she could not rush into his arms as he had dreamed, and he retained enough decorum to do no more than smile.
She did not smile back. Beyond the faintest widening of her eyes, she did not move. She was stunned, he thought uneasily. She seemed to sway, and he started forward, afraid she would faint. But even as he pushed past Duncan, she reached out and grasped the corner of the table beside her. She wasn’t wearing gloves, so he saw the force of her grip in her white knuckles.
He paused, suddenly uncertain. And remembered finally to bow. “Miss Jasper. How do you do?”
“My lord,” she returned, inclining her head with the smallest dip of a curtsey. “I am in something of a hurry. If Mr. Duncan Travis would like to join my charges for schoolroom supper, he is most welcome. Mildred, the nursery maid, will be along presently. Orchid, I hope to be back by your bedtime. Excuse me.”
She whirled around and vanished into the next room, closing the door behind her.
Durward, who had rarely felt so helpless in his life, stared after her.
“Lady G. must have summoned her to dine,” the eldest girl, Lily, said. “I expect your arrival upset the numbers.”
The middle girl, Rose, nodded wisely. “Lady G. sets great store by such matters.”
“She wasn’t pleased to see you,” said the youngest child accusingly.
“Actually, she wasn’t,” the boy, Alexander, said, turning a suspicious frown upon Durward. “Are yousureyou are her friend?”
“Yes.” There was no point in being haughty around children, although Duncan was developing a thunderous frown. Durward nudged him to distract him from unwanted fraternal defence. “Perhaps she has forgotten. Ah, is this your nursemaid? Then I shall leave you and go down to dinner. Best behaviour, Duncan...”
Having arrived at Grand Court only half an hour previously and been bearded by the children as soon as he had climbed into evening clothes, he had not yet met anyone of the assembled party save his hosts.
As he strolled into the salon next to the dining room, where everyone had gathered, he was greeted by an unexpected chorus of welcome that sounded almost like a cheer. Snake Sanderly was the first to grasp his hand. Lord Wolf thumped him on the back, grinning. The Duke of Isbourne raised his glass from the other side of the room. A vaguely familiar blond man inclined his head and abruptly, Durward placed him.
“Captain Berry, the Duck and Spoon,” he said, sticking out his hand as he recalled the wild night of drinking and gaming that had followed the Mullins fight, in that other life before he had gone to Harwich. “This is quite the reunion!”
“Talking of which,” Sanderly drawled, “you may make your bow to my bride to be, Miss Cole.”
Another wave of familiarity washed over Durward as he greeted a rather lovely young lady with laughing eyes, who seemed torn between smiling at him and glaring at her betrothed. Yes, he had seen her before, and dash it,thathad been at the Duck and Spoon too. A wet and bedraggled youngwoman, a goat, a collection of impudent, leering drunks, and Snake taking advantage...
And if Durward had, somewhat reprehensibly, joined in the merriment as she had been teased from all sides. Blinking, he gazed from the girl who was clearly daring him to mention the Duck and Spoon to her, and Sanderly, whose face looked utterly bland, apart from his eyes which threatened doom.
Durward tried not to laugh and instead bowed low over Miss Cole’s hand. “Enchanted, ma’am. Your devoted servant.”
“Lord Durward,” Snake murmured, as though she would not have worked it out.
Lady Grandison bustled up. “Durward, you have the honour of taking my goddaughter in to dine. Sanderly, be so good as to escort Lady Sark...”
Durward, while intrigued by Miss Cole and her story with Sanderly, felt somewhat chagrined not to be escorting Carina. He needed to know the reason for her coldness. He needed to talk to her, just be with her. But his quick glance about the room did not find her.
He did, however, catch the eyes of two people from Harwich who smiled at him as though he were their best friends. His hackles rose. Sir Hugh Mansel, who had all but assaulted Carina, and his social-climbing wife. Were they the reason for Carina’s upset? He would make a point of watching Mansel.
“So when exactly is the wedding?” he asked Miss Cole.
