His brows lifted. “That… bad?”
“I would not wish to overstate matters.”
“Naturally.”
“It might encourage you.”
He pressed his hand to his chest. “A danger to us all.”
“Precisely.”
He leaned slightly nearer, enough that his voice lowered beneath the surrounding hum of conversation. “And what would constitute better thanthatbad?”
Frances’ pulse gave an inconvenient little leap. “Do not fish for compliments, Your Grace. It is unbecoming.”
“I was merely gathering information.”
“For what purpose?”
“Future improvement.”
She tried not to smile and failed. The trouble was that Andrew understood banter, not in the dull way some men did, where every jest became either flirtation too heavy to bear or condescension badly disguised. He met her precisely where shestood, with dry amusement and enough restraint that she could still breathe.
It made her forget, at intervals, that they were performing.
Then she noticed Lady Pembroke looking toward them from across the room with a satisfied gleam. Frances’ smile thinned.
Andrew followed her gaze. “What is it?”
“Our hostess appears pleased.”
“That is usually considered a success.”
“With herself, I mean, not us.”
“Ah.”
“I suspect she believes she has acquired the season’s most interesting entertainment.”
Andrew’s expression cooled. “Then let us disappoint her by being dull.”
“You? Dull? That would require tremendous effort.”
“I am prepared to sacrifice.”
“Very well,” Frances agreed with a nod. “For the remainder of the afternoon, we shall be dull, devoted, and entirely unremarkable.”
Andrew lifted his glass. “An ambitious program.”
They failed almost immediately. When Andrew offered her his arm before dinner, three ladies noticed. When Frances accepted a dish from him at table, Lord Pembroke smiled as though he had witnessed a declaration of undying affection. When Andrew quietly removed a sprig of parsley from the edge of her plate because she had been avoiding it with obvious disdain, Frances nearly laughed, and the woman across from her looked as if she might faint from delight.
Dinner was long. Frances survived it by sheer will, two glasses of wine, and a private game of identifying which guests were listening most shamelessly whenever Andrew spoke to her.
Afterward, when tea had been served and the gentlemen had rejoined the ladies, Lord Pembroke approached them with an air of genial authority.
“I trust everything has been arranged to your comfort,” he informed them.
“I am certain it has,” Andrew replied.
