Giles knew in an instant that Dalton had been up to some sort of trickery. “Whatever he has said, do not believe a word of it!”
Miss Blessy turned to him. “Who should we not believe, Lord Grayson?”
Miss Dell’s brows raised ever so slightly, as if she dared him to say more.
Both Sir John and Dalton had turned away from their dinner companions at the sound of his raised voice.
“I only say, Miss Dell, that there are those lords who will prevaricate for their own purposes,” Giles said.
“As I understand it, Lord Grayson,” Miss Dell said, her voice as cold as ice.
Chapter Ten
In the country,Kitty had sometimes gazed through her telescope and watched a murmuration of starlings at dusk. As they dropped from towering heights and broke apart and came together and swooped up again, her logical mind said they were specially built for such activity. Her less than logical mind said they must be sickeningly dizzy.
She felt sickeningly dizzy at this moment. Curled up on the soft velvet chair in her sitting room, she grasped the armrests lest she lose her balance. She had come upon too much information for one evening, and she knew not what to believe. Like a starling, she could not easily determine which way to go.Unlikea starling, she did not have close neighbors in flight who would signal the direction.
Her sole aim that evening had been to test Lord Grayson on his knowledge of Shakespeare. She wished to discover if Penny was right—did the lord only keep a few phrases in his pocket to use for effect?
It did not seem so. He had accused Sir John of speakingan infinite deal of nothing. If her memory served her, that was from theMerchant of Venice.Then, when she’d said,every man has his fault, and honesty is his, he’d recognized it instantly fromTimon of Athens. It was an obscure line to have recognized. She supposed she could at least conclude that if Lord Grayson thought to use Shakespeare as a means of flirtation, he had memorized a vast amount of it.
She wished that were the only thing she must think of.
There had been the conversation between herself, the lord, and Sir John. Lord Grayson was actually doing something to solve the mystery of Veritas. At least, he said he was. Could she be sure of that, though? And even if he were not doing anything, if it were only some strategy to slip into her good graces, why had Sir John been so perspiring and angry over the notion?
All of that had been only a lead-up to what she would be informed of at dinner.
She had not been enthused to find Lord Dalton on her left. She found him a rather frightening sort of person and had not the first idea of what they might talk about.
It would have been well if they had gone down the road of usual subjects, but Lord Dalton would not have it so. In fact, he had been far more direct than one was used to experiencing at a dinner. His words were burned into her memory.
“Miss Dell, forgive me if I overstep, but I would warn you off Grayson.”
Kitty had not quite known how to answer, only that she longed to hear his reasons. Would they tip the scales on her wavering opinion?
“How so, Lord Dalton?” she’d said. “I understood you to be Lord Grayson’s friend. Do you say something against him?”
“Heismy friend, Miss Dell,” Lord Dalton said. “As are many other gentlemen I would not introduce to a sister.”
Kitty was both shocked and wishing for more. Why would Lord Dalton say such a thing as that? Why would he condemn his friend as not fit for refined society? It was true that Lord Grayson was known as a terrible flirt, but she had not heard anything more dreadful against him.
“As you have spoken plainly, and strongly,” Kitty said, “I think it my prerogative to ask you to be specific in your charges.”
Lord Dalton had seemed irritated by the notion, as if he were not in the habit of being questioned. Kitty did not fill the silence, however. She only waited for him to answer.
Finally, he said, “I had hoped to avoid shocking what I am sure are your delicate sensibilities. At least, I am told that all young ladies have delicate sensibilities these days. However, if you insist on knowing—he has laid bets at his club that he can engage your affection. He does it every year with some girl or other. I thought to warn you off as I am growing tired of the game. It does not do him credit to injure a lady’s reputation. Now, I find it does not domecredit, as he is living in my house.”
Kitty had been dumbstruck. Whatever she had thought of Lord Grayson, she had not thought that. Her name was mentioned in a gentlemen’s club? It waswritten downin a club book? And in such an outrageous manner?
“By the by,” Lord Dalton said, “I have bet against him. I think, this time, he may have set his sights on a lady too intelligent to fall for his amorous gambits.”
“I was never in the slightest danger, my lord,” Kitty said.
Had she meant it though? Or had she allowed herself to believe that Lord Grayson was somehow different from what everybody said he was? She had believed that he’d taken up the challenge of unmasking Veritas and that had made such a difference!
Then, there was the source of the condemnation to consider—Lord Dalton. She did not know him well, but there was something she did not entirely trust about him. For that matter, Penny had not said much about him, but she did not seem to love him. At least, not as she did other of Lord Cabot’s friends. She was very approving of the Lords Hampton, Ashworth, and Lockwood.
Was Lord Dalton to be trusted? Or was he also playing at some game? If he were, she could not fathom what it was.
