Page 79 of The Duke’s Wager

It had been nearly a week since they’d become one. The only positive thing on his mind was the fact that she had agreed to attend the ball – she would convince her father, he knew, even if Henry refused.

It was this ball that had kept him so busy now, far too busy to sneak off and see her, leading to a rather irritable mood.

“There you are!”

Unlike Edward, Evelyn seemed to be in a rather joyous state. She approached him with a smile and gestured around happily.

“It looks quite lovely, does it not?”

Though he could not care less what it looked like, Edward took great care to nod. The thought of seeing Lucy again, however, was enough for his mood to vastly improve.

“The invitations are going out today.”

Evelyn glanced at him as he said this, and a small smile formed on his face without him truly being aware of it.

“You look different, my darling grandson.”

The messenger entered the ballroom before Edward could respond to his grandmother’s observation, and he watched quietly as she handed him a few envelopes. It was the top one that drew his attention, and Evelyn patted the man’s hand gently.

“Please, make sure that you deliver this directly to Lord Birchrook – not a messenger, not a servant, not a doorman. Directly to his lordship.”

Jealousy rose within Edward as he watched the other man take the envelope. He would see Lucy today – perhaps even talk to her – when it was all that Edward himself wanted.

Evelyn turned back to him as the messenger left, a polite smile still plastered on her face. “I hear that Lord Birchrook requires the invitations to be hand-delivered directly to him. Can you believe that?”

He could. Everything Lucy had told him about her father made this requirement seem rather plausible indeed. He did not respond to his grandmother, however. His current of thought was already headed elsewhere… in the direction the lucky messenger was already traveling.

* * *

“Lucy!”

Lucy shot up in her bed when her father’s voice reverberated through the room. He sounded almost excited. This was rather different for him, and she swung her legs over the bed, rushing down eagerly.

What on earth could have happened for him to be so?

“Lucy! Get down here, girl!”

The voice made her hurry even more, and she thundered down the stairs, eagerly looking into her father’s pleased eyes.

“It seems that we made quite the impression on the Duke and Duchess of Hartford.”

Lucy’s heart skipped a beat at this. Lady Evelyn liked them? Of course, Edward had promised her that his grandmother would love her, but she had no idea that it was possible – especially after how rudely her father had been in their presence, along with the awful reputation she knew he had.

Henry held an invitation up with a self-satisfied smirk.

“We have been invited to a ball at the Lockhart estate.”

Though she was excited about this, Lucy could not help but be curious. “I thought you did not approve of the Lockharts.”

She was rather surprised by her father’s eagerness to visit the Lockhart estate. In truth, when she had promised Edward that she would attend the ball, she had quite some doubt that her father would agree to go.

“I do not approve of Lord Edward. He squanders the family fortune and humiliates himself with his conquests of women. The Duke and Duchess, however, are rather influential people and it would be to our advantage to continue to make an impression on them.”

Lucy was barely aware of what her father was saying. The mere mention of Edward’s name was enough to throw her back to the night they had spent together.

Her entire body grew hot at the thought. She had been so close to him. For those glorious minutes, they had been one, and it had been marvelous. She wanted to be as close to him again – she was rather certain that she was addicted to the feel of his skin against hers.

“Yes…” Henry was still speaking, blissfully unaware of his daughter’s thoughts trailing far beyond what was proper. “It would not do to reject an invitation from the Lockharts. They have influential friends too, and inviting us… Well, of course, we should be of the same social standing as them, but they have been lucky in life! Now, perhaps getting closer to them, could allow us some of that luck—”