Page 20 of Manufacturing a Duchess

She would see to that, if it was the last thing she did.

Seventeen

Finn would be escorting his mother down to supper, so now was the opportunity for Alec to find a way to be introduced to Lord and Lady Wentworth and request the pleasure of escorting Miss Hardcastle to dinner. So, at the minute the last note died out, he unobtrusively excused himself from his row but was abruptly blocked by Lady Hinsdale. He pulled himself up short to prevent his colliding with her.

“Lady Hinsdale,” he bowed.

“Your Grace,” she answered. “There is someone I would like you to meet.” She took his arm without giving him the opportunity to object and directed them both at a fairly rapid pace to the Wentworths. “Lord Wentworth, Lady Wentworth,” she said, and they acknowledged one another. “May I present to you Lord Raeburn, Duke of Selkirk?” and with that Lady Hinsdale seemingly vanished, like some type of fairy godmother.

A trifle stunned by the efficiency of the entire maneuver, Alec bowed. “Lord Wentworth, Lady Wentworth.”

Lord Wentworth bowed in return; Lady Wentworth curtsied.

“Your Grace,” said Lord Wentworth. “My wife, Lady Wentworth. My daughter, the Honorable Millicent Wentworth. And her companion, Miss Aurora Hardcastle.”

Millicent and Aurora both curtsied. Millicent ducked her head but allowed Alec to see the faintest hint of dimples. He found himself enchanted. He struggled to pull his eyes away from her mesmerizingly beautiful face and proceed with the business at hand.

* * *

Aurora’s heart was pounding too strongly for her to have any presence of mind at all. She stared determinedly down at her shoe and caught, as the roaring in her ears subsided, the end of Alec’s words.

“—have the pleasure of escorting Miss Hardcastle to supper?”

“With pleasure, Your Grace, with pleasure.” Lady Wentworth seconded her husband’s spoken words a slight nod.

Numbly, Aurora put her hand on the Duke of Selkirk’s arm and allowed him to lead her out of the room. She knew she must make some sort of conversation, though for the life of her, she couldn’t think of what to say (though, ridiculously, Homer’s “All thou know’st speak, and be confident” kept rolling about in her head like some type of demented chant).

“Did you enjoy the music, Miss Hardcastle?”

“Oh, yes, entirely.” Then, realizing she had perhaps spoken with more vehemence than was called for in the moment, she continued, “The musicians were very fine, as was the soprano.”

“Are you an aficionado of Bach? I confess I am a great admirer of his work.”

At this she turned and looked directly at him, unable to stop the surprise from spilling across her face. “Oh, yes. I have heard some of his pieces played before, but never with such polish. There is a cleanness to the construction of the phrases, the way they counterpoint each other, weave in and out. It is a beauty of mathematics. For mathematics and music are one and the same, I think, or at least, very close.”

* * *

It was Alec’s turn to look at her with surprise. This was turning into a far more interesting conversation than he had expected. “So, you see music and mathematics as connected?”

“Most definitely so. If you take a piece by Bach apart, you can see the formulae. The equations are not cold and unfeeling, however. Instead, they are precisely the opposite. They are music.”

“Indeed, Miss Hardcastle. This was most decidedly not a perception I had anticipated to find here this evening.”

“What did you expect, then?”

“Something along the nature of, ‘Oh, yes, it was fine music. I have not heard the like since Lady Y’s concert,’ or some such chitchat.”

“Oh, dear,” Aurora responded. “Then my reply was not entirely apropos.”

“Perhaps not. It was a musician’s reply. You obviously know music.”

“Yes, it is something I love. I have always wanted to learn to play the violin. I was dissuaded as it is not a lady’s instrument. I can play the pianoforte. I am indifferent on the harp.”

Alec couldn’t stop his smile. “Truth to tell, many are indifferent on the harp.” He paused. “I can play the violin.”

“You can? How wonderful.”

“It is many years since I played. I fear I have lost whatever skill I once possessed.”