Page 29 of Miss Kimble Bites Back

“If I were you, I would find a way to take anything the duke might put in front of you tomorrow, too,” Daisy whispered, and then chuckled. “Oh, that was wicked of me, wasn’t it? I should add make sure he’ll marry you first, of course, before too much excitement happens between you.”

Gabby gaped. When Justine was not around, Daisy became more outspoken and blunt and had revealed the startling fact that she was no sheltered young miss, either. She knew a lot more about the behavior of amorous men and women than Gabby had ever suspected could exist.

Despite Daisy’s blunt honesty, Gabby still had not admitted that she’d almost been kissed by the Duke of Mamble. Gabby leaned close to whisper in Daisy’s ear, “What would be considered too much?”

“A kiss, a close embrace, a little panting,” Daisy said with a laugh. “But if it feels right…”

“Feels right?”

Every moment with Mamble had felt wonderful. She recalled with perfect clarity how he’d almost kissed her. She’d wanted his lips on hers. She might have let him get all the way to a little panting, too. But that had been long after her foolish declaration to him about admiring Lord Brookes.

She had not understood at the time how she could have felt that way about the duke if she was intent on catching Lord Brookes’ eye. Why she’d not been more concerned about her virtue around the duke? Now she was no longer torn over her initial attraction to the two men though. However, she’d no idea if it could be more.

Mamble, a man who made her decidedly unsettled, was a duke and so far above her she didn’t truly imagine he could have any serious interest. He’d even told her so.

Brookes was a well-to-do viscount, but not as rich as the duke must surely be. He might have always intended to marry a woman who brought riches to his pocket. Justine’s dowry was greater than Gabby’s.

Gabby turned to find her friend in the crowd. Justine had claimed disinterest in Brookes, but there she was, standing right beside him again and smiling up at him.

“Daisy, are we sure Justine is not in love with anyone?” Gabby asked, finally willing to consider the possibility Justine had not been truthful about ambitions for matrimony.

“She never said so to me,” Daisy whispered back. “But then she was always more your friend than mine. Why do you ask?”

“It’s probably nothing. Just my imagination getting the worst of me,” Gabby promised.

“Best to turn your mind to being whatever the Duke of Mamble might desire instead,” Daisy suggested before being pulled away to dance with a friend of her glowering guardian’s.

Gabby still had no dance partners and moved back to her cousin Bennett’s side, but she kept an eye on Justine. The woman still ignored her. Had Gabby been entirely wrong about their friendship surviving the rigors of the season? Would they even get to the end of it and still be speaking?

She dropped her eyes to her fingers, wishing the duke had stayed a little longer to distract her. Not because he was rich and powerful, but because he was the only man she’d met who she felt spoke to her as if her opinion mattered.

A duke could do largely as he pleased, and that could also extend to making a marriage to someone without a vast dowry other men might insist upon. Perhaps Daisy had the right of it. Perhaps she ought to have aimed a little higher in her expectations.

Of all the balls she’d known Mamble to have attended in recent weeks, he’d only danced with a few ladies. Herself, and older married friends of his. Gabby had danced with Mamble twice but had not taken the time to appreciate the experiences. Would it be weeks before they might dance together again?

Brookes had done nothing to earn or keep her admiration. It had been Gabby pursuing the idea of him as a husband all along, and as she saw Justine laugh and attach herself to the viscount’s arm, she acknowledged she might have made a miscalculation.

Bennett nudged her. “Why so great a sigh?”

She looked up at her cousin. Bennett believed she would make a good match. But there was no one beside the duke that appealed to her. “I think I should like to go home early.”

“Oh? Why?”

“I just…I think I have a headache coming on,” she fibbed, hoping that was explanation enough to obtain his agreement. Bennett had quite enjoyed the balls they’d been attending lately. He’d earned his own string of feminine admirers too. He liked to dance and flirt and do all the things bachelors could to win over feminine hearts. Though he had not shown particular interest in any one woman so far.

Bennett slowly nodded. “Very well, we can leave after you’ve said good night to Daisy and told Lady Windermere. You’ve thrown yourself into the season with vigor, but perhaps you ought to be more selective of the invitations you accept.”

“Yes, perhaps I should,” she promised. She did not tell Bennett yet that she was expecting to find an invitation to join the duke’s sister for tea tomorrow, or that she was eager to accept it. He would find out for himself soon enough and would most likely agree that such an invitation could not possibly be declined.

She wanted to see Cordelia and the Duke of Mamble again very much.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Sebastian paused before the drawing room doors the next day and cautiously glanced inside, curious to know what he’d find. Cordelia had been up at first light, flitting about the house, and was now arranging flowers for her first ever at-home since he’d inherited his title.

It was obvious she was nervous.

He was too.