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“He is twice her age,” Miss Wilshire added in a hushed, scandalized voice. Leticia glared at her younger sister.
“I think his experience is quite an asset,” Leticia said, holding her head high as though she passed superior knowledge down to the unmarried girls.
“The asset will be when he passes sooner than you, and you have decades of your own freedom,” Lady Pembroke said.
“Lady Pembroke,” Mrs. Fenton cried, shocked. “Really, I think your cynicism is showing.”
“We are among friends here, are we not?” Lady Pembroke asked, raising an eyebrow as a challenge. “Perhaps Lady Hillow does not know the latest gossip quite yet.”
“Lady Pembroke’s husband is notorious for laying with any pretty, young thing he can find,” Leticia leaned over to tell Edwina though she did not seem to try to keep her voice low.
“Not all of us can have as doting husbands as yours,” Mrs. Fenton scolded her.
“Albert is simply wrapped around my finger,” Leticia explained as an aside to Edwina again with a gloating smile.
“What is your Duke like?” Miss Beasley asked Edwina directly. Her frank and open expression made Edwina feel as though she was genuinely interested.
“I think him rather doting; though, of course, we have only been married barely two weeks now.”
“Of course,” Leticia smiled tightly.
Suddenly, Edwina regretted having accepted the invitation to take tea with these ladies. Her head spun, trying to keep up with the different directions they pulled the conversation. She felt constantly on the defense with them and terribly unequipped to manage their sly insults.
“He sounds dark and mysterious,” Polly commented. “I do think it would be interesting to meet him. You should invite us all over the Hillow House sometime. You live out in Kensington, do you not?”
“It must be terribly lonely, all the way out in the country,” Lady Pembroke said.
“I do love the gardens and the grand house,” Edwina said quickly. Then, even though she did not really mean it, she added, “And I would love to host you all sometime.”
“Are you sure the Duke would allow company?” Leticia asked. “Especially if he is so reclusive.”
“I am sure of it,” Edwina promised. Smiling politely, she tried to think of a way to change the subject and set her eyes on poor Miss Beasley. “So, Miss Beasley, have you had any suitors this season?”
“Oh, one or two,” she smiled with a blush. “There is this handsome young man, a Mr. Cowlitz, who has been sending me flowers daily.”
“How romantic!” Edwina cried, genuinely happy for the younger girl.
“Now that you are a duchess, though, I suppose you can have all the flowers you could possibly want without needing a suitor to give them to you,” Miss Beasley continued. Edwina groaned internally to have the conversation brought back to her.
“I must admit, Hillow House is a grand place to live,” Edwina said, “including all the flowers across the grounds.”
“Being a duchess must have its charms, for sure,” Lady Pembroke agreed. “After all, she now outranks us all.”
“From a lowly baron’s daughter to a duchess with considerable wealth,” Leticia commented. She cocked her head with an air of curiosity. “How did you do it?”
Edwina pressed her mouth into a thin line, ready to retort at Leticia's rudeness, but Mrs. Fenton rescued her, exclaiming, “Why, the same as any of us did. With our beauty and wit!”
* * *
When Edwina arrived back home, later that afternoon, she felt exhausted. She had been on her guard through the entire conversation. Perhaps the other ladies were used to it, having grown up with each other and other members of theton, but she was not. She did not like all the implications about Fergus or the gossiping about other members of theton.
The thought of Fergus, waiting at home for her, kept her spirits high. As soon as she returned to Hillow House, she searched the halls for him. When she found him in the library, he looked at her with a smile.
“How did your tea go?” he asked.
She collapsed on the couch beside him. “Those women are like vultures,” she sighed.
He closed his book, smile fading. “Did you not have a good time?”
