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Grizzy appeared at Mina’s side. How did she move so swiftly through a crowded room at her advanced age?
“I didn’t think you had it in you, Wilhelmina,” she said, steering Mina toward the back of the ballroom. “But you did it.”
“Did what?”
“Dazzled the duke.”
“No I didn’t.”
Grizzy stopped walking. “Take a look. Not too obvious, now. A small backward glance will suffice.”
What was she on about? Mina glanced over her shoulder.
Good lord. Thorndon was staring at her. Glaring might be a better word. Their gazes locked and time stopped. The crackling energy that surrounded him arced across the room, setting her cheeks ablaze and her heart pounding.
Why did he have to be so overbearingly good-looking?
“Thrust out your bosom,” instructed Grizzy. “Laugh a little. Toss your hair. Like this.” She made flipping motions against the precise gray curls hanging down from her towering coiffure.
When Mina just stood there, Grizzy glowered at her. “Flirt, girl,flirt. The Duke of Thorndon is staring at you.”
“I thought I was supposed to maintain an air of detached decorum.”
“There’s a time and a place for everything, and now is the time for thrusting out your bosom and flirting. He’s entranced.”
“You’ve had too much rum punch.”
Grizzy shook her head. “I know an entranced duke when I see one. He couldn’t take his eyes from you the entire time you danced. What were you speaking about?”
Grizzy must be wrong. Mina had thoroughly antagonized the duke. “He’s not entranced, he’s incensed. I insulted him.”
Another darting glance told her he wasstillstaring. She swiped a lock of hair out of her eyes impatiently. What did she have to do to be rid of his attention?
“That was perfect,” said Grizzy.
“I wasn’t flirting. My hair was in my eyes.”
“Now walk slowly away. Don’t look back again.”
“I think I’ll go to the retiring room and splash some water on my face.”
Grizzy gave her a knowing look. “Feeling a little faint? I don’t blame you. He’s handsome as sin.”
“It’s not that, it’s only the room is unbearably close and hot.”
“Take a moment to compose yourself, but then you must return and dance with another gentleman, to make the duke jealous.”
Mina promised to return even though she had no intention of dancing with anyone else until Lord Rafe arrived. She would have promised anything to make her escape.
Dancing with Thorndon had thrown her mind into a spin, like a child’s top set in motion. He was everything she’d thought he would be—rude, arrogant, controlling. He’d all but propositioned her on the dance floor and he’d done it just to make her blush, to assert his mastery over her emotions.
She should be angry, and she was, but she was also... spinning.
Splash her face with water. Attempt to restore equilibrium to her thoughts.
She might require a whole bucket of ice water to find her footing again.
She’d nearly made it to the retiring room when she saw the dreaded Duke of Marmont, another of the marriage prospects highlighted in the Duke Dossier, and his mother heading her way. She dove for the first cover she saw, a large grouping of potted ferns.
