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“Anyone looking at you can tell exactly what you’re looking at. And it’s not her face. Should I tell her aunt about that?”
Derrick felt his face getting warm and he looked at the floor. He had been so fixated on Lady Eleanora that he hadn’t noticed that he was staring at her breasts instead of her face. There was something about the way they pressed against the fabric of her dress that drew him in.
It was probably a good thing it was Cliveton-Smythe who saw him looking at her like this and not Randall, or Derrick wouldn’t hear the end of it.
“Maybe you should distract yourself with something else before you really make a fool of yourself,” Cliveton-Smythe suggested. “How about we go into my study and have a brandy?”
“Don’t you want to hear Lady Regina play? She’s very good, and you wanted to hear her.”
“I think trying to get you not to openly stare at a woman’s… assets is a little more important. I’m sure I can hear her another time.” The old man took his arm. “Come on, we won’t be long. I’m sure nobody will notice that we’ve gone.”
Derrick decided he could do with a brandy. Although he would prefer a bucket of cold water dunked over his head instead.
Chapter 5
“Thank you, Brent,” Derrick said as he looked at himself in the mirror. “You can take the rest of the evening off now.”
“Very good, my lord.” His valet started to tidy up. “What time will you be returning?”
“I don’t know. Tell Barnaby to leave the key to the front door on the table in the foyer, and I’ll lock up when Mother and I return.”
“I’ll let him know.”
Brent bowed and left the room. Derrick took one last look in the mirror, smoothing his hair down. Why did it always seem to get out of place when he wanted it looking perfect?
Then he shook himself. What on earth was he doing? Never had he taken so much care in his appearance before. He just made sure that he looked presentable, and that was it. This was out of character for him.
Because you are hoping to see Lady Eleanora again. You want to look more than presentable for her.
Derrick growled and shoved that thought away. This was not the reason. It couldn’t be. But the idea was still there, lingering on the edge of his thoughts. And it wasn’t going away.
It had been three days since they last saw each other at Cliveton-Smythe’s house, and those three days had been painful. It felt like Lady Eleanora Drummond had consumed his thoughts, and it left Derrick on the back foot. He could just see those lovely brown eyes, that delightful smile, the curvy body with those full breasts…
His thoughts were starting to wander towards the erotic, and Derrick couldn’t afford that now. His mother was going to be waiting for him, and Derrick wasn’t about to walk around with clear evidence of his desire for someone. That was bad enough in front of the servants, but in front of his mother would be mortifying.
Trying to think of something that would cool the ardour, like walking through snow without a coat on like he had done when he was fourteen and how he had almost frozen to death, Derrick left his bedchamber and headed downstairs. Lady Northampton was already in the foyer, looking splendid in a dark green dress that seemed to shimmer in the candlelight. She looked around as Derrick joined her.
“You look magnificent, Mother,” Derrick said, taking her hand and bowing. “I’m sure you’ll be coming away with a proposal of your own if you carry on like this.”
“Oh, Derrick, stop it!” The dowager countess swatted his arm. “That is not going to happen. At least not before you find yourself a wife.”
“Mother…”
“You’ve not got much longer until you turn thirty. And I’ve already got someone in mind as your wife.” His mother turned away and the butler put a shawl around her shoulders. “I think she’ll be far better than the women you would consider ideal to be your countess.”
Derrick highly doubted it. His mother was picky, and she would look at qualities that Derrick didn’t deem important. His pairing, should his mother take charge, would be very mismatched.
He hated having this sort of pressure on his shoulders. It was getting harder to find someone he wanted to marry, even as he admitted to himself that he would like to.
Maybe you have found yourself someone, but you’re not willing to admit it.
“Come along, Derrick,” Lady Northampton called as she strode to the front door. “Let’s go. I want you to make an impression on the young women present tonight before anyone else gets to them. You have to make them want more than just simple conversation.”
“Mother!”
“I was your age once. I’m not too stupid to know what happens, or what a woman wants.”
Derrick couldn’t look at the butler as he followed his mother out. God, even at his age, Lady Northampton could embarrass him. It seemed like, as people got older, they didn’t care what they said. Derrick hoped he could get away with it when he was a little older, too.
