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His gaze went to the others in the room. The Duchess of Ravenshire sipped her tea as she gave a pretense of listening to Lord Whitney. Nick, on the other hand, made no move to feign interest in the conversation. He studied the buttons on his tailcoat. Lord Powell shifted in his chair and glanced around the room, and Lady Powell inspected her nails. Lady Whitney seemed to be the only person who had a sincere interest in the topic. Byron would have assumed Lady Eleanor cared about the topic since she kept asking him questions, but upon careful inspection, he realized she was more interested in keeping the conversation going than in what he was actually saying.
When the butler announced that dinner was ready, everyone but Lord and Lady Whitney jumped to their feet.
“I didn’t realize I had rambled on so much,” Lord Whitney said as he rose to his feet. “I apologize.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Nick assured him. “It’s good you have a passion for something. Life is too short to spend your time on pursuits that don’t interest you.”
“Yes,” the duchess agreed. “And there’s nothing wrong with discussing old empires. It’s much better than what some people talk about.”
“While that’s nice of you to say, I’ll try to keep my answers shorter in the future,” Lord Whitney said.
Lady Whitney slipped her arm around his and offered him a comforting smile. “You’re among friends here. You don’t need to be embarrassed.”
“Indeed, you don’t,” the Duke of Ravenshire added. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m ready to eat.”
At once, everyone’s attention went to the meal, and Lord Whitney finally relaxed. Byron held out his arm to Lady Eleanor. Though she accepted it, he caught the slight grimace on her face that let him know she wished someone other than him was escorting her to dinner this evening.
He resisted the urge to quietly warn her that she needed to act like she wanted to be with him this evening if the others were going to believe he wanted to be her suitor. The last thing he wanted was for her to accuse him of criticizing her. He could only hope no one noticed her lack of interest in him.
