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Chapter Twelve
Eleanor received word late the next morning from Tara asking ifLadies of Gracecould pay her a visit. Excited, she ran to her father’s den and showed him the missive.
“Do you think this means they want me in the group?” she asked after he read the missive.
He lowered the parchment and gave her a wide smile. “I believe so. Well done, dear. This is a high honor. I think you should celebrate by buying a couple of new gowns and jewelry.” He paused as he reread the missive. “Write and let her know you’re free tomorrow afternoon.”
“Can’t I have them over today?”
“No. The Duke of Winnett will be here at one.”
Her gut tightened in dread. “The Duke of Winnett is coming here?”
“I told you he’s taken an interest in you. I approved the courtship. However, I am hopeful you will have other suitors coming by to see you. You made a marvelous impression with the gentlemen last evening at the ball. They were practically fighting over who got to dance with you. I’m waiting to see if anyone else requests to pay you a visit. If so, those missives will start coming in either today or tomorrow. Oh, that reminds me.” He turned to the pile of papers scattered on his desk and retrieved a blank one. He dipped his quill into the inkwell. “I need to send the Duchess of Ashbourne an extra payment for her work. She’s much better than Mr. Tumilson claimed. It’s not often that someone exceeds my expectations.”
“How long is the Duke of Winnett going to be here?”
He paused as he placed the tip of the quill on the parchment. “Are you worried about this afternoon?”
“I don’t want to marry him.” She might as well come out and say it. “As you said, I attracted other gentlemen at the ball. Why do I have to spend time with him?”
“I didn’t think you’d object to the visit, but as I’ve already told you, I expect other gentlemen to want to be your suitor. I’m sure this will be the only time you’ll have to visit with him.”
She frowned. “If I had been there when this visit was arranged, I would have said no. I don’t want to spend any time with him. Write to him and tell him I’m not feeling well.”
“But you are feeling well.”
She resisted the urge to groan. “That’s not the point. The point is that I don’t want to see him.”
“Why not?”
“I just don’t want to. I have no interest in him. I want to marry someone else.”
“If we can find someone more influential, you can marry him instead. Right now, it’s best if we keep our options open. Believe me, you don’t want to face a second Season.”
“There is no option with the Duke of Winnett. I don’t like him.”
“How can that be when you two haven’t said more than a few words to each other?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that when he asked me to dance last evening, I got this feeling that I should run from him. Something about him is unsettling.”
He stared at her for a long moment then chuckled. “That’s silly. All you felt were nerves. It was a busy evening, what with all the dancing you did. There’s nothing wrong with him. I’ve known him for a good twenty years. Now, don’t you trouble your pretty little head about it. Let me handle everything with the suitors. I won’t match you up with anyone inappropriate.”
Without waiting for her to respond, he started to pen the missive to the Duchess of Ashbourne. Eleanor sighed in resignation. There was no reasoning with him. No matter what she said, he brushed everything off as if she was too stupid to know what was going on. She might not be able to define it, but therewassomething wrong with the Duke of Winnett. Her instincts were screaming at her to avoid him.
But what could she do about it? Nothing, she supposed. All she could do was hope she would have other suitors. That was it. Her fate was in the hands of some random stranger to take an interest in her. With a shake of her head, she left the room.
***
Byron didn’t wake up until noon. It had been a long night. After leaving the ball, he had located the Duke of Winnett’s residence. From there, he had followed the duke to a remote residence tucked away in the outskirts of London. A lady had greeted him at the door. Given the lady’s location and the time of night, the lady had to be his mistress. It wasn’t uncommon for wealthy gentlemen to take mistresses, so Byron couldn’t pin anything suspicious on him for that.
Byron spent the night making his rounds up and down through the middle-class residences. He was more familiar with this section of London, so it was easy to keep an eye on the mistress’ residence while pretending to be busy doing other things. Not that he needed to keep busy to avoid arousing someone’s suspicions. Very few men were out at night, and those who were out were usually drunk.
But if he didn’t keep busy with something, he risked falling asleep, and that’s something a good Runner never did. The Duke of Winnett finally left his mistress right before dawn. Then he went back to his residence, and when it became clear to Byron that the duke wasn’t going to leave again any time soon, Byron went to his own house.
He had to see Eleanor and her father to discuss how things turned out from the previous evening. It was his job to update them on the case. But suddenly, going over there was something he was dreading. What if he found out Eleanor managed to attract a suitor or two? Would that kind of news really make him happy?
He knew it should. He had suggested the Duchess of Ashbourne’s services in order to help her. And the lessons had worked. Eleanor no longer had a problem attracting gentlemen. He should be glad for her. His sister had been a spinster for a long time. She was a lot happier now that she was married with a child on the way. Eleanor should be happy like that, too.
