Page 56 of No Duke of Mine

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Algernon had not expected a party could feel so pointless, but it certainly was now he’d made up his mind to marry Maggie. He paused at the edge of Lady Kent’s drawing room, nodded politely to a viscount’s wife as she prattled on to another guest about the success of her eldest daughter’s recent piano recital, and set his smile in place.

Across the room, clusters of fashionable men and women murmured behind silk fans or champagne glasses, sipping and watching one another with the sharpness of those raised on gossip and scandal.

And at the center of it all stood Lady Kent, smiling and lapping up the attention sent her way.

Algernon usually moved through society with the same detached focus he’d employed with his irritable father. Determined not to reveal his thoughts or provoke a temper with a misplaced remark.

But he was weary of it all and wished only to go home, where there was warmth and honesty.

He hadn’t seen Maggie much today or yesterday. She had thrown herself fully into the work of compiling her father’s lessons into publishable volumes, and Algernon had been out chasing down reputable printers for their project, too.

Maggie’s absence by his side again tonight filled the evening with an ever-present ache, but could not be helped for the moment. He wanted further clarification of the scandal Lady Kent had created.

“Your Grace!” came the unmistakably sickly sweet voice of Lady Kent herself.

Algernon immediately extended his hand to her. The woman beamed him a smile, and he squeezed her fingers rather than kiss the air above them.

Lady Kent was as carefully constructed as the chandelier above his head: elegant, expensive, and ultimately designed for the prettiest display. Her gown was a white satin with silver embroidery that shimmered like snow. Her cheeks were rouged in the fashionable style, and her eyes glowed with the reflection of the diamonds at her throat.

“I feared you were detained again tonight,” she said.

He had almost changed his mind about attending this party, in fact. The lure of a cozy night by the fire, reading with Maggie, had almost held sway. Algernon had not called on Lady Kent at home until tonight. But he had encountered her at other places and parties, dinners and such, where they had some opportunity to speak privately together.

His conclusion: she was desperate for a proposal she’d never hear from him now.

Coming here, though, would be seen as final confirmation that his interest in the woman was fixed. Everyone around them would expect to hear of a proposal tonight or very soon afterward.

Several gentlemen glanced toward them with mild interest, no doubt already bored with the rumor mill. Lady Kent had started one herself about his reason for returning to London so late in the year.

Algernon had done very little to dissuade the speculation swirling about Town about himself. So far, no one had noticed he was keeping a woman in his town house.

“Duty,” Algernon replied. His duty to Maggie was his first concern now. There was much to be done before they married. He’d spent a few hours in a room at his club today, drafting terms for their marriage contract. Tomorrow, he would continue running the Archbishop of Canterbury to ground to petition for a special license for their marriage. He was regrettably unwell and seeing no one at present.

“I’ll never be offended by you being a little late, my dear duke,” she said sweetly, placing her gloved hand on his forearm without an invitation to do so. “I am delighted to see you at any time. London is rather dull without you.”

“I am sure you were amply entertained,” he said.

“Perhaps,” she admitted, twittering a laugh that set his teeth on edge. “But you’re here now.”

“Yes, I am,” he warned.

She tilted her head and looked at him with the coy smile of a title hunter. “What shall we do?”

He forced a smile. “For now, we make merry, but later you and I will have a little chat.”

“You are as wise as ever to hold your tongue in a full room. I do so admire your restraint when we’re in public together.”

She didn’t admire his restraint. She admired his title and the power she assumed came with it. He had once considered her boldness a benefit for a duchess—her confidence and beauty an asset, too. She was all things a duchess ought to be: well-connected, politically savvy. But she was also…a void. Beneath the practiced flirtation and prettily arranged smiles, she did not see him. Only the elevation of status he represented.

And if he had offered for her, her affections might never have been his alone, because the young man he’d met at the inn on his way to London currently circled the room in a servant’s uniform, carrying a tray of champagne and offering refreshment to his employer’s guests.

Algernon hadn’t been noticed yet, but here was the proof of scandal he feared. “Would you care for a glass of champagne, Lady Kent?”

“Indeed, I would,” she murmured in almost a purr. She glanced up at him and battered her lashes. “Shall we celebrate?”

“Not yet,” he said, as he signaled the servant over.