Free A Crime of Manners by Rosemary Stevens

made her lie, “You may be easy, your grace, in that I have entertained no notions of attracting your attentions.”
    He smiled indulgently at what he believed a patent falsehood. Every miss of marriageable age wished to attract his attention. “Then we shall forget the matter.”
    She began to think he might have some understanding after all.
    This feeling was dashed by the duke’s next words.
    “I observe you have taken up with the Viscount Baddick. I feel it my duty to warn you he is not what he seems.” He spoke in the commanding air one might use when addressing a child.
    He felt Henrietta stiffen and then move to break from his grasp. He tightened his hold on her. “Oh no, Miss Lanford, you will not flare up and bring another scene upon our heads this evening.”
    “You are insufferable, sir,” she responded with some heat. “I do not know what you can mean when you say I have ‘taken up with’ Lord Baddick. And I assure you, not that it is at all your concern, and that he has behaved as a gentleman.”
    Henrietta ruined this biting speech by throwing her head back defiantly, causing them both to lose their footing. With a quickness on his feet that could be credited to regular efforts at Gentleman Jackson’s, the duke adeptly righted them.
    Fortunately for the two combatants, the dance ended. Winterton gladly escorted Henrietta back to Lady Fuddlesby. With a chilly bow, he took himself off to the card room for the rest of the evening, much to the dismay of several ladies present, not the least of whom was Lady Clorinda.
    Lady Fuddlesby was enjoying a comfortable chat with Colonel Colchester. They shared the common circumstances of having both lost a spouse and been left with no children to comfort them.
    The colonel was loath to leave her ladyship’s agreeable company, but when he saw the glowering faces of the two people leaving the dance floor, he said, “Lady Fuddlesby, forgive me, but I think it prudent to excuse myself. May I have the honor of calling on you?”
    Lady Fuddlesby favored him with a radiant smile. “Please do, sir.” Watching him follow the duke into the card room, her ladyship fanned her warm cheeks and told herself she had far too many years in her dish to be thinking such indecent thoughts about a man she had just met.
    A preoccupied Henrietta went through the motions with her dance partners the remainder of the evening. Several times she caught herself gazing toward the card room and brought herself severely to task at this folly.
    Lord Baddick noticed her distraction during their second dance together, and his eyes narrowed while he contemplated the meaning of this behavior. He had not seen her pay any one gentleman particular attention, so he ruled out the possibility of a rival. Still, if necessary, he would accelerate his own plans for her future.
    Later, when she lay sleeplessly in her bed, Henrietta recalled the words Lady Fuddlesby spoke in the carriage on the way to the Denbys’, and silently agreed the night of her first ball would truly be a night to remember.
    * * * *
    On the afternoon of the following day, Henrietta sat with Lady Fuddlesby in the drawing room.
    “Oh, my dear, I daresay I am well pleased with your success at the Denbys’ last evening.” Lady Fuddlesby served as chaperon during the afternoon as several young men had come to call. Floral tributes stood in vases around the room, including a lavish arrangement from Beau Brummell, who had stopped by for a brief visit.
    “Yes, my lady. After an inauspicious beginning, the night proved enjoyable.” Henrietta stabbed a needle into a piece of stitchery, reflecting that every one of her gallants paled in comparison to the Duke of Winterton. And Lord Baddick, she firmly reminded herself.
    Henrietta had passed a troubled night. As dawn approached she had finally fallen asleep and directly into the Duke of Winterton’s arms. They were dancing the waltz in an empty ballroom. When she opened her mouth to speak