Page 35 of Her Heartless Duke

“How aboutyouaccompany my dear cousin to the lists, Langley?” Daniel suggested, turning towards Isaac. “Surely, with a Dukeendorsingyour participation, nobody would dare dispute your qualifications for joining.”

Isaac dipped his head towards her with a smile. “I have always been supportive of young ladies who boldly chase after their dreams.” He offered her his arm and gestured toward the registration tables. “Miss Bennet?”

Fiona glanced at Olivia and then smiled shyly at the rest of the group. “I suppose I could join.”

“We shall be cheering you on from the sidelines, Miss Bennet!” Miles grinned at her.

Seeing him smiling at her so confidently, Fiona nodded. “I shall endeavor to do my best, my Lord!”

Olivia smiled as Fiona slipped her hand politely into Isaac’s arm and he led her towards the tables to register. As she watched them walk off, she could not help but notice how they looked rather good together.

But then, Isaac could make anyone look good, she despaired in her heart.

“Upon my word! Is that Miss Bennet and His Grace?” she heard someone whisper from behind her.

“Well, I heard that he chose to dance with her first out of all the young ladies this Season!” another one answered, followed by a slight titter. “My, it seems that the Duke of Langley has set his sights on another miss for this Season.”

“One can only hope that his efforts will be met with success this year!”

Olivia clenched her gloved hands into fists at her side as the gossips took to doing what they did best—talking. Such things never bothered her before, but the fact that they talked about Isaac in such a way, dissecting his personal affairs as if it was theirs to peruse… and to talk about him with other women…

Well, she found that it did not sit well with her at all!

She was still stewing in her spot when Isaac finally came to stand beside her.

“You look extremely vexed,” he remarked. “You could destroy the targets with that glare alone.”

“I am merely cross with all these people talking about Fiona joining this competition,” she replied coolly. “I fear they are wide off the mark.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw him glance a little behind them with a raised eyebrow. Almost immediately, the hushed whispers stopped, and she even caught some of the old gossips smiling at him in discomfort. Olivia watched as he smiled blithely at them, as if thoroughly unaware that they had just been discussing him and his private life.

“There,” he told her. “I have silenced the lot of them for you. Are you satisfied now?”

She looked up at him to find that he was smiling at her. She felt something fluttering at her belly and she quickly averted her gaze.

“Many thanks to you, Your Grace,” she murmured.

“Just let me know if anyone else bothers you and I shall do my best to swiftly quell their tongues.”

This time, she could not help the smile that tilted the corner of her lips.

Good grief, the man knew how to wield his charm with impeccable precision! If this had been a competition as to who had the smoothest tongue instead of skill in archery, he would have won by a wide mark.

Fortunately, the organizers of the competition called for the participants to take their place at that very moment. Olivia was vaguely aware of the man announcing the rules—how all of them had one arrow each with the feathers all a different color and the one who shot closest to the center would win the competition.

One by one, the competitors all shot their arrows. Some of them were rather good, but some of them… well, their arrows barely landed on the board to qualify. Each one of them, however, had a bevy of women cheering them on.

When it came to Fiona’s turn, the entire field was strangely silent, until Miles called out, “Go, Miss Bennet! Shoot true!”

Fiona turned around in surprise, her cheeks blooming a vivid pink when she saw Miles clapping and cheering her on with a huge smile on his face.

Olivia nodded and clapped. “You can do it, Fiona! Shoot true!”

“Shoot true, Miss Bennet!”

Over a hundred pairs of eyes swiveled towards their small group. Slowly, they, too, began to clap and cheer Fiona on.

“Shoot true! Shoot true!”