Page 18 of Rumors, Ruin and the Duke (The Lost Lords #1)
“A nd then he kissed me.” Lucy lay back on the blanket Adeline had provided and stared up at the stars.
“Again?” Her friend’s astonished voice came from next to her.
The night air was warmer than usual for early summer, but Lucy loved it. She stretched like a cat, twisting her neck to look up at Adeline, who stood a few feet away next to her telescope. This was Adeline’s retreat atop the Earl of Rawlings’s residence. The small terrace jutted out from the roof about ten feet by ten-foot square and was bordered by a decorative stone parapet. They had accessed the terrace through a window in the attic. South facing, Adeline said it allowed her perfect unobstructed views of the constellations. Lucy left the scientific calculations up to Addie. She just loved gazing up at the stars.
“Yes. One minute we were arguing, and then he was kissing me senseless. It all happened so quickly.”
“Did you want him to kiss you? You weren’t under any duress?” Adeline came to sit next to her on the blanket. She wrapped her arms around her knees.
“No. It was a surprise, but I definitely wanted him to kiss me. He is a puzzle. I always thought—no, I knew my feelings for him were unrequited. I had convinced myself to let go of my infatuation. But these kisses have me second guessing what Hart feels for me.”
Was she a fool? She had loved him from afar for so long it was hard to parse out what their new relationship was evolving into. He certainly was not the charming rogue he used to be. But his raw edges didn’t make him any less appealing. She liked being the one person that could make him smile from behind all that growling and glowering.
“What was it like?” Adeline’s eyes were bright with curiosity.
“Like standing too close to a bonfire. His kisses feel desperate like he can’t help himself. I just don’t know what to make of him these days. Perhaps he is just lonely.” She frowned at the night sky. “Then his butler came into the room and interrupted.”
“Didn’t the butler knock first?”
Lucy shrugged one shoulder. “Most probably. If he did, we didn’t hear it.” She sighed. “Kissing the duke was utterly consuming. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if the house had come tumbling down around us. But now I don’t know what to do about him. Do I come clean about my false beau? Do I let him think I have someone else and make him jealous? Does all this make me the most horrible tart?”
“You are asking the wrong friend. Save my brother, I have no experience with the opposite sex. I am entirely invisible to men. I wouldn’t know how to make one jealous if I tried.”
Lucy sat up. “You are not invisible. Don’t say that. You are brilliant and lovely.”
Adeline rested her chin on her drawn-up knees. “I overheard my brother and father arguing over my dowry the other day. My father has lost money on some shipping venture, and he was complaining that the dowry set aside for me by my grandmother is untouchable. He said the only thing to be done was to marry me off to someone wealthy.”
“That’s terrible. Doesn’t he wish you to have a husband that you like?”
Adeline snorted. “I don’t think my father cares two wits about me. He only sees me as useful because I take care of my mother, and now, I guess, to sell me off into an advantageous marriage. At least George stood up for me.”
“We will just have to find you a good husband before your father picks out one for you.”
“And how will we do that? I told you I am invisible. It doesn’t help that I hardly ever get to go to social functions because of Mama’s health.”
Lucy lay back down to think. Addie followed suit, and the two of them watched the stars for a bit. “Wait, what if we could generate some interest in you? We could start a rumor or two about you, nothing too scandalous but interesting enough that gentlemen will sit up and pay attention.”
Addie’s jaw dropped open. “You want to spread rumors about me?”
“Yes. Just think, if there was a rumor, for instance, that you had been seen speaking with a top-notch rake at the opera or riding with a dashing gentleman through the park. That would get people talking. Other men’s interest would be piqued. Men always want women who appear to be sought after.”
Addie appeared to mull the idea over. “I guess it couldn’t hurt my reputation, seeing as I have no reputation to speak of. But who would we use? Wouldn’t they have something to say about it?”
“We’ll choose a gentleman who already splashes about in the scandal rags. That way, he will hardly notice one more rumor. Someone who your family doesn’t know. We should ask Violet. She has a knack for knowing all the good gossip.”
Adeline turned her head to face Lucy, her lips curved up into a tentative smile. “Well, here’s to bad reputations and interesting prospects.”
“Here, here!” Lucy turned her head to stare back up at the heavens. A shooting star raced across the sky. “Did you see that?”
Adeline was already scrambling to her feet. She grabbed up her notebook and charcoal pencil. Another shooting star raced across the inky night. “It’s begun! I knew the meteor shower would be tonight. My calculations are never wrong.”
Lucy grinned. Adeline might be shy in mixed company, but she had no trouble acknowledging her own abilities when it came to science. If only small talk at society functions could include discussions of astronomy or physics, her friend would be popular indeed.
“Do you ever imagine what you would do with your dowry if the money was actually yours to use?” she asked her friend.
Only the scratching of Addie’s pencil across the page could be heard for several moments before her friend replied. “Hmm. I think I would buy a house outside of London and have a room made with a glass ceiling so I could observe the stars in the winter without freezing my fingers and toes.”
Lucy chuckled. “I would open a school to teach ladies how to defend themselves against attack. Like how I taught you and Violet.”
“Yes, I still remember them. Even if I have never had the opportunity to employ them.” Addie sounded somewhat disappointed.
“Adeline, hopefully you will never have to. A real gentleman would never attack a lady. Unlike that snake, Fitzwilliam. I heard from Lady Weatherby that he has been out of town licking his wounds at his country estate ever since Hart refused his suit.” Lucy grinned. “Good riddance. Hopefully, I will never have to see him again.”