Page 89 of Wedded to the Cruel Duke

“If it helps any, Mama told me to tell you that you are doing a wonderful job,” Daphne told her softly. “And that you need not be so stiff.”

The last part was uttered with a knowing smile and Phoebe could not help relaxing just the slightest bit more. Between the pressure of preparing for the ball and actually hosting it, she had all but forgotten that the mood of the guests vastly depended on their hostess as well.

If she wanted the ball to achieve a measure of success, then she ought to tamp down her own anxiety and assume the role of a gracious hostess.

“Thank you,” she finally managed a genuine smile. “And please tell Mama that I am perfectly fine.”

“Oh, she knows that you are,” Daphne smiled wryly. “She just likes to fuss over us as if we are all children still.”

The sisters both shared a knowing look, before bursting into subdued giggles.

A little while later, the Dowager Countess of Winthrop approached Phoebe. The older woman was known amongst thetonfor being the crotchety sort and was hardly satisfied with anyone or anything.

“You have done well for yourself, Your Grace,” she remarked with a reluctant smile. “When last I saw you, I could not haveimagined you would be capable of restraining that husband of yours.”

She was certainly more forthright than other members of Society, who were used to speaking in riddles so as not to seem rude.

“Thank you, My Lady—I think,” Phoebe replied politely.

“It was intended as a compliment, young lady,” Lady Winthrop affirmed. “I have had the privilege of knowing Cheshire as a child and I am very well familiar with that temperament of his. Do not tell anyone,” she lowered her voice in a confiding manner as she leaned into Phoebe, “but that young man has needed someone like you for as long as I have known him.”

“That is very kind of you to say, my lady.”

“I did not say it to be kind!” The older lady looked rather affronted at the insinuation before she walked off with a slight shake of her head.

Phoebe could only look on haplessly. Older people were certainly much harder to deal with, but once in a while, they did speak out some kind and genuine thoughts.

Phoebe had just begun to enjoy the ball herself and wanted to go over to Charles to check up on him. The last time she had seen him, he was talking to a group of older gentlemen who were his father’s acquaintances. She craned her neck to peer over to theother side of the ballroom, but to her surprise, she could not find him there.

She asked a passing footman with a tray if he had seen the Duke and the man replied that he had seen Charles just outside of the ballroom.

“His Grace appears to be in a discussion with one of the guests, Your Grace,” he informed her politely.

“Thank you,” she murmured quietly, before hurrying outside to see if Charles needed the company.

She had just turned the corner into the corridor when she heard the sound of two distinctly male voices in the midst of a heated argument. Phoebe sighed inwardly as she prepared to mediate between the two parties. Disagreements between gentlemen were common enough, she had noticed. If one stepped in before tempers got more heated, a catastrophe may be avoided.

She put on her best conciliatory smile as she squared her shoulders and walked towards them. “Gentlemen, please—” she began, only to be shocked that one of the men happened to be Charles.

And he looked to be the angrier one at that.

Fortunately, the other gentleman proved to be a more agreeable sort than her husband as he stepped back and nodded at Phoebe politely.

“Your Grace,” he murmured in clipped tones.

She smiled genially at him. “Lord Bennington, I am so glad to have found you. Sir Warren has been searching all over the place for you.”

Lord Bennington seemed to stiffen a little, before he excused himself and trod away from the both of them.

“Charles, is something amiss?” she asked him, frustration creeping into her tone. “You have been acting strangely ever since we arrived in London. Perhaps we should return to—”

“Absolutelynot, Phoebe,” he cut in, his eyes blazing.

“Then, can you at least please tell me how I can help you?” she pleaded with him. “This is not like you at all!”

The glare which he directed at her was one that chilled her to her very bones. She had never seen him look like that at her, even when he was at his angriest.

“You do not know me, Phoebe,” he said coldly. “And I will not countenance you poking your nose into my business.”