Duke of Midnight (Maiden Lane #6)(10)

“I am on my way to meet a friend,” Penelope clipped out, trying to dodge the man.

But the duke was the veteran of many a ball. He moved with admirable deftness for his age, somehow catching Penelope’s hand and hooking it through his elbow. “Then I shall have the pleasure of escorting you there.”

“Oh, but I’m quite thirsty,” Penelope parried. “Perhaps you would be so kind as to fetch me a cup of punch, Your Grace?”

“I’d be most delighted, my lady,” the duke said, and Artemis thought she saw a twinkle in his eye, “but I’m sure your companion wouldn’t mind the chore. Would you, Miss Greaves?”

“Certainly not,” Artemis murmured.

Penelope might be her mistress, but she rather had a fondness for the elderly duke—even if he didn’t have a prayer of winning Penelope. She turned sedately, but fast enough to pretend not to hear her cousin’s sputter. The refreshments room was on the other side of the ballroom, and her progress was slow, for the middle of the floor was taken up by dancers.

Yet, her lips were still curved faintly when she heard an ominously rumbling voice. “Miss Greaves. Might I have a word?”

Naturally, she thought as she looked up into the Duke of Wakefield’s cold seal-brown eyes.

“I’M SURPRISED YOU know my name,” Miss Artemis Greaves said.

She wasn’t a woman he would notice under normal circumstances. Maximus gazed down at the upturned face of Miss Greaves and reflected that she was one of the innumerable female shades: companions, maiden aunts, poor relations. The ones who hung back. The ones who drifted quietly in the shadows. Every man of means had them, for it was the duty of a gentleman to take care of females such as she. See to it that they were clothed and housed and fed and, if possible, that they were happy or at least content with their lot in life. Beyond that, nothing, for these types of females didn’t impact on masculine issues. They didn’t marry and they didn’t bear children. Practically speaking they had no sex at all. There was no reason to notice a woman like her.

And yet he had.

Even before last night he’d been aware of Miss Greaves trailing her cousin, always in concealing colors—brown or gray—like a sparrow in the wake of a parrot. She hardly spoke—at least within his hearing—and had mastered the art of quiet watchfulness. She made no move to draw any attention to herself at all.

Until last night.

She’d dared to move to draw a knife on him in the worst part of London, had stared him in the eye without any fear at all, and it was as if she stepped into the light. Suddenly her form was clear, standing out from the crowd around them. He saw her. Saw the calm, oval face and the entirely ordinary feminine features—ordinary save for the large, rather fine dark gray eyes. Her brown hair was pulled into a neat knot at her nape, her long, pale fingers laced calmly at her waist.

He saw her and the realization was vaguely disturbing.

She raised delicate eyebrows. “Your Grace?”

He’d been staring too long, lost in his own musings. The thought irritated him and thus his voice was overharsh. “What were you thinking, letting Lady Penelope venture into St. Giles at night?”

Many ladies of his acquaintance would’ve burst into tears at such an abrupt accusation.

Miss Greaves merely blinked slowly. “I cannot imagine why you would think I have any control at all over what my cousin does.”

A fair point, yet he could not acknowledge it. “You must’ve known how dangerous that part of London is.”

“Oh, indeed I do, Your Grace.” He had intercepted her meander about the edge of the ballroom and now she started forward again.

He was perforce made to stroll by her side if he didn’t want her to simply walk away from him. “Then surely you could’ve persuaded your cousin to refrain from such a foolish action?”

“I’m afraid Your Grace has an overly optimistic view of both my cousin’s docility and my own influence over her. When Penelope has an idea in her head, wild horses couldn’t pull her away from it. Once Lord Featherstone mentioned the words ‘wager’ and ‘dashing,’ I’m afraid we were quite doomed.” Her dulcet voice held an amused undertone that was unreasonably attractive.

He frowned. “It’s Featherstone’s fault.”

“Oh, indeed,” she said with unwarranted cheerfulness.

He scowled down at her. Miss Greaves didn’t seem at all worried that her cousin had nearly caused both their deaths in St. Giles. “Lady Penelope should be dissuaded from associating with gentlemen like Featherstone.”

“Well, yes—and ladies, too.”

“Ladies?”

She gave him a wry look. “Some of my cousin’s most harebrained ideas have originated with ladies, Your Grace.”

“Ah.” He looked blankly at her, absently noting that her eyelashes were quite lush and black—darker than her hair, in fact. Did she use some type of paint on them?

She sighed and leaned closer, her shoulder brushing his. “Last season Penelope was persuaded that a live bird would make an altogether unique accessory.”

Was she bamming him? “A bird.”

“A swan, in fact.”

She looked quite grave. If, in fact, she was playing some type of silly game with him, she hid it well. But then one such as she had innumerable occasions to learn to hide her thoughts and feelings. It was almost a requirement, in fact.