The Unexpected Duchess (Playful Brides #1)(39)

Lucy nearly scratched her nails down her arms in frustration. “Why do you want a woman who doesn’t want you?”

“You’re wrong. I want to marry a woman who doesn’t love me. That’s quite different than whether she’ll accept me. Don’t confuse marriage with love.”

Lucy’s head rang as if she’d been slapped. Don’t confuse marriage with love. What a mad, mad thing to say. But wasn’t it what she expected from her own marriage? If so, why was it making her so angry right now? It made no sense. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Me? Speechless? There’s a first time for everything indeed.

The duke nodded solemnly. “I plan to give Cassandra time to come to terms with all of this. But I will marry her.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR


“My dear cousin, I have some good news for you,” Garrett announced to Lucy two nights later, just as they were preparing to leave for yet another ball at the Assembly Rooms. They were walking down the stairway together.

Lucy eyed him askance. “Good news? Whatever do you mean?” She had spent the last two days, vowing, vowing, to keep her nose out of the affairs of her friends. Well, Cass’s at least. After her last frustrating and disappointing interaction with the maddening Duke of Claringdon, she decided to remove herself from the entire situation. She’d done what she could. If Cass wanted him to stop, it was up to her now to say so. He wasn’t listening to Lucy. He was on a blasted mission to honor a dying friend. No, the Duke of Claringdon had no intention of heeding Lucy’s pleas. Never had and never would. She hated to admit defeat but it was time. Only a fool didn’t know when to quit.

Garrett looked dashing in his black formal evening attire and snowy white cravat. “I just learned my friend Berkeley is in town. He’ll be at the ball tonight. He told me he’s very much looking forward to meeting you.”

Lucy wrinkled her brow, trying to remember her cousin’s friend. “Berkeley? Berkeley? The name sounds familiar.”

“We went up to Eton together. Capital fellow. A viscount, don’t you know?” Garrett said. He handed Lucy down onto the landing and followed her off the steps.

Lucy cocked her head to the side. “Why have I never met him?”

“What she means to ask is, Is he handsome?” Jane added from the foyer where she was busily pulling on her pelisse.

“That is not what I meant,” Lucy said, marching into the foyer to retrieve her own pelisse.

“If Lucy doesn’t want to know, I do.” Cass came quietly plodding down the stairs in a pretty green dress. She’d been doing her best the last two days to stop crying and remain brave in the face of the news about Julian. If the idea of a new gentleman’s interest in Lucy kept her preoccupied from her grief, Lucy was more than happy to oblige.

Jane, her pretty silvery pelisse smartly fastened, turned to face them all. “I do, too.”

Garrett arched his brow at all three of them. “Don’t tell me you’re all interested. He’s only one man.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “I’m not interested in that way. I simply want to know for Lucy’s sake.”

“Me too,” Cass agreed.

Lucy pulled her cloak over her shoulders. “I find it quite suspect. In all these years, Garret, you’ve never introduced me to any of your friends. Trying to get rid of me finally?”

“I have a strict rule. I don’t try to matchmake with my friends. I suspect it’s one reason my friends are still my friends. I am making an exception in this case because Berkeley specifically mentioned to me that he wanted to meet you. I am now asking you if you’re interested in meeting him. That is the extent of my involvement in this little affair.”

Lucy snorted. “You never answered my question. Why have I never met him before?”

Garrett shrugged. “Because he lives in the North and rarely comes to town.”

Lucy nodded sagely. “Ah, he must not have heard the rumors about me.”

“He must have heard rumors that you are beautiful,” Jane said. “That’s why he wants to meet you, Lucy.”

“Oh, how sweet of you, Janie. And here all this time, all I’ve needed to do was to wait for gentlemen who’d never come to London,” Lucy replied. “It’s been so simple, really.”

“Or those back from the war,” Jane said. Lucy and Jane exchanged a glance.

“He doesn’t have a goiter on his neck or a clubfoot or anything, does he, Garret?” Jane asked.

Garrett pulled on his leather gloves. “No, why do you ask?”

“We merely want to ensure that Lucy may actually want to meet him,” Jane pointed out.

Lucy sniffed. “I can’t be such a chooser. A goiter and a clubfoot may end up being my fate what with my prospects. Neither sounds particularly bad at present.”

“He has neither,” Garrett replied, shaking his head. “Honestly, the way you ladies talk, I swear it’s a wonder any matches are made in this country at all.”

“You’ll notice that no matches have been made for the three of us,” Jane added with a laugh.

“Coincidence?” Garrett shot back.

Cass finished with her own pelisse. “No goiter and no clubfoot. Sounds entirely promising, Lucy.”