The Unexpected Duchess (Playful Brides #1)(40)

“But how do we know our friend Lucy here won’t chase the poor man off, as usual?” Jane said with a laugh.

“Because her cousin has recommended him. He cannot be objectionable, given that,” Cass replied with a nod.

Lucy laughed. “I’ve no objection to meeting him, but let’s not plan my wedding quite yet. And if I’m to curb my tongue, you must help me, Cass.”

“My pleasure,” Cass replied with a curtsy.

Lucy smiled at her cousin. “Come now, Garrett, there must be something wrong with your Lord Berkeley. What is it?”

“There is nothing wrong with him,” Garrett insisted. “He’s handsome, or so the ladies always say, he’s dashing, fashionable, wealthy, well educated. He may be a bit … Oh, you’ll see for yourself.”

“A bit what?” Jane asked. “Gouty? Old? Smelly?”

Garrett rolled his eyes again. “None of those things. And I’m finished talking about this. I already wish I’d never brought it up.”

“Who is gouty, old, and smelly?” Aunt Mary came hurrying out of her rooms to join them.

“No one, Mother,” Garrett said, giving the other three a warning glare.

The three ladies exchanged laughing looks as the butler held open the door for them and they all trotted down the steps and climbed into Garrett’s coach.

Once they arrived at the Assembly Rooms their little group seemed to scatter to the four winds. The Duke of Claringdon was there, Lucy noted with some ire, but she refused, refused, to acknowledge him or to go anywhere near him—or Cass for that matter, if he was speaking to Cass. It was the first opportunity to test her self-imposed abstinence from the matter of Cass and the duke, and she meant to stand by her resolve.

Lucy was tapping her slipper in time to the music, drinking a glass of punch, and having a lovely conversation with Mrs. Periwinkle about the flowers in the gardens along the Upper Crescent when Garrett tapped her on the shoulder.

“Lucy.”

She stopped tapping and turned at the sound of her cousin’s voice. “Yes?”

Standing beside Garrett was a gentle man who could be described as nothing other than gorgeous. He had golden hair, crystal blue eyes, and a physique any man would admire. Tall and muscled with a bit of a cleft in his chin, when he smiled at her, his perfectly aligned white teeth twinkled in the firelight. Ooh, in addition to having neither a goiter nor a clubfoot, it seemed Lord Berkeley was, in fact, amazingly good looking. Lucy felt a bit light-headed.

“Lucy, may I introduce you to my friend, Christian, Lord Berkeley?” To Lord Berkeley he said, “Christian, this is my cousin, Lady Lucy Upton.”

Lucy curtsied. A promising beginning, to be sure. Oh, she mustn’t make a mess of this and say anything outlandish or rude. “A pleasure to meet you, my lord,” she managed. That was well done, wasn’t it? Neither outlandish nor rude. A good start, actually.

Lord Berkeley gallantly bowed over her hand. “My lady, the pleasure is entirely mine.”

From across the room, she saw Cass and Jane avidly watching. When her eyes met theirs they fanned themselves rapidly to indicate that they approved wholeheartedly of the dashing Lord Berkeley. Lord Berkeley’s gaze soon followed Lucy’s. When he glanced toward her friends, Cass and Jane immediately looked up at the ceiling and around at the backs of their dresses, feigning interest in anything to keep from being caught staring.

Lord Berkeley returned his gaze to Lucy, who was trying her best to keep from laughing. A smile hovered on the viscount’s face. “Friends of yours?”

“Yes,” Lucy replied. “Though I’m a bit hesitant to claim them at the moment.”

Lord Berkeley smiled at that. “W … Would you care to dance, Lady Lucy?”

Ah, a man who knew to call her Lady Lucy instead of Miss Upton, what a pleasant change of pace. But had that been a bit of hesitation in his voice? Was she not what he had expected after all? Surely someone as good looking and dashing as Lord Berkeley would be more interested in someone more like … Cass. Oh, she mustn’t think such unhelpful thoughts. Instead she gave him a bright smile. “Why, yes, my lord, I would. Very much.”

Lord Berkeley, she soon discovered, was a lovely dancer. Not much of a conversationalist, however, at least not during their dance. Perhaps he preferred to concentrate on the steps. And he was doing a marvelous job. The man swept her around the floor with an ease and grace that surprised her in someone so tall. Yes, the duke was tall and he was a lovely dancer, too, but— No. She refused to think about the duke. Not tonight. She firmly pushed him from her mind.

After their dance Lord Berkeley led her back toward the refreshment table. “Tell me, Lady Lucy, how is it that we have not met before? I find it such a pity.”

Ooh, perhaps this was when she would discover what Garrett had meant when he had said Lord Berkeley was a bit … She’d been studying the man throughout their dance and had found absolutely nothing lacking about him. She gave him a wide smile. “I was just asking Garrett that same thing earlier, my lord. He mentioned that you rarely come to town.”

“It’s true. I’ve been to a few functions here and there over the years but I much prefer the country. Don’t you?”

Lucy thought about the question for a moment. The country meant her parents. No, she was not a devotee of the country. “I wouldn’t say that I prefer it, my lord. I certainly do like holiday towns like Bath. Tell me, what brought you here?”