“The drive was a last-minute decision,” Alex explained easily. “Won’t you have a seat?” Alex relished the chance to play host in Sophie’s house. It was almost as effective as an outright crowing of his territorial rights. Sophie and everything that came with her was his. The house was his, not that he needed another one; it was the principle of the matter. The chairs were his. Even the dainty little tea set was his. The sooner Heransly…no, the sooner everyone understood that, the better.
It appeared Heransly was already getting the hint. “No, thank you. If you’ve engaged Miss Everton for the afternoon, I suppose I ought to be off.”
Alex walked him to the front door.
“It occurs to me that I hold some vowels of yours,” Alex said as Heransly pulled on his coat and gloves.
“Er…yes. Yes, you do.”
“I won them from you the very day I first made Miss Everton’s acquaintance. Did you know that?”
Heransly tugged at his cravat. “No, I didn’t.”
“I hadn’t given them much thought at all until today. I believe seeing you here in Miss Everton’s company reminded me of them.”
“I see.”
“Do you? I suspect that the moment the two of you part company I shall forget them all over again. It’s the oddest thing. In fact, I’d wager good money I could go months, years even, without thinking about them, but should I so much as hear your names spoken in the same sentence…” Alex shrugged and let the sentence finish itself. If Heransly wasn’t clever enough to get the hint, he’d just break the man’s nose and the War Department be damned.
Fortunately, it didn’t come to that.
“Fair enough, Rockeforte, fair enough,” Heransly chuckled, finishing the last buttons on his coat. “Nothing I don’t deserve. Loudor did try to warn me after all.”
“Warn you about what?”
“That you’d staked your claim. Shouldn’t have trespassed on your grounds, but I only half believed the man. Not the sharpest of tools, now is he?” He gave another wink, and Alex, though it chafed him badly to do so, smiled.
Perhaps he had just found Loudor’s weak link. A confidante more impressed with a dukedom than loyalty. Alex’s title had come in handy twice today. For once, he was grateful for the ton tradition of bootlicking.
“I suspect his mind hasn’t encountered a whetstone since he left the schoolroom,” he commented. It was a decidedly lame joke, purposefully so. He wanted to test his toad-eating theory. Heransly laughed uproariously.
Perfect.
“Speaking of Miss Everton’s cousin, I’d plans to call on him for a drink at White’s to night,” Alex lied casually. “But I think I’d prefer the company of a man who shares my taste for beautiful women and fine wit. Interested?”
Alex thought the man might swoon. “I’d be delighted, Your Grace. And about…about my vowels…”
“Forgotten,” Alex said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Can’t blame a man for trying, can I?” Alex punctuated this last remark with two hardy slaps on Harensly’s back. And if they were a bit too hardy, well that couldn’t be helped.
“Lord Heransly?”
The two men turned at the sound of Sophie’s voice.
“Are you leaving so soon?”
Alex hid his smile over that polite inquiry. She didn’t appear the least sorry at the idea of him leaving.
“I’m afraid I must,” Heransly answered smoothly. He gave her a parting bow, then Alex. “A pleasure, Miss Everton. Your Grace.”
Sophie watched him go. “He seems awfully cheerful.”
“Did he? I hadn’t noticed. Is the carriage coming round then?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes.” She heaved a sigh and began pulling on a bonnet. “I suppose I must go now.”
“You needn’t sound as if you were about to be martyred.”
She shot him a glance that said his words weren’t far off the mark “What did the two of you talk about while I was gone?” Sophie inquired once they were comfortably ensconced inside the carriage.
“Just this and that. Where are we off to?”
She looked at him blankly. “I have no idea.”
“You’ll have to think of something. This was your idea, remember? I wanted to go for a walk.”
“Well, where were we going to walk to?”
Alex had no idea. “Just around the block.” “That’s it?” “Well, it is raining.”
Sophie let her head fall back against the swabs and let out an irritated groan.
Alex took pity on her. “Have you been sightseeing yet?”
She lifted her head. “No actually, I haven’t.”
Alex grinned and stuck his head out to holler at the driver.
And they were off.
Fifteen
To keep her reputation intact, Alex took her to places rarely frequented by good society, and a few places they avoided altogether. Sophie enjoyed the sights and sounds, and occasionally even the smells, of London, but it was her guide that truly held her enthralled. Alex had a story for every site they visited, his anecdotes so entertaining she frequently forgot to pay attention to the very surroundings in which they were staged.