Chapter SIX
When Derek was ushered into Lady Cassandra’s drawing room, he got the distinct impression that the entire household had lost its collective mind. The butler stammered, the housemaids ran into each other, and the two footmen nearly tripped him in the corridor. Apparently, a duke received a much different level of service than a lieutenant general did. If he was still becoming accustomed to his new title himself, it certainly didn’t help matters to have an entire household staff scurrying about as if the prince regent himself were paying them a visit.
“His Grace, the Duke of Claringdon,” the butler intoned, ushering Derek into the drawing room.
Derek grimaced. How long would it be until he heard that title and actually thought of himself?
“What is your name, my good man?” Derek asked the butler.
“Shakespierre,” the man replied with a completely straight face.
Derek did a double take. “Shakespeare?”
“No, Shakespierre, Your Grace. It’s French.”
The butler took his leave, and Derek shook his head. That wasn’t French. Yes, he was in a strange house to be certain. He turned his attention back to the room at large.
Lady Cassandra sat perched upon a cream-colored settee like a pretty doll. Her blond hair was piled atop her head, and she wore a pink gown that complemented her bright blue eyes. Eyes that watched him carefully, almost fearfully. Good God, the chit was frightened of him. He’d have to overcome that before he asked for her hand.
A sharp movement across the room caught his eye, and a flash of pale yellow skirts revealed … Lady Lucy Upton.
“Your Grace,” Lady Lucy said before he’d even had a chance to greet Lady Cassandra. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”
Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Derek eyed the beauty up and down. A pity she was such a harridan, because the woman had a lush exotic look to her tilted eyes, dark shiny hair, high cheekbones, and full lips that nearly begged for a man to kiss them. Only he’d no doubt draw away bloody and bitten, he thought with a wry smile. Why Lady Cassandra insisted upon keeping Lady Lucy by her side, he would never understand, but apparently Lady Lucy was the price Derek must pay for Lady Cassandra’s company. So be it. If he couldn’t handle one little spoiled Society miss, he wasn’t worth his salt.
“I came to pay a visit to Lady Cassandra,” he replied with a tight smile.
“Please, have a seat.” Lady Lucy gestured to the chairs across the room and blinked her long, sooty eyelashes at him.
“Y … yes,” Lady Cassandra echoed softly. The poor young woman looked as if she were about to bolt at any moment, like a soldier caught stealing rations.
Derek strode over to a chair near the settee where Lady Cassandra perched. He waited for the prim Lady Lucy to flounce over and take a seat before he took one himself. Ah, the aristocracy and their tiny fancy chairs. A man his size was likely to break it to bits. He shifted uncomfortably and pointedly ignored Lady Lucy.
“I trust you are well today, Lady Cassandra,” he said.
Lady Cassandra nodded. “Oh, yes. I’m quite well. How are you”—she cleared her throat—“Your Grace?”
“Excellent. And how are your mother and your father?”
“Both quite well also, thank you. Mother is out paying afternoon calls and Father is at his club.”
Derek nodded. Lady Lucy was sitting at an angle behind him where he couldn’t see her face but he got the distinct impression, from the many times Lady Cassandra’s eyes flitted over to look at her friend, that she was somehow feeding her information. She was like a bloody spy from the War Office, that woman.
“Not too tired from the festivities last evening, I presume?” he asked.
Lady Cassandra’s eyes flitted over to Lady Lucy. “No. Not at all.”
Derek gritted his teeth and shifted in his ridiculously small seat. “What are your plans for this afternoon?”
Another quick glance toward Lady Lucy. “Oh, I … um. That is to say, we…”
“We’re having a look at the shops,” Lady Lucy announced from behind him. “Quite busy today. Quite.”
Lady Cassandra looked a bit relieved to have been spared the need to answer the question.
“And what about tomorrow afternoon?” he asked Lady Cassandra, but his entire attention was attuned to the little minx behind him.
Again, Lady Cassandra looked to Lady Lucy for her cue. “I … we…”
“Quite busy tomorrow afternoon as well,” Lady Lucy interjected.
That did it. Derek stood, lifted his chair with ease, and placed it at an angle where he could see both of them properly. “Seems I’m addressing my remarks to the wrong lady.”
Lady Cassandra’s hand flew to her throat. Lady Lucy’s unusual eyes lit with fire, and she stared down her haughty little nose at him. “I don’t know what you mean.” She blinked innocently.
“Don’t you?” He arched a brow at her.
Lady Lucy shrugged. “You’ve asked after our plans and we’ve told you.”
He gritted his teeth. “I asked after Lady Cassandra’s plans and you’ve answered for her.”
Lady Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. “I’m Lady Cassandra’s chaperone.”
“Oh, really? An unmarried female acting as a chaperone?” he retorted.
“Yes. I’m eminently qualified,” Lady Lucy replied.
“That I doubt.” Another tight smile from him.
Lady Lucy nearly came out of her chair. “How dare you?”
“Oh, I dare quite easily, my lady. What I don’t understand is why you insist upon acting as if—”
A small, ladylike throat-clearing interrupted them. Lady Cassandra’s attempt to get the two of them to stop arguing, no doubt. He turned his head to face her. “My apologies, my lady.”
“What are your plans for the afternoon, Your Grace?” Lady Cassandra ventured.
“Seeing as how you’re already occupied, I may ride out to Huntingdon and see the new estate.”
“The estate that was endowed upon you with your title?” Lady Cassandra asked.
“Yes, seems I’m a landowner now,” Derek replied.
“You might want to get under way as soon as possible,” Lady Lucy offered. “It’s quite a journey from here, is it not?”
“Ready for me to take my leave, my lady?” He eyed her with suspicion.
She innocently batted her long lashes at him again. “I meant no such thing. That would be rude.”
“Ah, yes, and you’ve no experience in that quarter, do you?” he replied tersely.
Lady Cassandra gasped quietly and Lady Lucy gave him a withering glare. “Seems you do, Your Grace.”
Derek blew a frustrated breath between his teeth. “Lady Lucy, perhaps you and I have words better said to each other in private.”
Lucy raised a brow. “The two of us?”
“Yes.”
“In private?”
“Yes.”
“Would you prefer it if I left?” Lady Cassandra offered, looking quite relieved at the prospect, actually.
Derek shook his head. “No. I’m willing to have a short private conversation in the corridor with Lady Lucy if she is willing.”
Lady Lucy immediately stood up and gestured toward the door. “By all means.”
Lady Cassandra watched them, her mouth a wide O, her lovely blue eyes blinking rapidly. Derek offered his hand to Lady Lucy, who promptly refused it with a tight smile and stalked ahead of him out the door of the drawing room. He followed her and closed the door behind them.
Lady Lucy swung around to look at him, her arms still crossed resolutely. “Yes, Your Grace?” A fake smile was plastered to her face—and there went those distracting eyelashes again. Bat. Bat. Bat.
He cleared his throat. “My lady, it seems you and I have got off on the wrong foot. I’d like for us to start over.”
She dropped her arms to her sides. “Very well. Do you intend to desist in your courtship of Cass?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then I’m afraid we cannot start over.”
He inhaled a deep breath through his nostrils. “Why exactly do you find me so objectionable?”
“For one thing you’re overbearing, for another, you’re arrogant.” She pointed toward the drawing room door. “Cass is a sweet soul. She wouldn’t hurt a bee and she’s friendly to everyone. She needs someone to look out for her best interests.”
He arched a brow. “And that someone is you? Not her father?”
Lady Lucy shot daggers at him with her eyes. “In this case, yes.”
He poked out his cheek with his tongue. “So there can be no truce between us?”
She folded her arms over her chest again. “Not as long as you insist upon courting Cass.”
He nodded. “So be it.”
Lady Lucy placed her hand on the door handle, ready to open it and return to Lady Cassandra. “You’d do well to take my advice and leave her alone. You’re only wasting your time.”
He narrowed his eyes on her certain little back. “And you’d do well to stop interfering. You’re only wasting yours.”
She turned her head slightly to face him and gave him a once-over. “I’m not about to stop, Your Grace.”
He inclined his head. “Neither am I, my lady.”
This time she arched a brow, giving him a challenging stare. “Very well. Then, may the best opponent win.”