Ice Cold Duke (Frigid Dukes #2)

Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

“ H e really got you flowers?” Georgina’s eyes were wide, her lips slightly parted in surprise, as she stared at Emery over her cup of tea.

“He really did,” Emery said. She could feel her cheeks flushing, but she didn’t care. She was speaking to her friend at the privacy of their own table at the tea room in the Plaza; she could blush if she wanted to. “And an expensive bouquet as well. The most beautiful and vibrant flowers I have ever seen.”

“That is astounding,” Georgina murmured. She was holding her tea suspended in the air halfway to her mouth and seemed to have forgotten about it. “Considering the circumstances of your marriage, I was worried that things weren’t going well. Especially because I have barely heard from you.” Georgina gave her a look of reproach. “Other than the day we played board games, I haven’t seen you! Nor have you been writing me.”

“I saw you last night,” Emery pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “When I convinced Henry to dance with you.”

Georgina’s expression instantly became embarrassed, and she quickly took a sip of her tea and set it back down on the table. “Er, yes, that was a strange incident,” she murmured. “I don’t know why Henry was so reluctant to dance with me.”

Emery said nothing. Part of her desperately wanted to ask her friend if there was an understanding between her and Henry. Another part of her was afraid to ask. It was very possible Georgina hadn’t even admitted her feelings to herself for fear of hurting Emery. And Emery didn’t want to force her to confront them before they were ready. But Georgina was her best friend in the world, and she would have liked to be able to gossip together about the man that had captured her fancy.

“I’m just glad he did decide to dance with you in the end,” Emery said at last, deciding this was a neutral enough response. “You made for a very handsome couple.”

This last comment was pushing it, perhaps, but it made Georgina smile, so Emery decided it wasn’t too presumptuous.

“Anyway,” she continued, “I’m sorry I haven’t written more about what’s going on in my marriage. At first, I didn’t write because I was so miserable about what had happened to me, and I couldn’t bear to speak of it with anyone. But then, I didn’t write because things got so busy. We were preparing to go to London, Lucien put me in these etiquette lessons, and--”

“You call your husband by his first name?” Georgina interrupted.

“Er--yes. He asked me to a few days previously.”

“ And he got you an expensive bouquet of flowers?”

“Yes…”

Georgina’s expression had gone from surprised to intrigued, and she leaned toward Emery conspiratorially.

“Do you think… that is to say… is there something between you and the Duke?”

“What? No! Of course not!” Emery sputtered, so taken aback that she felt her stomach lurch. “Ours was a marriage of convenience! Or really, a marriage of necessity--and neither of us were happy about it.”

“Yes, but just because it started that way doesn’t mean it has to remain that way,” Georgina said wisely. She leaned back in her chair and smiled at Emery. “And if you ask me, it seems as if the Duke has feelings for you. Tender feelings.”

“No, he couldn’t! He doesn’t believe in that kind of thing.”

Georgina shrugged. “In my experience, feelings are not something you can control. Whether or not you ‘believe’ in them is irrelevant. They are irrational, often inconvenient, and can strike at the most inopportune moment--or for the most inopportune person.”

Emery narrowed her eyes. Now she was very sure her friend was talking about Henry.

“All I’m saying,” Georgina said, shaking her head, “is that if the Duke were to have feelings for you, this is exactly how he would express it: through romantic gestures such as flowers and asking you to call him by his given name. Has he done anything else for you? Anything of a romantic nature?”

Emery hesitated. “Well… he did ask me to wear his mother’s comb in my hair. I said I thought his sisters ought to have it, but he insisted. He said that because I’m the duchess, and because I have brought so much joy to the family, that I should have it.”

Georgina gave her a look that said, Do you hear yourself? And Emery laughed.

“I don’t know what to make of it,” she admitted. “He is a very dutiful man, and I can’t discount that he is behaving so chivalrously toward me because he believes that is what a lady, and a duchess, deserves; not because he has any feelings for me beyond polite friendship.”

“And what about you?” Georgina asked. “Do you feel anything for him beyond polite friendship?”

“I--” Emery wasn’t sure what to say. Despite all the moments when her heart had fluttered in her husband’s presence, despite the way he’d held her every time they danced, despite the feel of his arms around her, she still couldn’t bring herself to admit that there was anything in her heart.

“Think about that while I use the privy,” Georgina said, winking at her. “Tell me what you’ve concluded when I get back.”

She excused herself, leaving Emery alone to contemplate her words. But she quickly found this to be exasperating, so instead she focused on thinking about the flowers. Whenever she thought about them, she still felt giddy with happiness. She was just remembering how it had felt when she’d first seen the flowers when a cruel voice cut through her thoughts.

“Did you see the Duchess of Dredford last night?”

It was a woman speaking, someone whose voice Emery didn’t recognize, and it was coming from the table behind her, which was hidden from her view by a large potted plant. Emery immediately froze. The woman was talking about her! And likely didn’t know that she was present and could hear her.

“Yes I did,” another woman cooed, whose voice was a little higher pitched and very girly. “What a shock she was!”

“Of all the ladies the Duke might have married, I cannot believe she is whom he chose! So uncouth! So unsophisticated!”

The second woman giggled. “Did you see the way she trod on his foot during the waltz?”

“Upon my honor, I had never seen anything so unladylike! A duchess who can’t dance? It’s like having a sea captain who can’t navigate!”

Both women laughed, then the second one with the girlish voice said, in a slightly lower voice, “And she called Lady Crane Miss Crane. The poor woman was so distraught that I found her crying out on the balcony! To be so snubbed like that, and by a duchess!”

“It is unpardonable.”

“She is the daughter of an earl, but I wouldn’t believe it from watching her. She has no refinement.”

“Well the rumor is that she’s never attended a London Season before. And I can believe it. I don’t remember ever seeing her before.”

“No, nor I.”

“And do you know about the rumors surrounding her marriage?”

“I have heard a few whispers…” the second woman sounded eager, and Emery could imagine her scooting her chair forward, so as not to miss anything the first woman said.

“It was a terrible scandal, apparently, and one the family has tried to hush up.”

“Oh do tell me, Lady Charleston!”

“Patience, Henrietta, I will tell you. You do know that the Duchess was engaged to marry the younger brother, Lord Henry, do you not?”

“I did hear that…”

“But the engagement was called off the day of the wedding!”

“No!” The woman called Henrietta gasped. “How is such a thing possible?”

“Lord Henry, it turns out, was in love with Miss Georgina Holloway, and he left his bride at the altar. His brother was forced to step in to save the day, and from what I’ve heard, he had to threaten the vicar to allow the wedding without the reading of the banns.”

“What scandal!” Henrietta breathed. “How could the church allow such a thing?”

“Well, the Duke of Dredford is powerful. But he is also known for his heartlessness. In all the years I’ve known him, I have never heard a kind word from him or about him from any young lady.”

“That almost makes me feel sorry for the Duchess,” Henrietta sighed. “Left at the altar and then forced to marry the cruel Duke!”

“Don’t feel too sorry for her,” Lady Charleston snorted. “She is still married to a duke! Somehow she managed to find her way from the spare to the heir. It makes me wonder if she had some hand in the whole thing. Miss Holloway, after all, is her dear friend. Perhaps she convinced Holloway to pretend to love Lord Henry in order to ensure he would leave her, clearing her path to the Duke.”

“You think?” Henrietta breathed.

“I would not be surprised.”

“How terrible!” But Henrietta did not sound as if she thought this was terrible. She sounded as if she very much thought it was the most delicious gossip she had ever heard.

“Who knows,” Lady Charleston relented, and Emery could practically feel her shrugging in that ladylike way where one pretended not to care too much about anything. “But now they are here in London and debuting the eldest sister as if they didn’t have a care in the world. The presumption of it astounds me! After such a scandal, they should be hiding away in their country house, not parading their dirty laundry around London.”

“Poor Lady Leah… she will not have an easy Season after such a scandal. She is the one for whom I truly feel sorry.”

“Yes, it is unfortunate about Lady Leah,” Lady Charleston conceded. “And all the sisters. There are three of them to marry! But it makes me wonder about her character, as well. If she shares the same blood as her brothers, then she must be a piece of work also. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were to cause some scandal this Season.” Lady Charleston sniffed. “But I suppose time will tell.”

Emery sat, rooted to the spot, listening to all of this with mounting fury. It was one thing for these ladies to gossip about her and point out her mistakes, but it was quite another to speculate that she had manipulated Henry and Lucien so that she ended up as a Duchess. Worst of all was the way they were speaking about Leah! She was innocent of all Emery’s, Henry’s, and Lucien’s mistakes, and it was beyond reprehensible for these women to spread such malicious gossip about her.

Her hand tightened into a fist. Lucien had been right about how cruel the ton could be. She had not realized it when he’d first warned her. But there was one thing he was wrong about: her. She wasn’t going to let this ruin her, or curl up in a ball and cry, or run away and not show her face. Emery Grove, Duchess of Dredford, could hold her own.

Emery stood up very suddenly. Grabbing her gloves and parasol, she made as if to leave the table, walking out a little bit from behind the potted plant and then looking around, like she was looking to see where Georgina had gotten to. As she did, she looked over at the table where the two ladies sat, making sure to make eye contact with each of them.

The moment they saw her, both ladies went very pale, and their mouths fell open, as if in horror.

“Lady Charleston!” Emery exclaimed, addressing herself to the older woman, whom she assumed was the one who had led the assault against her and her family’s characters.

“Y-your Grace!” Lady Charleston stammered. Emery had guessed correctly: this was the woman with the lower voice. “H-how do you do?”

“Oh very well,” Emery said pleasantly, bustling over to the table as she pulled on her gloves. She could see Lady Charleston working overtime to figure out how Emery knew her name and whether or not they had met before. She could almost read the question in the woman’s frightened eyes: Did she hear what I said about her? “I was just visiting with Miss Georgina Holloway before I go shopping for some things my sister-in-law needs. How are you today?”

“I am well,” Lady Charleston said, still sounding a bit shocked by the situation. “Do you know my friend, Miss Henrietta Reed?”

“I am not sure,” Emery said, smiling at the other lady, who looked as if she had entirely lost the power of speech. “But I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Now that I am in London full-time, there are so many people to meet, and I must admit that I have forgotten the faces and names of quite a few young ladies I have met.”

It was a rude thing to say, but Emery was calculating that she would be able to spin it to her advantage.

Miss Holloway had blushed at her words, and Lady Charleston looked shocked.

“Perhaps you have not been in town long enough to learn how to properly memorize the names of all the young ladies you ought to know,” she said sourly.

Emery gave her a pleasant smile. “I chalk it up to the demands of my new role as the Duchess of Dredford. There are many young ladies vying for my attention, many to whom I can grant favor or take it away. Being a duchess is an enormous responsibility. Those I bring into my and the Duke’s inner circle will benefit for years from our attention. But I cannot bring in everyone. There are many who are far too loose-lipped to be allowed into the fold.”

Lady Charleston’s eyes narrowed, while Miss Holloway continued to speechlessly ogle her.

“And are you so sure of your power that you think you can bestow favor on young ladies of the ton ?” Lady Charleston asked.

Emery merely smiled. “I don’t need to be sure of my power, Lady Charleston. There is nothing I have to do to earn it or keep it. My power comes from my title, and from my husband’s title, and that is something no one can take away from me. I recommend that you remember that in the future: a Duchess always outranks everyone else, no matter what. So it is best to stay on her good side.”

Lady Charleston’s face flushed, but Emery met this with the most imperious look she could summon, and soon, all the color drained from it.

“I shall remember that, Your Grace,” Lady Charleston said, lowering her eyes. “I hope you have a good day.”

“Thank you. I shall bid you farewell.” She nodded to Miss Theodora Reed and turned and swept away, almost colliding with Georgina as she did.

“Just turn and keep walking,” Emery whispered, seizing her friend by the arm and steering her out of the tea room.

“What happened?” Georgina asked, glancing over her shoulder. “Those two ladies look as if you just threw their teas in their faces.”

“I’ll tell you everything in the carriage,” Emery muttered. “But essentially, I just wielded my power as Duchess of Dredford for the first time. Let’s just hope I used it wisely.”