Chapter Four
VW
Obviously, it had been a bad idea.
Athena tensed, watching Adam out of the corner of her eye.
He was not happy. At all. They were moments from departing for another ball, one Adam had no intention of attending.
It had seemed an opportune time for Persephone to bring up a very touchy subject.
But it hadn’t worked as well as Athena and her sister had hoped.
“Every young lady making her debut must have a come-out ball, Adam,” Persephone said quietly but firmly. “And it would be exceptionally badly done of us not to host it for her. You are her guardian, her brother-in-law, her sponsor in society. It falls to us to give Athena her ball.”
“I danced with her at Debensham’s,” Adam replied curtly. “Society will not expect more of me.”
Athena was close enough to them in the drawing room to overhear Persephone and Adam’s conversation but far enough away to be unnoticed by them.
Feeling tense and worried, Athena sat on a straight-backed chair and lightly rubbed her fingers against her forehead, closing her eyes and willing the disagreement to end swiftly.
Persephone had been so certain Adam would agree to the ball.
Athena didn’t want to push him beyond his limit.
She had heard of the duke’s infamous temper.
Though she had not personally been witness to any violence on his part, she did not doubt that he was every bit as harsh as his reputation painted him.
“Do not declare defeat yet,” Mr. Windover said quietly from just beside her. He had listened to the proposal of a ball at Falstone House but had not joined the ensuing debate. “Adam did not say no outright. He would have if he were absolutely set against the ball.”
“But he is so obviously unhappy about the idea,” Athena answered quietly. As always, Mr. Windover’s presence was calming. “I don’t see how we can ever convince him to agree to it.”
She glanced at Mr. Windover. He was smiling as usual.
And there was a look in his eyes she had learned to recognize as she’d come to know him better.
It was silent laughter, not at anyone’s expense, but from an inherent enjoyment of life.
He obviously felt himself equal to the task of convincing the society-shunning duke to invite hordes of the Upper Ten-thousand into his home.
Athena gave him a look of silent challenge, daring him to live up to the promise in his expression.
Harry’s smile turned into something resembling both a smirk and a grin.
“You realize, of course, Adam,” Mr. Windover interrupted the conversation between husband and wife without the slightest hint of remorse, “you will be obligated to extend an invitation to our esteemed prince when you begin the arduous task of making a guest list.”
Adam’s head snapped in Mr. Windover’s direction, his expression hardened and fiery.
“Mr. Windover,” Athena whispered urgently.
“Have some faith, m’dear,” Mr. Windover said under his breath. Full voice, he continued addressing Adam. “I, for one, will be waiting on tenterhooks to see if he will attend or not.”
“You think the prince would dare refuse the invitation?” Adam threw back.
“Do you wish him to attend?” Mr. Windover asked.
“I would rather walk stark naked through Hyde Park.”
“Adam,” Persephone scolded, throwing a quick glance in Athena’s direction. She probably ought to have been scandalized. But the time she’d spent with her brother-in-law had taught her to not be surprised by anything he might say. Frightened, perhaps, but not surprised.
“Yet if the prince does not attend the ball—” Mr. Windover continued.
“I’ll call the ball of mutton out,” Adam announced firmly.
“And therein lies the entertainment value,” Mr. Windover explained, smiling and leaning back casually in his chair near Athena. “Our prince will receive an invitation he dare not refuse but is terrified to accept.”
Adam was silent. And absolutely still. Athena’s eyes flicked between everyone in the room. Persephone was watching Adam, her expression hopeful. Mr. Windover wore his usual look of casual amusement. Adam looked intensely thoughtful.
“Georgie was irritatingly rude at the last drawing room,” Adam said. By Georgie, Athena assumed he meant the prince, though she had never heard him referred to that way.
“Heart-stopping fear can do that to a fellow,” Harry observed.
Athena held back a smile.
“The spineless lump of dough deserves a moment of abject humiliation,” Adam declared as if insulting one’s prince was quite a normal thing for a person to do. “Plan your ball, Persephone,” Adam ordered. “But allow me to word the royal invitation.”
“Let us leave your sister to express her gratitude,” Mr. Windover suggested quietly and offered Athena his hand to help her rise. As they passed Adam, Mr. Windover said, “I will see that Miss Lancaster has her wrap and ascertain whether the carriage has been brought around.”
“You practically live here, Harry,” Adam said tersely. “If I have to listen to the two of you Mister and Miss each other for the rest of the Little Season, one or the other of you is not going to live to see Christmas.”
Athena tensed. But Mr. Windover laughed. “So for our health, if nothing else, we should endeavor to be on a Christian-name basis in family settings.”
“There is no endeavor about it,” Adam said. “You will do so.”
“But you never have called me out, Adam,” Harry answered. “And you have promised to do so many times.”
“Do not tempt me.”
“How shall I spend my excessive free time if I abandon one of my favorite hobbies?”
Adam’s eyes narrowed. Athena tugged on Mr. Windover’s arm, concerned that he’d finally pushed Adam too far.
“Harry, do step out,” Persephone insisted. “I have no desire to bid my husband farewell with you in the room offering a running commentary.”
Mr. Windover laughed his infectious chuckle and led Athena from the room. The door was firmly closed behind them.
“They are a little nauseating, aren’t they?” Mr. Windover said.
“I do not understand them,” Athena confessed. “Adam is so surly and unapproachable, and Persephone is so obviously in love with him.”
“Surly and unapproachable.” He seemed to be weighing her word choice. “I do believe that is the tamest set of descriptors I have ever heard attached to Adam’s name.”
Which brought to mind another thing that had puzzled Athena. “Does Adam often refer to our prince as Georgie?”
“Only when Adam is particularly cross with him,” Mr. Windover answered with another characteristic laugh. “It was that nickname that brought about the aborted duel I told you of recently.”
“Indeed?” Athena was intrigued.
“Adam called the prince Georgie—to his face—at a rather important gathering of society’s most elite. It was, of course, a monumental embarrassment to His Royal Highness, and he said something rather regrettable to Adam. It was that comment which led to Adam’s issuing a challenge.”
“Good heavens,” Athena said. “What did the prince say? It must have been something drastic to warrant calling out the heir to the throne.”
Mr. Windover smiled at her, that twinkle of devilment in his eyes Athena was beginning to realize was commonplace for him. “You are anticipating an insult of the highest magnitude, are you not?”
Athena smiled back at him.
“Perhaps you are envisioning a set of words so base or horrendous that I would hesitate to repeat them in the company of a genteel young lady such as yourself.”
“Except your tone tells me such an assumption would not be entirely correct.”
“Very wise, Athena—and, I assure you, I am using your Christian name at the insistence of your guardian, not because I am a presumptuous, ill-mannered lout.”
“Are you saying that you are a presumptuous, ill-mannered lout—just not in this particular instance?”
He laughed at that show of wit, something Athena appreciated.
Evander had always been her companion in jests and intellectual swordplay.
How she’d missed him in the years since he’d gone to sea.
And how deeply she’d mourned his death in battle only a year earlier.
She’d never thought to find another who enjoyed the same type of interaction.
“Perhaps you will be willing to forgive this ill-mannered lout when you consider the fact that I quite single-handedly secured Adam’s blessing for your come-out ball,” Mr. Windover said. “That was rather miraculous of me, don’t you think?”
“I still do not understand how you managed that, Mr. Windover.” Athena shook her head at the recollection. It had seemed a lost cause before he had completely turned the situation around.
“Please call me Harry when we are in private,” he replied. “I would hate for Adam to think we have ignored his dictate. He can be a little testy when he feels his authority is underestimated.”
Athena laughed lightly, as she was sure Mr. Windover, Harry, intended her to.
“Shall I explain to you the secret to Adam, then?” Harry smiled conspiratorially. “This is a great deal of power to trust to someone so young.”
“I am nineteen years old, sir,” Athena informed him, her tone of indignation as obviously feigned as his exaggerated air of condescension.
“An ancient, to be sure.”
“If I am an ancient, you must be an artifact.”
“I do have nine years more in my dish than you do,” Harry replied.
“Decrepit.” Athena laughed.
“I had better divulge my closely guarded secret before the effects of old age wipe it from my undependable memory,” Harry said.
“Though you may not credit it, Adam and Persephone are almost disgustingly enamored of one another. For Adam’s part, he would do absolutely anything for his wife.
Anything. But having lived his life dictating every facet of his existence and catering to no one’s whims or wishes, he struggles to allow himself to act on his desire to please her.
The Infamous Duke of Kielder never gives an inch, never breaks from routine.
The key to securing his cooperation lies in giving him a reason to change his plans or inclinations that does not compromise his formidable reputation. ”
“You invent menacing excuses for him to do completely ordinary things?”
“They aren’t excuses,” Harry replied. “They are legitimate reasons why someone like Adam would do something generally considered out of character for him.”
“Like allowing his wife to throw a ball?”
“Precisely,” Harry answered. “He would never deny her anything she truly wished for. Adam loves her far too much to disappoint her if it is in his power to do otherwise. But he struggles with it still. So I regularly rack my brain composing sufficiently treacherous reasons for him to make his wife happy.”
Athena shook her head as she thought through Harry’s explanation. “And an opportunity to discommode His Royal Highness is treacherous enough?”
“Barely.”
“Good heavens.” She laughed, partly out of amusement but mostly out of amazement.
“The carriage is ready, Mr. Windover,” the butler informed them, holding open the front door as a maid slipped a heavy shawl around Athena’s shoulders.
“Excellent.” Persephone’s voice rang behind them. She glided past, making her way outside, her cheeks flushed and a broad smile on her face.
Following behind with her arm through Harry’s, Athena was quick to push from her mind the reason for her sister’s blush and grin. It was difficult to fathom the fearsome Duke of Kielder doing something as emotional and tender as kissing his wife.
“Your curiosity is sadly lacking, Athena,” Harry said.
“Curiosity?” About Their Graces’ private moment? Surely that was not what he meant.
“Do you not have any desire to know what it was our unfortunate prince said to the terrifying duke to warrant an invitation to meet on the grass?”
Athena smiled back at him. “I cannot even imagine something drastic enough to warrant such an occurrence.”
“It was inexcusable,” Harry said, but there was a chuckle behind the words.
“His Royal Highness, after hearing himself called Georgie, locked eyes with Adam and said, ‘How dare you, Kielder?’ And Adam took it upon himself to assure the prince that he dared at whatever time and place His Highness should choose and by whatever means he decided upon. He further advised our prince to secure a very competent surgeon in the off-chance that Adam’s aim was not as true as usual. ”
“Meaning, of course, that Adam might accidentally shoot His Royal Highness.”
“No,” Harry said. “That Adam might accidentally not kill His Royal Highness and that he would thus need a surgeon. Adam does not believe in deloping; regardless of his opponent, he would never intentionally miss. Every gentleman knows as much.”
Athena felt her eyes widen. Adam had, essentially, threatened to kill a member of the royal family. “Did you not say the prince apologized to Adam?”
“Instantaneously.”
Athena stopped at the carriage door and turned back to look at Harry. “Would Adam have shot the prince if they had met on the field of honor?”
“No,” Harry smiled reassuringly. “But the prince was not so certain, and Adam had no intention of clarifying that point.”
“So the prince wouldn’t risk it?”
“There are some risks that are not worth taking,” Harry answered.
“Is there anything you will not risk where Adam is concerned?” Athena doubted it.
But Harry didn’t answer. He simply handed her up and kept his peace as they traveled toward the night’s destination.