Chapter Eleven
Chapter
ELEVEN
Miss Kendall looked thoroughly miserable from her desolate position in the middle of the otherwise empty wallflower chairs, and that filled Leo with guilt.
He had cajoled her into coming to this fundraising ball tonight to help him out because ten days on from his accident he was still hobbling around.
But, being one of the patrons of the local hospital this event was raising funds for, he felt duty bound to attend.
Fearing that his sisters might use his incapacity against him despite their uneasy armistice, he wanted some assistance nearby in case they attempted to rebel.
Especially as he was in no fit state to chase after them.
However, two hours in and, likely because as it was tipping it down outside, neither Abigail nor Emilia had tried to escape the ballroom once.
Emilia was enjoying being one of the only young ladies present with a full dance card.
Abigail, who was undoubtedly the most aggrieved with him, had been ensconced in a serious-looking conversation with a bunch of her new academically minded acquaintances and showed no signs of tiring of it anytime soon.
In short, it was eleven o’clock and all was well. If that blessed miracle continued until midnight when this blasted ball finished, then he had definitely dragged poor Miss Kendall here under false pretenses.
“Allow me to introduce you to Mr. Joshua Marshall, a businessman who has recently moved to our great city from Bristol. Mr. Marshall has generously donated twenty guineas to our cause.” Lord Teignmouth, Leo’s friend and the organizer of this evening’s fundraiser, brought their next victim over because clearly Mr. Marshall had a great deal more money than his twenty-guinea contribution suggested.
As the resident duke and therefore precisely the sort of connection that the increasing Bath contingent of new money craved, it was his job to encourage this man to part with more.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Marshall.” Leo tore his gaze from Miss Kendall to stick out his hand with what he hoped was convincing enthusiasm. “What line of business are you in?”
He spent the next ten minutes asking all the right questions that guaranteed Mr. Marshall talked about himself and his success, which made the man feel good, and by default guaranteed Mr. Marshall would reopen his purse.
All the while Leo’s gaze frequently drifted to Miss Kendall, who was doing a splendid job of being his eyes as far as his sisters were concerned.
Despite her diligence, he still sensed her unease at being in this ballroom and fought the urge to wander her way to make her feel good about herself too.
She seemed self-conscious, for some reason, although he could not fathom why. Even in her simple coral evening gown, which she filled to perfection, she outshone every other woman in the room.
There was something about her that drew the eye and, from the appreciative glances he kept noticing from plenty of the other men here, not just his.
She had a natural glow that out-shimmered all the expensive jewelry glittering beneath the ballroom’s chandeliers.
An effortless allure that did not require all the additional adornments worn by every other lady present.
Who knew that a few ink stains held the power to draw the eye better than a diamond?
Although he suspected that really did depend on who was sporting the stains.
Conscious that he was staring, Leo forced himself to focus on Mr. Marshall while he inwardly gave himself a stern talking-to. All his staring and the peculiar yearning that he had developed for his sisters’ chaperone was as improper as it was impertinent. She was his employee, for goodness’ sake.
His employee!
And he was certainly not the sort of employer who would ever try to take advantage of someone who worked for him. He had always deplored those who did.
Leo had principles. Rigid principles that were set in stone. Principles that dictated that he always treated every member of his staff with the utmost respect.
As was only fair and proper.
Because he was a gentleman.
Perhaps if he said that often enough, he might stop thinking of her as an attractive and intriguing woman who appealed to him far too much.
He blamed the new change in their relationship.
Their lack of the proper formalities, which they both seemed to have dropped since his accident, had made him stop thinking of her as an employee and more like a …
well … friend of sorts. Just with some unrequited, ungentlemanly lust and longing thrown into the mix to further complicate things.
While Mr. Marshall droned on, a handsome gent sidled up beside Miss Kendall and began to flirt with her; the urge to go to her increased tenfold. But when the silver-tongued devil sat down Leo was compelled—viscerally propelled—to act upon it.
He excused himself politely and picked his way around the edge of the crowded dance floor. As soon as she spied him, Miss Kendall said something to her new companion that made him quickly stand and then, to Leo’s absolute disgust, the scoundrel kissed her hand before he beat a hasty retreat.
He covered the hot flash of jealousy with a smile. “You will be pleased to know that there is less than an hour of this torture left.”
“Thank goodness for that.” The relief on her lovely face was palpable. “And thank you for saving me from that chancer.” She offered him a resigned half smile. “I presume you noticed that he was being a pest and that is why you hobbled all the way over here to save me?”
“He did seem a little persistent.” Suddenly self-conscious of both his haste to get to her and the old-man’s cane that he needed to lean on to do that, when her robust admirer had no such impediment, Leo lowered himself into a chair.
“Opportunists always are.” She pulled a face. One that said that she was used to men trying to seduce her and that did nothing to ease his irrational jealousy any. “Have you had a successful evening convincing the rich to part with their money?”
“The coffers of St. John’s Hospital are significantly fuller, so yes.”
“You seem to have a knack for fundraising.” Sometimes, when she looked at him, he could see the cogs of her clever mind turning as if she were trying to figure him out just as much as he was trying to figure her out.
He had no clue whether that was a good or bad thing but still foolishly hoped for the former.
“I have never seen so many people so happy to have their pockets picked.”
Did that mean that she had been surreptitiously watching him too? A prospect that warmed him more than it should. “Being a duke has its advantages.”
“I suspect that is part of it, for sure, but a greater part is you. You are quite the charmer on the sly, aren’t you?
” He tried to wave that compliment away, but she wouldn’t let him.
“Being able to turn people to your way of thinking so effortlessly is a rare talent indeed. One that I wish that I possessed. But alas, I am too cynical, prone to lecture and can frequently be too…” Her brows kissed as she sought the right word.
“Prickly?”
Her bark of not-so-outraged laughter made him want to puff up with pride because, reluctantly, even if she did not lust after him in the way he did her, she was definitely warming to him. “I was going to say acerbic, but I suppose prickly fits just as well.”
“I admire that you do not suffer fools gladly, even when you thought me one of those fools.”
She smiled but didn’t deny it. “You have grown on me since then, your grace.”
“I apologize for that—because I appreciate how painful it must be to have to admit that.”
“Thank you.” Her lips twitched but she held her amusement in. “There is nothing a cynic loathes more than their lowly expectations being surpassed.”
“That is not it at all. You just hate being proved wrong.”
Her caged smile broke free. “There is that too.”
“But now that I have gone up in your estimation, I am curious, Miss Kendall—what was it in particular about me that you initially took the most umbrage about?”
For a moment, he didn’t think that she would answer honestly, but she sighed. “To be frank…” She swept her arm around the room. “This. I find it difficult to feel any compassion for those who have only ever existed among all this privilege and yet are so oblivious to it.”
Leo frowned, unsure whether to be offended by her sweeping generalization. “Surely none of us can help what we were born into?”
“Of course we can’t—but we can decide how we choose to treat people.
” Her smile now was resigned. “I will wager that it would never occur to most of the people in this grand ballroom to share their toast with an employee or, for that matter, to use themselves to stop a heavy shower of books from raining down on one either. In fact, I’ll wager most do not even see their employees.
Just as most have flatly refused to see me this evening.
If they have, with the exception of that chancer just now who was on the prowl for a willing woman, they look down their aristocratic noses at me—just like those two ladies are currently doing.
” She flicked her eyes briefly toward the exact same pair of debutantes who had simpered over him not an hour ago, who were undeniably shooting daggers her way.
“They are positively outraged that a duke would waste his precious time talking to someone as insignificant as me.”
He scoffed. “They are more likely outraged that you are the most beautiful woman in the room, Miss Kendall.” Oh good heavens above he had actually said that aloud!