Chapter 11 #2
“She was covered in mud, her bonnet was missing, and her hair was falling down around her shoulders,” Max said. “She hardly looked her best.”
Allegra glared at him while Postumus looked genuinely confused. “That seems rather judgmental, sir.”
“I’m not sure why, when I’m just confirming what the lady said about herself.”
“But, surely—”
Thankfully the conversation was interrupted by the entrance of the duke and Allegra’s parents.
Her mother looked slightly stunned as she surveyed her guests. “Dinner is served. Please follow me to the dining room.”
The duke offered her his arm, and after a moment’s hesitation, she took it. Carenza went in with Julian, and the earl went in with Dorian, which left Allegra with two men who both looked at her expectantly.
“I can’t possibly choose one of you,” Allegra said. “Can we all walk in together?”
Both Max and Postumus looked equally unimpressed by her suggestion, but they strolled in on either side of her without causing any fuss, for which Allegra was quietly grateful.
Ensuring her evening got worse, she was seated between them and had the duke opposite her.
She could only hope that the duke was the kind of gentleman who would never speak to someone across the table.
To Allegra’s surprise, a conversation was struck up about the vagaries of the current weather, which then moved onto hunting and fishing at the duke’s Scottish estate.
Dorian, who rarely ventured outside, was particularly vocal and exposed his lack of knowledge with breathtaking pomposity.
Allegra noticed the duke wince at least twice, but he was a well-behaved guest, and he didn’t step in to correct any of Dorian’s wild fantasies.
When the servants removed the first course and set the many dishes for the second out on the table for the guests to serve themselves, the duke looked momentarily confused, as if the idea had never occurred to him.
Postumus took the opportunity to murmur to Allegra under his breath. “I confess I am quite unable to join in most of this conversation, having never participated in gentlemen’s sporting adventures.”
“Neither have I,” Allegra agreed. “But at least it keeps the conversation going.”
“Yes, there appears to be some tension around the table,” Postumus said. “Your mother is not herself at all.”
Allegra glanced at her mother, who was smiling politely but had a faraway look in her eye that suggested her mind was on other things.
Carenza raised her eyebrows at Allegra in an obvious question, but there was nothing Allegra wished to say to her sister when she had no idea what was going on herself.
The meal proceeded, Max a silent presence at her side, the tension in his body evident every time someone addressed a remark to him. Allegra glanced at him, and he caught her gaze.
She smiled graciously and spoke under her breath. “What is going on, Max? Why are you here?”
“That is hardly a topic for the dinner table, Lady Allegra.”
“Then when will you be at liberty to talk to me?”
He set his jaw. “You are drawing attention to us.”
Allegra noticed the duke was looking at them both, his expression impossible to read.
“Fine,” she said. “Be like that.”
She ate two desserts she barely tasted, and finally, Allegra’s mother rose to her feet and gestured to her daughters. “Shall we leave the men to their port?”
Allegra pulled back her chair and left the dining room with a mixture of relief and apprehension. She still had no idea what the duke had told her parents, and she was terrified of admitting to something that no one except Max knew about.
“What on earth is going on?” Carenza said as soon as she shut the drawing room door. “Why is the Duke of Barfleur here?”
“Your father says that they have been corresponding for years. I suppose he finally decided it was time to visit.”
“Mama, you are a terrible liar,” Carenza said. “And why would he bring his awful son with him, who has spent the entire evening being too high and mighty to speak to anyone?”
Her mother cast Allegra a guilty look.
“It might have something to do with me,” Allegra said. “I bumped into Max Devereux when I was staying at the inn.”
“In Suffolk?”
“Yes.”
“That still doesn’t explain anything,” Carenza said. “And now you look as guilty as Mama.”
The door opened, and the earl came in. “May I speak to Allegra, please?”
Allegra rose to her feet and followed her father out of the room without a word. He paused in the hall.
“The duke wishes to speak to you in private.”
Allegra swallowed hard.
“Normally, I would want someone from your family to be present, but I believe in this case you would be better off speaking to him by yourself.” He patted her shoulder. “Come along, he’s not that bad when you get to know him.”
He ushered her through the door of his study, where the duke sat contemplating the fire. He got to his feet and bowed when Allegra approached him.
“Lady Allegra, thank you for joining me.” He gestured at the seat opposite his with all the assurance of a man who commanded his surroundings. “Will you sit down?”
Allegra was quite glad to do so, because her knees were beginning to shake.
“I understand from my son that he inadvertently involved you in a wager. Is that correct?”
Allegra nodded.
“A wager that went terribly wrong, as his so-called friend abandoned him to an amateur coachman who was incapable of managing the horses and caused an accident.”
“Yes.” Allegra realized she had no choice but to be honest, at least, about the accident.
“I believe your son, the marquess, was attempting to persuade my sister out in public and inadvertently got me. I was expecting the family carriage to arrive to take me home and, in the rain and darkness, I mistook your son’s carriage for my own and allowed him to hand me in. ”
“If I might ask, why didn’t you immediately demand he take you back?”
“I did, but he was convinced I was my sister, Carenza. He believed he could accompany me on a walk in the park and win his wager.”
“Was he drunk?”
“Somewhat,” Allegra said.
The duke sat back and regarded her carefully. “You are being extremely magnanimous toward my son, my lady. Would you care to explain why?”
“Because some of what happened next might be my fault.”
The duke slowly raised his eyebrows. “How so?”
“When the marquess refused to listen to me, I threatened him.”
“You had a weapon in your possession?”
“No, I had a large book of sermons, which I threw at his head.” Allegra swallowed hard. “I hit him hard enough to knock him out, which meant that when the carriage took off to parts unknown, he was unable to stop it.”
The duke’s lips twitched. “You rendered him unconscious.”
“Yes, because he suggested that no woman of his acquaintance could hit anything, and I rather lost my temper and wanted to prove him wrong.”
There was a moment of silence as the duke contemplated her before he continued. “When the accident happened, you were both thrown out onto the verge, and then what?”
“We found shelter at a farm, left the wreck of the carriage in the barn, and made our way to a coaching inn with the horses.”
“Which is where you encountered one of Max’s friends.”