Chapter Nine #2
‘But it was not always thus,’ the Duchess said. ‘At one time, you were both obsessed with me.’ Her grin turned catlike. ‘You, particularly, Westbridge.’
His expression changed, turning hard in a way she’d not seen before. ‘I am sure Miss Fisk is not interested in tales of your many conquests, Francesca.’
She ignored him and went on. ‘It may be hard for you to believe, but Sebastian was the most innocent of boys, back in the day. Still at Oxford, and so studious. He had eyes for nothing but books, back then.’
‘That is hardly a surprise,’ Cassie said, thinking of the book in his nightstand. ‘I understand he still enjoys reading very much.’
Three sets of eyes turned to her, surprised.
Only the Duchess was unmoved and continued with her story. ‘I met him on his first trip to London,’ she said. ‘How old were you then, Sebastian? Twenty?’
‘Nineteen,’ he snapped. ‘My father had just died.’
‘As green as fresh-cut grass,’ she said, stifling a bored yawn. ‘Positively virginal. But that did not last long, did it, darling?’
‘But that was quite some time ago,’ Portia said, with an equally catlike smile. ‘You must have been barely past forty when it happened, Francesca.’
‘Thirty-two,’ the Duchess replied, her smile disappearing as she looked at Portia.
‘I wouldn’t know. I was still in the schoolroom at the time,’ Portia said, still smiling.
‘And on that, I think we’ll take our leave,’ Julian said, taking his wife by the arm. ‘Good evening to you as well, Westbridge.’
‘I’ll follow you out,’ the other man replied, turning to go with them. He walked at their side until they were lost in the crowd, then disappeared.
When he was gone, Julian leaned towards Portia and said, ‘You were the one who wanted to come here.’
‘Because I do not want it spread around that I am afraid of your old lovers,’ she said.
‘That was very long ago,’ he replied. ‘And I thought you enjoyed this party.’
‘I said I liked her rout cakes. I did not say I liked her,’ Portia replied.
Then, she waved her reticule and opened it to show them it contained cake and a folded sheet of paper.
‘I have taken several for the ride home and bribed a footman to run to the kitchen and copy out the recipe for me. We do not have to come back next year at all.’
But that meant that Cassie might never hear the end of the story that the Duchess was so eager to tell. They had made their way to the door and Julian had gone to see if he could find their carriage. Cassie used the opportunity to question her sister-in-law.
‘The Duchess was very strange,’ she began. ‘And Westbridge did not seem to like her very much.’
Portia gave her a prim look, and said, ‘It is not polite to spread gossip.’ Then, she smiled. ‘But when it comes to her? I am only telling you what everyone knows. And no, Sebastian does not like her very much. She led him a merry chase and he has not forgiven her for it.’
Cassie leaned forward to whisper, ‘She said that he was naive when she met him. After all the warnings you have given me about him, I find that hard to believe.’
‘We all start life innocent,’ Portia reminded her. ‘It is not as if he was a rake in the womb. From what I understand, his father died while he was at university, and he came down to London to take up the family seat in Parliament.’
‘How sad,’ she said.
Portia nodded. ‘His mother died when he was born, and he was quite close to his father. The loss hit him hard.’
‘And then, he met Francesca?’ Cassie said.
‘Her husband had died several years before. She was young and beautiful, and paid no mind to the strictures Society placed on her, even before he was gone.’
‘How is she still accepted?’ Cassie asked, shocked.
‘She is not. Not everywhere, at least. But money and a title can smooth over the majority of her sins.’
‘And rout cakes?’ she said.
‘It is a shame that the best cook in London works for such a harpy,’ Portia said with a sigh. ‘Gentlemen like her better than ladies do. And though her lovers might change from year to year, she is careful to choose men who are assets and not liabilities.’
‘And that is why she picked the Duke of Westbridge,’ she said, trying not to appear too interested.
‘On the contrary, she refused him publicly. He even went so far as to offer marriage. She laughed in his face and told half of London about it.’
Cassie thought of her own public refusal and winced. ‘Does he do that often? Offer marriage, I mean.’
‘Certainly not. He is a rake not a fool. Making a casual offer to women he wanted to bed would result in a breach of promise lawsuit, and he wants to stay out of the courts.’
‘Oh,’ Cassie said. She had not considered that.
‘But when he met Francesca, he was young and serious and a little full of himself. He offered. And she told him that while another titled husband might be nice, he was too inexperienced to please her.’
‘She turned virtue into a vice?’ Cassie said shocked.
‘And she made sure everyone heard the story,’ Portia said. ‘Even girls in their first Season were laughing at him.’
Cassie winced. Being new to town, she could still feel the judgement of the people around her and the desire to be accepted. To be loved. ‘What did he do?’
‘He made himself into the man she wanted. Cold and experienced and old beyond his years. In a single Season, he became one of the most notorious rakes of the ton.’
‘The next Season?’
‘He courted her. She was intrigued, of course. So he led her on, then cast her off, making sure that the jilting was just as public as his had been. From what I understand, it was quite the scandal.’
‘It must have been,’ Cassie said. It was hard to imagine the Duke as a sweet, young student. But it was much easier to believe he turned bitter in the space of a year. ‘And I suppose, once he was done with her, he did not return to his old studiousness?’
‘He was sent down from Oxford in what would have been his last year,’ she said. ‘Public drunkenness, fighting and gambling. Julian has been friends with him since they were in school together and says he can be very clever when he wishes to be. But he is seldom serious, so it is hard to tell.’
‘I see,’ she said. But before she could press for more information, Julian reappeared to lead them to the carriage.