Lady Peabody patted the back of her perfectly coiled head, and she beamed at Jack. “Perhaps he will take you on, too, my dear.”
Another cough threatened, and she took another drink of punch.
“Thirsty, are we,” observed her brother shrewdly with narrowed eyes.
It was all Jack could do not to screw up her face in irritation, but she had to recall that her ire was past and that the duke had promised to assist her. If her mother knew, she’d be overjoyed, no doubt… Though not likely joyful in the way the help had been solicited. Even her mother might wilt at the idea of Jack climbing through His Grace’s window.
She forced a light tone and observed, “His Grace is very, very busy.”
Alexander pressed at his cravat. “He thinks that if all would heed his advice, the world would be peopled with contented individuals.”
“How like a duke to believe if we all just did as he said we’d be happy,” she crowed. “Will he put us two in two, like Noah’s Ark?”
She wasn’t about to admit that she was already marching toward the proverbial ark, waiting for her partner to be chosen.
And with that, the man determined to fill the world with happy couples descended upon the Peabody family.
It was all that she could do not to act a loon.
She’d never kept anything from her family before. And as the Duke of Stone stood beside her, she could scarcely breathe. She couldfeelhim. Though he was inches from her, she felt as if his strong hand at his side might reach out and take hers, which was but a breath away.
Chapter Five
Jack’s entire body thrilled at the nearness of his hand, and strangely his presence, so very close to her own, seemed to steal away all her ability to think.
And for one shocking, powerful instant, she wished she was marryinghim. Why couldn’thebe her match? She’d adored him, worshipped him, so many years ago. And now, as an adult standing beside him, realizing how much he truly wished to make people happy… She wished, oh how she wished, that she could have him.
It was a positively ridiculous thought, of course. Such dreams did not come true. He’d been clear that he had no desire to marry. She bit down on the inside of her cheek, praying no one could hear the wild beating of her heart.
The Duke of Stone gazed upon them all benevolently, as if he were a king who could bestow untold gifts.
If she hadn’t liked him so well, she’d have found him terribly annoying.
Was it really right that someone should have so many gifts, so much aptitude, so much handsomeness?
The duke was speaking with Alexander, but she could not hear the words. No, she was too busy contemplating walking down the nave of a small church toward him, bluebells in hand, grinning ear to ear as he waited for her, beaming in front of the bishop—
“My dear,” her mother whispered sotto voce, “you’re staring.”
She blinked and mouthed, “I beg your pardon?”
“You are staring at the duke,” her mother all but hissed in her ear.
“Of course I’m staring. He’s ridiculously tall,” she said swiftly, wishing she could kick herself.
Was she so very obvious?
What if the duke had noticed her mooning over him? How mortifying! She rushed on, “I have to crane my head to view him, and it’s most uncomfortable.” She gestured at him with her punch cup. “Isn’t it, Your Grace? It is a bane to ladies, I assume, whenever they are in your presence. They must always be complaining of a sore neck.”
The duke’s eyes widened ever so slightly as if he was imagining something quite specific. Abruptly, he clasped his hands behind his back and cleared his throat, then coughed.
Alexander, determined to serve, pounded the duke on the back. “I say, Stone, are you quite well?”
Stone nodded firmly.
A servant swept by, tray in hand, and she chirped, “Punch?”
“Dance,” the duke blurted.