The Duke's Heart by Boyd Heather

Author:Boyd, Heather
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-925239-58-4
Publisher: Heather Boyd
Published: 2019-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Sinclair was sure that coming out tonight had been a mistake. Kitty was not here, and there had still been no note from her. He should have left his card when he’d called on her last night, but he’d been thinking about her reputation.

There was no one he wanted to talk to here, but he felt an obligation to stay because the hostess was a good woman and wife of a friend.

He’d really hoped he might have heard from Kitty before now, perhaps an invitation to supper, or she might have shared some of her daytime plans with him so they might appear to meet by chance elsewhere. If he’d called on her tonight, would she have been at home? He did not know. If not, he might just have had to conscript Lady Darrow into helping him with his Kitty problem.

But there was the problem of his cousin, too. Teddy was taking on this role he’d concocted a little too seriously for his liking. In private, he was always asking him his plans, who he’d been talking to if he did not recognize them. In public, he deferred to him too much. Walking one pace behind, following him anywhere and everywhere. There were people Teddy could speak with here, women he could flatter and fall into bed with.

The man vexed him more tonight than ever before. Teddy should be enjoying himself. They both should.

“I did not bring you to London to live as a monk,” he murmured to the man.

“You said I should learn from you,” Teddy replied. “You have not looked twice at a woman all night.”

“Casual dalliances can be more trouble than they are worth,” he warned. Casual dalliances always led to the expectation of permanence. “It pays to use discretion.”

“Agreed.”

He glanced at his heir, hesitant to bring up a delicate topic in this setting. However, it was a subject that played on his mind, mostly because of the primary failure in his own life. “When are you going give up this charade and start looking for a wife?”

Teddy sputtered, sending a few disapproving glances in his direction. They were attending another rout; Lady Evans’ party was in full swing. However, no one should be interested in what he said to a man wearing his livery. And normally, Sinclair favoring conversation with his servant over those of more noble blood was too frequent an event for anyone to be curious about anymore. But he wanted everyone to be aware of Teddy’s importance soon. They would act very differently indeed, and perhaps stop whispering about what could happen to the title and fortune when he died.

Sinclair would like to be alive to see everyone’s reaction. The shock. The rush to flatter Teddy. It should be worthy of a good laugh or two. Secrecy had become tedious in the extreme. “You cannot put marriage off like I did.”

“I will get to it,” Teddy promised, but there was a hint of defensiveness to his response.

“You should be known now. Let the women get to know your character.

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