The Duke's Bluestocking (Reluctant Brides Book 4) by Josie Bonham

Author:Josie Bonham [Bonham, Josie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitcheroak Press
Published: 2022-06-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

The following day Grace woke up feeling listless. With Luke and Angus going on to White’s after the ball there had been no time for any private conversation with Angus. Perhaps she had dismissed his suggestion of offering her marriage a little too hastily. After what she had experienced locked in his arms, could she settle for the life of a spinster? Her head ached. If he had mentioned love, she might have given him a different answer.

It was no good torturing herself with thoughts of a future with Angus. Better to turn her attention back to tracking down the mysterious, would-be murderer. Luke hadn’t liked Ralph Medley any more than they had. None of them knew what to make of the conversation with Jack that she and Angus had overheard. She was fairly sure that Luke had a suspicion they had been dallying in the garden. He had probably been too busy wondering where they were to notice who Ralph Medley was talking to. Luke blundering into her affairs yet again was a complication she could do without.

At last, she and Aunt Theo set off to take luncheon with the Duchess of Cathlay, so as to be there before the guests arrived for the political salon. It was a relief to be away from home, instead of being bombarded with visits from gentlemen she had danced with. She had used up all her store of polite smiles. Especially since there had been no visit from the one man she did want to talk to.

The first guests arrived punctually at two o’clock and were soon joined by a steady stream of ladies in ones, twos and threes until every table in the Duchess’s large, formal drawing room was taken. Grace smiled at everyone who arrived, making a mental note of anyone she didn’t already know. She tried to avoid appearing too interested when the Countess of Hedburgh arrived. She was a mousy woman, who hung back in the shadows at the edge of the room, as if trying to blend into the background. Her clothes were an uninspiring shade of beige with little in the way of decoration. Grace had always considered her as one of a substantial minority who only attended these events at their husband’s behest.

It was a lively afternoon and Grace enjoyed walking round the tables, taking part in various interesting conversations. The Duchess joined her on several occasions and squeezed her hand under the table as people were speaking, their prearranged signal to indicate anyone Augusta thought might be worth investigating. Conversations were about the state of Parliament in the main. There were several ladies Grace had never seen at one of the Duchess’s salons before. Most of them had little to say or seemed nervous, but nothing that couldn’t be accounted for by this being their first appearance. Invitations to the Duchess of Cathlay’s political salons were much sought after.

Lady Hedburgh seemed quieter than normal, but she smiled in all the right places. Even

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