She stood in front of them awkwardly, looking like she wanted to say something, but then the dinner bell rang. Both Elizabeth and Elinor stood up.
“You better hurry, Duchess,” Amelia said with a smile, “you have to be the first in line to enter the dining room now.”
“I had completely forgotten about that!” Elizabeth exclaimed, mortified, and they hurried into the Blue Room.
Dinner was pleasant enough, but Elizabeth’s mind kept going back to her conversation with Elinor, so she managed only the most superficial responses to her companions’ questions, promising herself that she would do better after dinner.
The men retired to the smoking room, and the women went back into the Blue Room, where they were greeted by a stunning newcomer. The woman was around Elizabeth’s height, but her body was much more plump and inviting. Her skin was soft-looking and radiant in its unblemished whiteness, which was further emphasised by the darkness of her hair and eyes.
“Lady Genevieve,” Charlotte said in her usual cold manner. “I had no idea you’d arrived.”
Lady Genevieve curtsied to the hostess and said, “Countess. You all were at dinner, so I told the butler not to interrupt you.”
Charlotte looked annoyed that this woman had dared to issue orders in her home.
“This is my husband’s stepmother, the late Earl’s widow, Lady Genevieve Sinclair.”
The woman was, at most, fifteen years older than Charlotte, so the image of her with the Earl’s father was very unsettling.
“This is Duchess Elizabeth Talbot,” Charlotte introduced the highest-ranked guest first, but what she said next took Lizzie by surprise: “My sister.”
“Ah, Duke Talbot’s wife. Lovely to meet you, Your Grace,” the other woman said as she looked her up and down.
Lizzie immediately detected the antipathy in her tone, so she just nodded as haughtily as she could without acknowledging her verbally.
That should cut her the most,she thought.
As Lady Genevieve was being introduced to the other women in the room, she kept glancing back at Elizabeth, who pretended to be engrossed in conversation with Lady Louisa.
When the men finally joined them, Lizzie carefully watched her husband’s face. When he noticed the new addition to the party, his eyes widened in surprise, and then his lips twisted in annoyance. Something inside Elizabeth settled.
“Good evening, Lady Genevieve,” he said coldly.
“Duke Talbot,” she replied in a breathy voice. “How wonderful it is to see you again.”
“Yes, well. Excuse me, I am looking for my wife,” he said and looked around for Elizabeth.
“A friend of yours?” Elizabeth asked petulantly when he joined her, standing closer to her than would be necessary inanysocial setting.
Luckily, he made sure to stand with his injured side away from her. His right arm was still in the sling, and to Elizabeth, it made him look only more distinguished.
“From another life,” he admitted, confirming Elizabeth’s suspicions.
Against her will, she started breathing very quickly. She didn’t like being in the same room with this woman. She wanted to leave. Her dress felt too tight. Colin put his arm on her lower back.
“If your sister had provided us with the complete guest list, I would never have agreed to this,” he told hersotto voce.
Elizabeth felt childish for sulking like this, but she desperately needed more reassurance, so she glared at him.
“There it is,” he smiled almost sleepily. “That temper. Keep in mind that I am in no position to defend myself against any physical attacks you may devise. I am, after all, a wounded man,” he whispered dramatically, leaning closer to her ear.
Lizzie wanted to smile, mollified by his attentions. She also felt other things which she knew were better left ignored. She looked up and saw Lady Genevieve surreptitiously looking over at Colin.
“Is your friend... flirting with Pratt?” her husband asked in a confused tone.
Elizabeth followed his line of sight and saw Elinor clearly exaggerating her reactions to whatever idiotic story Pratt was telling her. She sighed.
“She’s probably trying to.”
