“You keep saying that as if I’d told you that I saw a ghost! Yes, it was the duke. Why is that so shocking?”
“Well, you can’t be infatuated with the duke, Eleanor.”
“I’m not infatuated! Preoccupied, perhaps.”
“You can’t be that either.”
“Why on Earth not? He’s attractive and fun to speak with. Why shouldn’t I notice those things about him? Why shouldn’t I enjoy them?”
“Because he’s going to be married to Lady Hannah,” Marina reminded her. “Haven’t Mother and Father mentioned that to you?”
“Well, now that you mention it, Lady Hannah herself has said as much to me,” Eleanor admitted.
“Then you know why you can’t possibly harbor any such feelings for him. He’s not available.”
“There was something odd about the way she spoke about him, though,” Eleanor said. “It was as if she was trying to make sure I knew he was promised to her.”
“Why shouldn’t she? I imagine I sound much the same when I speak of Jacob.”
“You don’t, as a matter of fact,” Eleanor said. “When you talk about Jacob, you always sound a bit surprised at your own good fortune. There’s something very sweet about it, actually. It’s as if you can’t believe he belongs to you.”
Marina permitted herself a little giggle. “Sometimes I can’t,” she admitted. “I suppose that’s awfully foolish.”
“It’s lovely. He’s the same way when he speaks of you—I’ve heard it, and Phineas has mentioned it to me. This is what people who are about to marry should sound like. And Lady Hannah doesn’t sound that way at all. She sounds like she wants to make sure everyone understands that a piece of property belongs to her. She cares more about peopleknowingthat he’s hers than she does about actually having him.”
“I suppose that’s the way it is for some people,” Marina said mildly. “Not everyone is in love when they marry, and she must be very proud of the fact that she’s going to be a duchess.”
“But you don’t think there’s something just a little suspicious about it all?” Eleanor pressed her sister.
“No, I don’t see anything remotely suspicious,” Marina said. “But it won’t be good for you if you’re seen to keep associating yourself with the duke, knowing that he intends to marry someone else. Mother and Father won’t like it. Lady Hannah won’t like it, and neither will her family.”
“The duke himself didn’t seem to mind my company.”
“Perhaps not, but that makes me suspect his motives,” Marina said, a caution in her voice. “What reason could he have for wishing to spend his time with one lady when he’s engaged to marry another? I don’t know, and I wouldn’t like to speculate, but what I do know is that it seems unusual and inappropriate. It’s all in good fun right now, but if someone found the two of you out, how might he react? Would he say the whole thing was your doing, your fault, and turn against you to protect his engagement? I think he certainlymight, and to me that risk is simply too great. You must protect yourself and keep your distance from a man like that, Eleanor.”
“You worry so much,” Eleanor said. “Sometimes I think that with all the energy you put into worrying about me, you must not have any left over for worrying about yourself!”
“I feel that way myself sometimes,” Marina said wryly. “But if you ever take my advice, Eleanor, let it be now. Even if your reputation is completely unharmed, even if things remain innocent between yourself and the duke?—”
“I’m sure they would,” Eleanor said quickly, anxious not to impugn his name. “He seems like a perfect gentleman.”
“Maybe that’s so. But even if it is, you stand to get your heart broken here. I can tell by the way you speak about him that youareinfatuated. Let it be no more than a passing thing, something you move on from quickly and don’t have to spend any time worrying about. Think how difficult it will be for you to giveyour attention to a marriage when your heart is still caught up in somebody else—and you can never marry the duke, you know that.”
“I don’t wish tomarryhim,” Eleanor said. “But I can’t help wanting to feel some sort of excitement in my life before Father hands me off to whomever he decides is best, and the duke does excite me. I won’t pretend otherwise. Once I’m married, I won’t have the freedom to enjoy conversations like the one I had tonight, and that’s something I’m going to miss when that unhappy day comes.”
“And you’re not at all worried about getting your heart broken?”
“I suppose I am, but even a heartbreak would be a fine thing to experience, knowing that this is likely to be the only such thing I’ll ever have!”
“Well, do yourself a favor and find someone else to experience it with than the Duke of Nightingale,” Marina advised. “Nothing good can come of that. I’m glad you had a fine conversation tonight, but there is no end of gentlemen who can give you good conversation. Enjoy the party this week. I’m sure you’ll find another.”
Her sister was probably right, Eleanor knew—and yet, even as she had that thought, there was only one other gentleman who came to mind. There was only one other who had given her the same feeling the duke had given her tonight.
The gentleman at the masquerade. The one whose identity she had never known. The one who she’d confided in, and who had then pressed his lips to her scar.
If only she could findhim!
CHAPTER NINETEEN
