Henrietta laughed. “He is my brother’s close friend. We met on a … group outing.” Grayson snorted. Group outing? Ridiculous euphemism.
“Oh?” Lady Willow tilted her head. “Where to?”
Grayson crossed his arms over his chest. Whatever answer Hen gave, it would undoubtedly be entertaining.
Henrietta drummed her fingers on her arm, thinking. “Mercy! It’s easier simply to confess.”
Grayson reached out a hand to stop Henrietta’s confession, holding back a string of curse words to make the workers in Henrietta’s father’s factory proud.
“We met on a dueling field.” Henrietta laughed, shrugging away from his touch. “If you must know. At dawn.”
“A dueling field! How exciting!” Lady Willow exclaimed
“Not particularly,” Henrietta replied. “My brother, with the help of Lord Rigsby, tried to get himself killed over me.”
“No! What happened?”
Henrietta waved her hand in the air, as if “what happened” mattered not at all. “A gentleman—I use the term loosely here, you understand—insulted me. My brother, Tobias, took offense, called him out, and recruited Lord Rigsby as his second.” She huffed. “Absurd. What reason is there to spill blood over an inconsequential insult?”
“It was most certainly of consequence.” Grayson kept his voice low, calm.
“I’m sure you are right, Lord Rigsby!” Lady Willow agreed. “What an utter …” She bit her lip, thinking. “What an utter scoundrel, to insult a lady like yourself, Miss Blake.” She blushed.
Lady Willow agreed with him? Passionately? Nothing passionate had ever happened between them before and likely would never happen between them again. But, apparently, they shared a passion—defending Henrietta Blake.
Henrietta shrugged, then treated them to one of her sun-bright smiles. “You’ve not yet asked why I came to be present at the duel.”
Lady Willow’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. “How could I have missed that? What a scandal!”
“It would have been, had anyone found out. But I took precautions. I snuck out and hired a hack to take me to Green Park. When I arrived, I sent the hack away and climbed into Tobias’s carriage while the men were busy with their business. Then, I waited.”
“Fascinating.”
Fascinating? Grayson had found the whole affair tedious until he’d clamored into the coach and found a blue-eyed beauty frowning at him. You must be the friend, she’d said. Sit, you.
“Your brother wasn’t hurt?” Lady Willow inquired.
“Oh, no. He’s an excellent shot. He deloped, though. The other man missed entirely.”
“Is your brother about? I’d like to meet him.”
“Oh, he’s here. You can’t miss him once he decides to leave his room. He’ll be the most garishly dressed individual about. He’s positively blinding.”
“Garish? But surely, with your father, he should know—”
“Oh, he does know how to dress, or he used to. But he started wearing clashing colors and patterns years ago, and no one knows his reasons. I would like to say he doesn’t care enough to wear matching clothes, but I’m positive he does it on purpose. He’s been acting odd lately, though. Once we arrived, he hid himself in his room and hasn’t come out since.” She glanced at Grayson as if seeking an answer. Hell if Grayson knew, though. He’d not seen Tobias since—wait. The memory of the last time he’d spoken with his friend brought with it a question. Tobias had been the one to tell him Henrietta would marry another man. He slid his eyes toward Henrietta. She wasn’t married, but was she engaged? She didn’t act it. She didn’t speak of it.
It certainly shouldn’t matter to him. But it did. And now she looked as if she fought off tears. For her brother? Why?
On impulse, he reached out a hand to her shoulder. “Are you all right? Is Tobias all right?”
Her eyes held his for a moment, then faltered down to her shoulder, no her neck, where his fingers curled against the bare skin above her fichu.
He pulled his hand away as if her neck were a hissing snake. Had Lady Willow seen? He took in her narrow eyes, the thoughtful set of her mouth. She’d seen.
Henrietta laughed, waving away his remarks and the incident as if they were nothing, comical, forgettable. It wasn’t forgettable. The feel of her skin still scorched his fingertips. “It’s as he said.” Henrietta chuckled. “We have history. Like siblings.”
“Yes, I see,” Lady Willow replied.
