Wed at Leisure(The Taming Series)

CHAPTER NINE



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The evening was lively and the drawing room full of people, with both the guests staying at Hopford in attendance and also a handful of the neighbors. It was clear from the moment Peter and Reggie entered the house that all the unmarried ladies were cognizant that a duke was among them. It both amused Kate and irritated her.

Not that she could say why it irritated her.

Or rather she could, but she didn’t wish to acknowledge, even to herself, that Peter’s attention the last few days had made her feel somewhat territorial.

For now, she simply ignored him. Or pretended to. As usual, Peter was quite difficult to actually ignore. First of all, he had this presence, strong and serious, as if he could take on the world and protect her from it. It had been with him even as a young man and had become more pronounced after his return from the Continent. Secondly, she still remembered that day, four years ago. She hadn’t yet been to London, was still na?ve and impressionable when it came to men. And third, she was currently aggravated with him. She had desperately wanted to rescind his invitation, not that she truly could without creating far too many problems. It wasn’t so much that she hadn’t wanted him to attend, as that she had wanted to find some way to . . . to aggravate him back.

Just as she always had in London.



The drawing room was filled with more than a dozen people, all chatting in the minutes before going in to dinner.

Peter was a bit shocked to see Luc as one of the party, albeit in the lowly position of impoverished tutor. He knew the Mansfields were famously informal when it came to their servants, an idiosyncrasy that many, including Peter’s late father, considered a sign of how recently the family had moved from trade into landed gentry. However, Luc was certainly risking much to play his game of pretend in front of so many people who might identify him. Even if he had been abroad for the last two years, surely he would be known. He was a viscount, after all, and viscounts, future earls, did not grow on trees.

But tonight that was not Peter’s problem. Tonight, all he wanted was a moment in which he could speak privately with Kate. In which he could make his apology for his insensitivity the day before. Ease the tension that had risen between them once more.

Over the last handful of days he had started to do what he had never expected, begun to like Kate Mansfield.

He maneuvered his way back to her side, sidestepping conversations to the best of his ability. He reached her just as dinner was announced. Just as he would be expected, as the male of highest rank, to lead her stepmother into dinner.

Lord Lindley was by her side, as well, with a rather territorial smile on his face, as if he already knew Kate was his.

“Good evening, Miss Mansfield. Lindley.”

“Your Grace,” Kate said with the thinnest of smiles, making it clear the apology would indeed be necessary. “It is always a pleasure to see you at Hopford.”

She made the word pleasure sound anything but.

“The pleasure, I assure you, is mine.” He lifted her gloved hand to his lips.


She stared at him, but her expression was politely blank. The girl who had been known for her unbridled emotions had learned to mask them.

“Are you a frequent visitor at Hopford, Your Grace?”

Peter turned to Lindley. The man was overall a good sort. Sharp. Always worth listening to, whether in Parliament or the club. If Kate had chosen him, she had chosen well.

For some reason, that irritated him. That and that slightly territorial smile that graced Lindley’s hawkish features.

“Not often enough.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. You were here yesterday. I would think you quite tired of the Mansfields. We are all so demanding of attention.”

So she was angry. How would he let Kate know he was sorry with Lindley watching the exchange so carefully?

“I give attention where it is deserved.” And Kate was more than deserving of his attention. The red of her gown made her look like a fiery jewel.

Her eyes narrowed.

“Do you? Perhaps you should give more attention to our footman, James, as he has announced dinner.”

Peter laughed. “But James does not wear that shade of red nearly so well.”

She flushed and the pink of her cheeks made him want to drag her away and kiss her. Oddly, Kate’s sharp tongue no longer aggravated him. Instead . . . instead it was a strange delight. As if this verbal sparring were merely proof of their connection. As if he were not so alone.

The thought sobered him. A kiss was one thing. This last . . . no.

“Quite right, Kate.” He looked about the room. “Ah, there you are, Mrs. Mansfield!”