“Yes,” he lied.
“Aunt Jane wrote recently to tell Harbury how grateful she is for the favor he has shown her brother-in-law.”
Had she?He wasn’t aware his mother had even known about the offer. “I’m sure she appreciates Harbury’s kindness, as do I.”
“Well, we needed to find someone we could trust quickly. Mr. Clapham’s promotion to dean came as a surprise. Although I am deeply happy for both the rector and his daughter. Last summer, they were very helpful. Is your uncle prepared to assume his duties?”
“As it happens, my visit concerns my uncle’s situation.”
“Ah,” the duchess replied. “You will want to speak with Harbury, then. I expect him to return soon.” She turned toMillicent. “As for you, I hadn’t expected a visit. I never would have gone out if you had sent word you planned to call.”
“An impetuous decision, I’m afraid,” Millie said apologetically. “Adrian offered to set me down here on his way to see his solicitor. I’mso happyyou’ve returned. Lord Neville and I had exhausted all polite topics, leaving us with nothing of significance to converse.”
Her pointed glance in his direction again shifted the location of his stomach. She might as well have told him aloud she intended to disregard his unwanted advice.
Damn!Just as the first time, he’d tried to warn her of danger, his well-intentioned advice had only fueled her desire to prove him wrong.
Now, he feared, she was even more likely to befriend Willard.
Chapter Four
As Neville satdown with his cousin in the duke’s study, he kept a careful eye on the small, jealous dog curled in his master’s lap. The pup was staring at him with a distinct air of triumph, as if Neville were a threat he’d vanquished. But little Mercy did not understand that, by the time Harbury returned, Neville had already been done in—not by the pup but by Millicent.
Neville squeezed his lids together and then pinched the bridge of his nose. He willed away the sting as he prepared to receive Harbury’s censure. Deservedly so—Neville had shown a lapse in judgment by remaining in the house alone with Harbury’s unmarried sister-in-law.
Harbury’s chair squeaked, indicating he’d leaned back.
The silence stretched on; Neville opened his eyes. His cousin’s expression was one of close calculation. Unused to being subjected to such scrutiny, Neville, too, shifted in his chair.
“You have something significant weighing on your mind,” Harbury started. “Or so I’ve long suspected. May I presume your unexpected visit indicates you’ve finally decided to take me into your confidence?”
“Has the change in me been that obvious?”
“Cassie, in fact, noticed first.”
Harbury templed his fingers and then touched them to his upper lip. The gesture reminded Neville of his uncle, Harbury’sfather, a man who had been hard as a five-hundred-year oak, but unfailingly honorable and widely esteemed.
“My wife thinks she knows the reason, too,” Harbury continued.
As Neville swallowed, his cravat pressed against his Adam’s apple. Hemusthave a talk with his valet. Tonight, if possible. Couldn’t a man be left room tobreathethese days?
“She does?” he managed.
“Yes,” Harbury replied. “And I am inclined to hear the details of any proposed alliance you wish to make.”
Proposed alliance…?Neville frowned. Harbury couldn’t possibly mean… “Millie!?” Neville expelled her name. “Andme?”
Harbury’s eyes crinkled slightly at the sides. “Yes,Millieand you.”
Why, in all creation, could he not stop using the version of her given name only her close family used? Nothing she’d done suggested she would welcome such an intimacy.
“Is Cassie correct? Is that what this impromptu meeting is about?”
“I—” Neville looked away. “I confess…”What?That he couldn’t get his cousin’s sister-in-law out of his head? That, just a few minutes ago in the library next door, he’d practically stripped her with his gaze?
Harbury chuckled. “You don’t need to look so stricken, Nev. I cannot order your execution. Nor am I likely to hold a cocked flintlock to your head, as Asquith did to me—in your presence.”
Neville blanched. “The gun—the threat of a duel—they were Asquith’s idea. I only hoped that my acting as second would bring home to you the seriousness of your offense.”