“Because she changed her mind about town?”
Uncle Noah stared down into his glass. “Because she passed away . . . early last year.”
“I’m so sorry,” the duchess said softly. “I didn’t know.”
He cast her a rueful smile. “I fell out of the habit of coming to London.” His gaze sharpened on her. “But I mean to remedy that.” When the duchess pinkened, he looked a bit triumphant. “Besides, we couldn’t have met anyway. You only returned to England a short while ago, correct?”
“Actually a year and a half ago,” Vanessa said. “I remember because . . .” Because that was the first time she’d danced with Sheridan. Indeed, she’d danced with him twice during his family’s first week in London, before they’d headed to the country.
The duchess and her uncle both regarded her with eyebrows raised, and she stammered, “It doesn’t matter why.” She gazed at the duchess. “You did arrive in May of last year, did you not?”
The duchess smiled. “We did. Maurice and I were still in mourning for his brother, although our children were able to go out and about. Then just as that period ended for me and Maurice . . .”
When she trailed off and sadness stole over her face, sympathy for the duchess welled in Vanessa’s throat. “You had to go into mourning again.”
The woman nodded. “My mourning only ended last month.” She paled a bit. “I swear, I have never been so sick of wearing black in all my life.”
“I can only imagine,” Uncle Noah murmured. “We gentlemen barely change our clothes while in mourning, but you ladies have a more drastic alteration to endure.” A devilish look crossed his face. “And while I’m sure you look lovely in black, Duchess, you look even more beautiful in that shade of blue.”
“Careful, Sir Noah,” the duchess said with mischief in her voice. “Flattery is the devil’s plaything.”
Vanessa frowned. “I thought it was ‘idle hands.’”
“Those, too,” the duchess quipped.
Uncle Noah laughed. “It’s not flattery if it’s true.”
“And that, sir, is but another flattery,” the duchess said.
“Then perhaps I should demonstrate my admiration in some way other than words.” He leaned close. “Will you give me the honor of dancing this next with me, Duchess?”
“It’s the supper dance,” the duchess said. “Are you sure you want to be forced to share my company for supper as well?”
“I can think of nothing I’d like better,” he said, “although a lowly fellow like myself can only dream of having a dowager duchess’s company.”
“You are . . . are . . .”
“Handsome? Well-groomed?” He winked at her. “Witty?”
“Attempting a dalliance,” the duchess answered. “Though I don’t mind that a bit.”
When he offered his arm and she took it, Vanessa shook her head. She’d never seen her uncle flirt before. It was decidedly unsettling. And very unlike him, too. So to watch him flirting with a veritable stranger—
“Is that my mother dancing with your uncle?” Sheridan asked as he came up beside Vanessa.
“Oh, yes. And she seemed quite eager to accept his invitation.”
Sheridan gazed out over the floor at the pair. “I hope he’s not assuming she’s a wealthy woman. My father left her with only a minimal widow’s portion.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “My goodness, you’re such a cynic. He’s not dancing with her for her money. He has plenty of money and property of his own.”
“In that case, I find their interest in each other intriguing.”
“How so?”
“I wouldn’t think they’d be well-suited as a couple. Unless . . .” He grimaced.
“Unless what?”
“Nothing. I’ll ask her later what she sees in him.”
Vanessa chuckled. “I think she sees a good-looking fellow to partner her for a dance.”
“And supper. If we were anywhere else and if this were anything more formal, they wouldn’t be paired to go in to supper together.”
She stared at him. “You are amazingly stuffy sometimes, do you know that?”
He shrugged. “I was brought up with the idea that my future lay in helping hostile countries negotiate agreements satisfactory to all. I learned proper protocol at my father’s knee.”
“Then I should point out, Your Grace, that I most certainly would not be the one you’d take in to supper ‘anywhere else . . . more formal.’ So tell me, why are you willing to break protocol to dance with a lowly miss like me?”
He shook off whatever he was thinking and smiled at her. “Because, my dear, sometimes I like to live dangerously.”
She caught her breath. So did she.
Offering her his arm, he said, “Shall we?”
“Of course,” she responded.
As they headed to join the others on the floor, he muttered, “Poor William Bonham.”
“Who is that?” she asked.
“Just a fellow who will be very disappointed that your uncle is flirting with my mother, and that my mother is flirting back.”
“And are you disappointed?”
“Not disappointed so much as . . . concerned.”
She laughed. “It’s only one dance, Sheridan. I doubt it will lead to anything serious.”
“You may be right.” He seemed deep in thought as he led her to the end of the line of dancers. When he caught her staring at him, he broke into a decidedly false smile. “Never forget, my mother has had three husbands. I wouldn’t put it past her to try for a fourth.”
But despite his attempt at joviality, she sensed something else going on beneath his smooth exterior. He was back to being a sphinx. And that worried her.
Chapter Six
Sheridan spent half of his and Vanessa’s dance watching his mother. Surely it was no coincidence that the only man Mother had danced with this evening was Lady Eustace’s brother. Mother had said she would help their investigative efforts, and they’d all insisted she not do so. What if this was her helping? She wasn’t good at subterfuge; not their mother. She could very well destroy Sheridan’s own efforts.
By the time the dance was over and they were headed toward the supper room, Sheridan was already imagining all sorts of scenarios where Mother blurted out something that gave Sir Noah pause.
“He’s not going to hurt her, you know,” Vanessa murmured. “He is a gentleman, after all.”
“Who?” Sheridan asked, playing dumb.
“My uncle, of course. You look as if you want to take him aside and give him a stern warning. Or a good thrashing.”
He forced his attention back to Vanessa, who wore her worry on her sleeve. “That’s absurd. For one thing, you’re right—he is a gentleman. For another, my mother is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.”
“Oh, good. Then we agree.”
Sheridan chuckled. “We probably agree on a great many things, if you will only admit it.”
“Really? Like what?” Her sparkling eyes entranced him as she and he stood in the line forming at the entrance to the supper room.