heart tumbled over. Once or twice she’d thought, well hoped really, he might have interest, but he’d not said a word. Over time she’d come to realize he viewed her as one of his duties. “He’s been like…like a brother.” He saw her as one of his responsibilities. Nothing more.
“But you do like him?”
“Who would not like Lord Grey? He is an honorable gentleman.” Diana shifted in her chair, the conversation making her twitchy. With what? Yearning? If so, it was pure foolishness. She’d waited for years for Peter to finish sowing his wild oats, as her mother had called his antics on the hunting field and at Jackson’s boxing saloon. She wasn’t waiting for anyone anymore. She sighed a little sigh. “He has been a pillar these last few years and a good friend. Honestly, I believe, even after all this time he feels guilty about what happened to Peter.”
“It wasn’t his fault the fool rode neck or nothing to his death.”
“No, of course it wasn’t,” she said crossly, not wanting to cover old ground. Heavens knew she did it often enough in her own mind. “It was Peter’s own doing. I know it and logically so does Grey. Yet he believes himself partly responsible. I really do not want to discuss this.”
Kate pursed her lips. “Then I will say no more.”
Good. She hated talking about Peter. Only with James did she ever feel comfortable talking about what had happened. Over the years it had become a bond between them she would hate to lose.
As he neared, she he held out her hand with a welcoming smile. “I thought you were out of town, my lord.”
His eyes warmed as he shook her hand. His touch was firm and comforting. A frisson of awareness on some deeper level ran through her. A sense of recognition she didn’t quite understand. A feeling almost as intense as that she’d experienced in the darkened room with the stranger. How could that be? Familiarity, she decided, as he made his bows to Kate.
“How is your mother, Lord Grey?” Diana asked.
His dark eyes rested on her face. They seemed to warm. “Well ensconced in Bath, I am happy to say. I intend to visit her later in the week and will carry any message you might have if you would like me to call for them in the morning.”
“That is most kind,” Diana said. “I expect to go to Bath myself later in the month. Once Lizzie has returned to her father.”
Grey frowned at where Lizzie was laughing at something Harry must have said as she tripped lightly down the set. “I thought she was to have left for Scotland weeks ago.”
“My fault, I’m afraid,” Kate said with a completely unrepentant smile. “Though you must agree, Lord Grey, Lizzie has become quite the rage. I should not be at all surprised to see a very advantageous marriage by next season. Lord Macrae must be pleased.”
“I have enjoyed every moment of her season,” Diana added, seeing Lord Grey’s frown deepen. “It made me feel young again. The house will seem quite empty when she goes.” And Diana would return to her old quiet life. Her pulse quickened. Or she would have, if it wasn’t for the step she had taken tonight.
She inhaled a quick breath to repress another round of flutters in her stomach. “Well, Lord Grey, and what do you think of the happy couple?” She indicated the progress of the duke and the duchess around the room. “They say they met one day and married the next. Have you heard of anything more romantic?”
He snorted. “Sounds more like a case of needs must to me.”
Diana shivered at the image. One night with a stranger and married the next day. So dark and dangerous. How could one not call that romantic? Gothically so. Tonight, for the first time, she had experienced some of that thrill. And she wanted more.
Lord Grey’s dark eyes narrowed. The irises were blue-flecked with brown. They reminded her of cool streams and deep pools of calm water, yet sometimes like now, they glowed as if there were banked fires deep beneath the surface.
She turned hot, then cold. Goodness, surely she had not allowed her wicked thoughts to show on her face, not when James watched her so closely. As if he guessed. He could not. Not possibly.
“They do say reformed rakes make the best husbands,” Kate observed, her gaze fixed skeptically on the dissolute duke.
“If they reform,” James said dryly.
“You don’t have an ounce of romance in your soul do you, Lord Grey?” Diana smiled to take the sting out of her words even as she heard the rather cutting edge in her voice.
His eyes widened a fraction. “Not a smidgen,” he agreed, his gaze considering, and perhaps even a small smile playing about his lips as if he thought her notions ridiculous.
She plied her fan vigorously to hide another burst of heat. “Let me tell you, there was nothing more romantic than seeing Kate being whisked off to Gretna Green by a highwayman.”
“A highwayman, indeed,” Kate said, laughing. “Harry didn’t fool me for a moment.”
The hard line of Lord Grey’s mouth softened into a smile. Diana’s heart caught at the too rare sight. She bit back the compulsion to ask why he didn’t smile more often. He used to smile as a youth, she remembered. And tease.
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