‘I’m not the one who is being ridiculous, Rupert—’ She broke off, an expression of confusion on her delicately beautiful face at the realisation that in her distress she had lapsed into the familiar way of addressing him, after all. ‘I’m sorry, but the very idea of accompanying you to the opera this evening is completely out of the question,’ she continued evenly. ‘I only attended Sophia’s ball yesterday evening out of a desire to please her and because she has been so supportive and kind to me this past month. But, I assure you, I feel under no such obligation where you are concerned.’
Rupert felt a return of his previous admiration for this young woman’s dignity and calm. It might be a complete fabrication on her part, but nevertheless it was still impressive to behold. Also, he found her concern for others, namely her two female friends, and now Rupert and his aunt and uncle, not quite in keeping with the reputation she had amongst the ton as having been consistently unfaithful in her marriage, an infidelity which had eventually resulted in her husband’s death …
‘Did I not come to your rescue against Sugdon yesterday evening?’
She eyed him uncertainly. ‘Yes …’
He nodded tersely. ‘Resulting in his having taken my advice, in that he is, as we speak, preparing to depart for cooler and windier climes?’
She smiled slightly at the use of his word ‘advice’. ‘Yes.’
‘Then surely that means you are now obligated to me.’
‘But—’
‘I will call for you here in my carriage at seven-thirty this evening,’ Rupert spoke firmly over her continued arguments.
Pandora gave a slightly dazed shake of her head. ‘You have to be the most stubborn gentleman I have ever met.’
He gave her a confident and wholly unapologetic smile. ‘I believe it has been mentioned before as being one of my character traits.’
Pandora eyed him quizzically. Rupert Stirling was arrogant, dictatorial, sarcastic, even ruthless—as well as being exceedingly stubborn, as she had just accused him. But he also possessed a sense of honour where even a disgraced lady’s reputation was concerned, a mocking sense of humour that often included laughing at himself and a physical presence she was finding it increasingly difficult to ignore.
Rupert’s looks and character were so completely different to those of her husband with his imposing presence, that arrestingly handsome face, impressive height and muscular build. Barnaby had been three or four years older than Rupert, but had looked younger with his boyish good looks and slight build. For all that Rupert was so determined to have his own way, he also filled Pandora with a sense of feeling protected and that no harm should befall her whilst she was in his presence, in a way which Barnaby never had despite his having been her husband for three years.
Except harm from Rupert himself, of course …
Pandora was not foolish enough to ever believe that he was offering her his public support out of the goodness of his heart! ‘I would still like to know what it is you hope to gain from such a—a public acquaintance with me?’
Rupert raised his brows. ‘Why should you assume I have anything to gain by it?’
Her eyes flashed deeply violet. ‘I may be several years younger than you, your Grace, and be considered something of a pariah by society, but I advise you not to assume for one moment that my lack of years or social standing in any way renders me a fool.’
‘I was not aware I had treated you as such.’
She shook her head. ‘We had never even met properly before yesterday evening, and when we did it was certainly not under pleasant or flattering circumstances. Therefore, there must now be another reason for your seeming act of generosity in having persuaded your relatives to invite me to the opera. Perhaps it is that I am expected to act as a diversion of sorts, from attention being drawn to … to another relationship, which currently exists in your life?’
Rupert had already known this woman to be beautiful and equally as stubborn as he, and in possession of an impressive intelligence of mind. He now knew she was astute in a way that would no doubt have reduced a lesser man than he to squirming discomfort! If, that is, that gentleman had been ignorant of the fact that Pandora had been privy to a certain private conversation between himself and one of his two closest friends … Although Rupert somehow doubted that the conversation Pandora had overheard had revealed all of the complexities of the relationship which currently existed between himself and the woman who was now his father’s widow.
He gave a hard and humourless smile. ‘You, my dear Pandora, are expected to be here, ready and waiting, and suitably attired for attending the opera, when I call for you at seven-thirty this evening.’
A reply which did nothing to answer Pandora’s question, as was no doubt deliberate; Rupert appeared to feel no qualms whatsoever in intruding and commenting on the privacy of other people’s lives, whilst at the same time refusing to reveal anything about his own.
Still, she couldn’t help but privately believe his unexpected invitation to the opera was somehow connected to his stepmother, that in being seen in public with the notorious Duchess of Wyndwood, it would somehow distract attention from his other scandalous relationship.
Whilst Pandora’s every instinct was to continue to refuse his invitation, her sense of fairness dictated otherwise; no matter how much she might wish it were not the case, his actions in rescuing her so dramatically yesterday evening meant that she was indeed obligated to Rupert.
She sighed and forced herself to straighten her shoulders. ‘Very well, your Grace, I will accept the Countess of Heyborough’s kind invitation to attend the opera this evening.’
‘Why could you not have just said that five minutes ago?’ Rupert glared.
‘But only on the understanding,’ Pandora continued firmly, ‘that I won’t be expected to accept a second such invitation from you.’ She met his narrowed gaze unblinkingly.
As technically the invitation had not come directly from him, but from the generous heart of his Aunt Cecelia, after he had called upon her earlier this morning and explained what had happened last night, he now felt no hesitation in agreeing to Pandora’s condition.
Besides which, having to spend one evening in a decade attending the opera would no doubt prove to be more than enough for his own jaded sensibilities!
‘I sincerely hope you are pretending an interest in this drivel rather than actually finding any enjoyment in it?’
Pandora did not show, by so much as a twitch of her bared shoulders, that she had overheard Rupert’s hissed comment next to her earlobe, as she continued to stare down upon the stage where the hero of the opera was currently—and rather loudly—lamenting his lost love.
As promised, Rupert’s ducal carriage had duly arrived at her home at seven-thirty that evening, that gentleman looking suitably and—Pandora admitted inwardly—breathtakingly handsome in his black evening clothes and white linen, a cloak draped about those broad and muscled shoulders, his rich gold curls revealed as being fashionably dishevelled
