Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

T hat evening at dinner, Seth positioned himself carefully across the table from Lady Lavinia.

He was interested to see how she would handle the meal—would she take the lessons he’d already given her under advisement? Would she use this time to practice engaging the interest of the gentlemen around her? He hoped she would, and he knew that watching her would give him the opportunity to know how to assist her better when they met again that evening.

Time was growing short, and he felt determined to achieve what he had set out to do for her—if only to prove to himself that he was capable of it.

Tonight she had been seated beside a gentleman he didn’t know, and he leaned over to his mother and spoke quietly into her ear. “Who is that gentleman? The one seated across from you—do you know his name?”

She looked up from her dinner. “I don’t know him well,” she said. “That’s Lord Routhecamp. He’s new to London.”

“Where did he come from?”

“Italy, I believe. My understanding is that he was born here, but his parents took him to Rome when he was quite young, and he was educated there. He’s returned now because his father, the late Marquess of Routhecamp, has died, and Lord Routhecamp is inheriting the title. They say he’s looking to marry at the end of the season.”

As Seth watched, Lord Routhecamp leaned over and said something to Lady Lavinia. The smile on his face was charming and charismatic, and Seth thought, he genuinely finds her interesting.

He could see why. Lady Lavinia had clearly taken his lessons to heart. She sat up straight, her head held high—not like the retiring wallflower she had been in the past, but like a lady who anticipated being noticed and took it in stride. Her hands were steady on her silverware, not picking at her clothing. She seemed calm and self-assured.

Seth knew her well enough, he thought, to understand that the insecurity and uncertainty still existed beneath the surface. But she had learned how to hide some of it, and it made more of a difference than he would have imagined possible even as he had instructed her on what to do.

“What else do you know about Lord Routhecamp?” he asked his mother. “Is he a good man? Will he make someone a good husband?”

She stared at him. “Why do you want to know that?”

“I’m interested,” he said. “I have the right to seek information about people, don’t I? Just tell me.”

She shrugged. “All right,” she said. “But what I know isn’t much. The gossip about him is that he’s a bit of a rake. He wants to marry, and he is widely desired for his money, but he’s a scoundrel with ladies, flirting with everyone he speaks to, trying to make them all fall in love with him. I’m not sure what his ultimate goal is in behaving that way. No one seems very sure.

“If I had a daughter, I wouldn’t want her to go anywhere near him, I can tell you that much.”

“You think he’s bad news?”

“I think he doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings but his own,” Seth’s mother said. “Not a particularly uncommon trait among these gentlemen—but I don’t think he would hesitate, for example, to ensnare a young lady in a scandal simply for the sake of his own enjoyment and then leave her to pick up the pieces. When he decides who to marry, it will be based on who he thinks can serve him and his reputation. He isn’t wasting any time thinking about what might be best for the ladies he spends time with. He doesn’t truly care about them.”

Seth was on his feet before she had finished speaking, before he had resolved in his mind what he was going to do. He only knew that something had to be done. He couldn’t sit here with this information and not act.

He walked around to the other side of the table. Fortunately, he wasn’t the first to get up from his seat—people were beginning to finish their dinners and had started to mill about the dining room and even filter out into the foyer and the ballroom on the other side. That was for the best, Seth knew, because if everyone was still seated, it would have been very noticeable that he’d chosen to get up. He didn’t want a lot of attention right now.

But he did want Lady Lavinia’s attention. She was smiling at Lord Routhecamp—no, she was laughing at something he had said to her—and Seth felt a powerful need to intervene. If he was the kind of man Seth’s mother had suggested he was, Seth didn’t want him anywhere near Lady Lavinia.

He came up behind them. “Good evening,” he said. “Lord Routhecamp, isn’t it?”

Lord Routhecamp glanced over his shoulder. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced, sir.”

“Seth Carter. Duke of Loxburgh,” Seth said. “I’d heard you were just back from Italy, or I suppose you would know who I was.”

“Yes, I just returned a few weeks ago,” Routhecamp agreed. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Grace. I know you by reputation, of course. Perhaps we might find some time to talk later? I would love to become better acquainted with a gentleman of your social standing.”

It was obvious that he wanted Seth to go away, so he could return his attention to Lady Lavinia. Seth had no intention of obliging him in that. The fact that he seemed so determined to speak to Lady Lavinia was troubling in light of what Seth’s mother had said. Seth wanted to see him go and spend his time with someone else.

Whatever it took to get him away from Lady Lavinia, Seth was willing to do. “I think we should speak to one another now,” he said. “Are you doing anything that can’t be interrupted?”

“Well, I was enjoying my dinner.” Lord Routhecamp allowed a look of faint irritation to cross his face. “But I’m sure Your Grace can see that. Is it so important that we speak now?”

Seth knew that he was being rude, of course. He also knew he didn’t care. The important thing here wasn’t to show politeness to this man. The important thing was to get him away from Lady Lavinia. If he could have done it by taking Lord Routhecamp by the arm and dragging him out of the house, he thought he might have done it.

He gestured to the seat on the other side of Lord Routhecamp, which had been vacated. “I’ll take this seat,” he suggested. “That will enable us to speak to one another, I believe.”

“Well, if Your Grace insists?—”

“Good,” Seth said, sinking into the chair. “Now, tell me of your adventures in Italy.”

“Hardly adventures,” Lord Routhecamp said. “I lived there throughout most of my youth, that’s all. But I’m very glad to be back in London, of course. Among other things, the ladies here are much more desirable.”

He made as if to turn his attention back to Lady Lavinia. Seth knew he had to speak up quickly to keep the conversation between them from resuming.

“But I’m sure you have more than your share of experience with ladies,” he said to Lord Routhecamp. “I daresay you’d have been able to win the attention of any lady you liked in Italy—is that not so?” He imagined a gentleman like Lord Routhecamp wouldn’t be able to resist an invitation to brag about his conquests.

And his instinct was right. Lord Routhecamp sat back in his seat, a smile on his face. “Well, I don’t mean to suggest that there was no fun to be had with the ladies in Italy,” he said. “They are beautiful, and much more carefree. Much more open to having a good time. I could tell you some tales.” He winked. “Some of them might not be so polite for the dinner table.”

“I’d imagine not.” Seth let out a laugh, mostly to encourage Lord Routhecamp to go on talking—he saw nothing funny about this. It was a crass way to speak, especially in front of Lady Lavinia. And yet, he did want Lady Lavinia to hear it. She should know what sort of man she had been talking to. “And yet you came back here when it was time for you to marry—why do that, if Italy was proving so pleasurable for you?”

“There’s a difference between the sort of lady you have a good time with and the sort you marry,” Lord Routhecamp said. “Are you married, Your Grace?”

“I’m not, no.”

“Then you must know as well as I do that choosing a wife is a much more complicated process than finding someone to share a good time with is,” he said with a laugh. “I’m sure you’ve spent many a pleasurable hour with a lady you’ve had no intention of actually marrying .”

“I have to wonder whether the ladies in question knew they were nothing more than an idle pastime for you?” Seth asked.

“Who’s to say? You can’t stop and ask every young lady for her thoughts on marriage before you engage in conversation—they ought to be wise enough to understand that marriage is not something they can expect. Especially when the gentleman in question is someone like you or me, Your Grace.

“You must know what a prize you would be for any young lady to marry. Any lady to whom you give a scrap of your attention should feel lucky to have that much.”

“And the same is true of you, I suppose?” Seth asked, feeling irritated. “Anyone you talk to should feel grateful for crumbs of your attention?”

Lord Routhecamp’s eyes went wide. It was as if he had finally understood that Seth was being critical of him. “Your Grace, have I done something to offend you?”

“The way you’re speaking offends me,” Seth said. “You seem to think yourself more important and more worthy than other people. I don’t know what can possibly have happened in your life to give you that idea, but what I do know is that it’s not an accurate perception of things. There is nothing unique or special about you—nothing that makes you any better or any more worthy than anybody else.”

“I never said that I was any better than you, Your Grace.”

“I’m not talking about me . What of all those ladies in Italy whose time you freely admit to having wasted? You don’t think that matters?”

“I had heard that you were a difficult man to get along with,” Lord Routhecamp said. “I see now that it’s true. I don’t know what I’ve done to provoke this sort of treatment, but I can assure you that I have no intention of submitting to it. Perhaps you think that because you’re a duke, I’ll let you speak to me in whatever way you wish, but I’m here to tell you that it isn’t so. I deserve your respect.”

He got to his feet, his eyes still on Seth as though waiting for him to say something.

But Seth had nothing to say. He had achieved what he had hoped to—Lord Routhecamp was going to go away and leave Lady Lavinia alone. That was the only thing that mattered. He had no need to make this man understand the error of his ways. All he wanted was to see him gone.

Lord Routhecamp shook his head, turned, and walked away.

As he did, Seth was left looking across the empty seat he had vacated—and into the eyes of Lady Lavinia, sitting on the other side of that seat.

She looked more furious than he had ever seen her.

And Seth felt a twinge of something like regret.

He was sure he had been right to drive Lord Routhecamp away from Lady Lavinia. But now, taking in the look on her face, he wondered whether he should have found a better way of doing it.

He couldn’t be sure.