How to Dazzle a Duke by Claudia Dain Page A

like her. Sophia was, as
    everyone knew, far more subtle.
    “I’m afraid not, your grace, though I should think I would
    enjoy it,” Miss Prestwick said, looking as eager and compliant as
    all proper girls should look. It did become somewhat tiresome as
    a steady diet.
    “Perhaps on your wedding trip, Penelope,” George Prestwick
    said brightly.
    “Oh, are you planning your wedding trip already?” Sophia
    said. “Have the groom in mind, do you? Do I know him?”
    “I should think so,” Miss Prestwick replied sharply. “You
    know so very many men, don’t you?”
    Cranleigh coughed behind his hand. It was very likely he was
    hiding a smile.
    “Only the ones worth knowing,” Sophia answered calmly.
    “Why Edenham is the perfect example. We have known each
    other for years now. Quite a history we share, and such a cordial
    one, too.”
    How to Daz zle a Duke
    45
    Edenham knew very well how that sounded, but what did it
    matter? He knew the truth and that was more than enough to
    satisfy him.
    “Except for a few odd exceptions,” Edenham said, “I should
    think all your relationships are cordial ones.”
    “With men, certainly,” Miss Prestwick said primly. Her
    brother moved his hand near her skirts; it was entirely possible
    that he pinched her. Miss Prestwick certainly gave every appear
    ance of having been pinched.
    “I, for one, find Lady Dalby completely cordial and most
    charming,” Lord Iveston said softly, staring at Sophia, “and I
    have just recently met her. Yet even in so recent a history, I am
    nothing but delighted.”
    Miss Prestwick said nothing. Really, what was there for her
    to say at this point? She had made a muddle of it and now must
    be made to sit quietly until the conversation took a turn onto less
    fraught ground.
    “It seems to me that a man who gets out as rarely as you do,
    Lord Iveston, might not be as discerning as others might be,”
    Miss Prestwick said. Miss Penelope Prestwick, somewhat shock
    ingly, might be the sort of woman who could not be made to sit
    quietly.
    “It does not take an exceedingly great amount of exposure to
    bad manners and an uncharitable spirit to recognize it upon
    sight,” Iveston responded a bit stiffl y.
    “Nor a great amount of exposure to recognize charity and
    generosity, either,” Sophia said, “which are not in great supply no
    matter what the politicians might wish us to believe. Therefore,
    Lord Cranleigh, I again must thank you for giving me this vase.
    Do you have a preference as to where I should display it?”
    “It looks very well in this room, I should say,” Cranleigh said
    with a half smile. “Perhaps in place of the celadon?”
    46 CLAUDIA DAIN
    Sophia smiled and said, “And what would Lord Henry say to
    that slight? No, the celadon must stay. They look well together,
    do you not agree, Lord Iveston?”
    Edenham admitted, if only to himself, to being slightly
    shocked. Henry Blakesley had given Sophia the celadon vase?
    For what? The only thing that he could think of was that Lord
    Henry was recently married. It could only be concluded that
    he credited Sophia for arranging for the wife he’d desired. And
    now Cranleigh, Henry’s brother, was also giving Sophia a piece
    of rare porcelain . . . also in thanks for his newly acquired wife?
    The puzzle piece of Miss Prestwick suddenly fit into place.
    She wanted a husband and she had come to Sophia for aid in
    acquiring one. A difficult piece to prove, but then, most things of
    interest could not be proved, they could only be observed, dimly
    at that.
    Edenham opened his eyes wide and determined to give it his
    best effort.
    6
    PENELOPE was giving it her very best effort, but the Duke of Edenham, who was even more handsome when observed in such an
    intimate setting, did not appear to find her captivating in the
    least. Of course, she was so annoyed at the Marquis of Iveston
    and the Earl of Cranleigh for intruding upon what she had hoped
    would be a small and cozy gathering