How to Dazzle a Duke by Claudia Dain Page B

of merely four persons,
    herself included, that she found it difficult to summon the will to
    be captivating.
    She wasn’t sure who to blame more, Iveston or Cranleigh. Of
    course, Cranleigh had the gift, and therefore the best excuse for
    ruining her plans to beard Edenham in Sophia’s den, but Iveston
    seemed to take such joy in being loathsomely arrogant and dis
    missive that she was inclined to blame him entirely.
    How to Daz zle a Duke
    47
    In fact, she would. He might not have known that she was
    coming to Dalby House to meet, in the most casual interpreta
    tion of that word, the Duke of Edenham, but he was certainly
    enjoying throwing his hammer into the works now. The look on
    his face declared all. She might have initially thought him mildly
    attractive in a very blond way, but as he now alternated between
    ignoring her completely and casting condescending glances her
    way, she thought him the most unattractive of men. It was going
    to be so difficult to make good use of him to make Edenham
    jealous, which had been Sophia’s plan all along, as was perfectly
    obvious to her. Though what had gone amiss with her negotia
    tions with Sophia of just an hour or so ago was completely be
    yond her.
    They had made an agreement, a most cordial one, and now
    Sophia was treating her quite miserably. She had been forced by
    the most basic rules of survival and self-preservation to protect
    herself. And she had, though she did wonder, particularly after
    George had pinched her on the thigh, if protecting herself had
    been in quite good form.
    She rather suspected not, which was decidedly unfair.
    “Lady Dalby,” Iveston said softly in response to Sophia’s
    question—his voice seemed to have a particularly soft quality no
    matter what he said, which seemed perfectly ridiculous to her—“I
    think two such stellar examples of art must always look well to
    gether. Neither one eclipses the other.”
    “How perfectly true, and quite diplomatic,” Sophia said with
    a nod.
    Diplomatic? Weak at the knees, more likely. He looked the
    sort of man to blow over in a stiff wind, if he could be lured out
    doors, that is.
    It was going to be so difficult to pretend an interest in him.
    Would Edenham even believe it? How could a man who looked
    48 CLAUDIA DAIN
    like Edenham, who behaved like Edenham, who had lived like
    Edenham ever believe that he was to run second in any race,
    particularly against a man like Iveston?
    Oh, Iveston was not a bad-looking sort, not at all, if one liked
    the type.
    At the moment, she could not think of anyone who could pos
    sibly like his type.
    Iveston was so very blond, his eyes so brilliantly blue, his
    form so attenuated, his manner so chilly, and his clear determi
    nation to speak as little as possible . . . why, it put one in mind of
    a particularly odd boy who had somehow stumbled in upon
    the adults. Certainly Edenham put no one in mind of a boy,
    odd or not.
    “It is quite lovely,” Penelope said. “I don’t pretend to know the
    reason for the gift, Lord Cranleigh, but you certainly have the
    knack for choosing beauty.”
    Iveston’s gaze swung toward her briefly. She kept a pleasant
    look upon her face and ignored him.
    “I must agree with you, Miss Prestwick,” Cranleigh said.
    “Indeed, for who would argue that you have the most lovely
    of wives, Lord Cranleigh,” Sophia said. “I do wonder that you
    are not already on your wedding trip.”
    “My wife is packing, Lady Dalby, or so she claims. I have
    never found it to take more than an hour to have packed all I
    shall need for a twelve month,” Cranleigh said with a brief smile.
    For all that he was a formidable man, quite unlike his tepid
    brother, he did appear quite taken with his wife. How admirable,
    though not entirely ordinary. She certainly didn’t expect any
    such thing.
    “You shall soon learn differently, if you haven’t yet,” Edenham said. “A woman likes to squirrel away a myriad of things she
    can’t possibly