The Charmer by Madeline Hunter Page B

of Adrian and his brother. Colin was all fair and blond, with an angelic face of perfect features. Adrian looked like night to his day, Satan to his saint.
    He did not resemble the earl or Gavin, either, but the contrast was greatest with Colin. Colin never seemed to have noticed, or at least acted as if he had not, except during those fights at school when he had stood by Adrian's shoulder to defend the honor of their mother. Gavin always seemed to be away on the playing field whenever that happened.
    A footman approached them and informed Adrian that the duchess requested his attendance in her sitting room.
    “It sounds as though it is over,” Adrian said after the footman left.
    “What do you suppose she wants?”
    “Perhaps she thinks that her new position permits her to order my execution.”
    He entered the drawing room, walked through the immense house, found Charles serving as underbutler, and followed his balding head up to Sophia's chambers.
    The doors stood open. She paced the sitting room with Yuri and the other two mastiffs on short leads and Camilla following behind. Prinny the Monkey climbed up and down a chair.
    Black did not become the duchess. With her dark curls and pale skin and strained expression, she looked like death itself. Annoyance and worry formed faint lines that framed her mouth. Her hair was pulled into an unattractive style that caused curls to spring out from under a silly little bonnet. Her old-fashioned bombazine dress covered fewer petticoats and showed less fullness than current styles, but she could not have looked less attractive if she had tried.
    Which probably meant that she
had
tried. Adrian wondered how Gerald Stidolph had reacted upon seeing his intended after eight years.
    “I trust that the King and lords are satisfied now,” he said after her greeting. “Confess, it was not nearly as bad as you anticipated.”
    “I wouldn't know. I haven't met with them yet.”
    “Are you saying that you have kept the King waiting over two hours?”
    “I was indisposed. However, he has summoned me again, so it cannot be avoided any longer.”
    “You left it to His Majesty to summon you
twice
to greet him in your own house? King William may be generous about this, but I assure you that Wellington will not find it amusing.”
    She yanked the dogs to a halt. “Let me guess. He is your hero. You have regretted all your life that you were too young to fight at Waterloo. As a schoolboy you idolized the general and dreamed of sharing his glory.”
    “He has the King's ear and is a force to be reckoned with. You do not want him as an enemy. I advise that you present yourself to the King at once.”
    She gathered the leads tighter, pulling the hounds closer. They circled her, their heads rising to her elbows. Camilla took up position by her side. Prinny happily climbed onto her shoulder and clutched the little black bonnet.
    She presented a positively bizarre picture.
    Which, God help him, he actually found endearing in addition to exasperating.
    “I intend to go down now. You will escort me,” she announced. “I am ready.”
    “Don't you want to drape the snakes around your bosom? If the point is to convince them that you are a madwoman, why not tuck the iguana under your arm?” He walked over, grabbed a squealing Prinny, dumped him in his cage, and slammed the door. “Camilla stays here too.”
    “I will not go unguarded.”
    “A passion for dogs is a respectably English eccentricity. They may accompany you, but you need no guards at the audience.”
    “I suppose not, since you are coming.”
    “I was not called. I cannot go in.”
    She pierced him with an accusing glare. “You forced me to come back here. Dragged me out of my home, abducted me for all intents and purposes, and subjected me to unknown dangers and possible death.”
    “At no time was your life in danger.”
    “You cut me off from my dearest friends and dumped me here, where I know almost no one and do not much