The Unexpected Duchess by Valerie Bowman Page B

so objected to. He’d play her game on her terms for now, then turn the stakes against her. Obviously, he had to get past Lady Lucy to win Lady Cassandra.
    And he knew just how he would do it.

 
    CHAPTER TEN
     
    Lucy made her way downstairs the next day to meet Cass and Jane in the drawing room. When she paused in front of the door, she couldn’t help but overhear a bit of her friends’ conversation.
    “Please, Janie, you must help me,” Cass said.
    “I don’t think it will work at all,” Jane replied.
    “But I cannot possibly do it alone. I’m already forced to pretend that I’m a complete ninny.”
    Jane snorted. “Yes. You’re even beginning to convince me.”
    “I’m not certain how long I can continue to—”
    Lucy pushed open the doors and strode inside. “Continue to what, Cass?”
    Cass blushed and started at the sound of Lucy’s voice. Jane glanced away.
    “Oh, Lucy, there you are.” Cass tugged on her gloves.
    “What’s wrong?” Lucy asked. “You’re talking about the duke, aren’t you?”
    “You could say that,” Jane offered, staring out the window as if the most interesting thing in the world were happening in the street beyond.
    Cass gave Jane a stern look before turning back to look at Lucy. “Yes, we were talking about the duke. You’ll never believe what’s happened.”
    Lucy crossed over to the chair to hug her friend. As usual, Cass was perfectly put together. She was dressed in a simple pale blue day dress with a matching pelisse, a white bonnet atop her head, and white kid gloves. “What is it, Cass? What has you so upset?”
    Cass pressed her gloved hands against her pale cheeks, making solid impressions of pink. “I don’t know what to do. Truly, I don’t.”
    Jane rolled her eyes.
    Lucy sat across from Cass and patted her hand. “Calm down. Calm down. Now, what’s happened?”
    Cass dropped her hands into her lap, bit her lip, and stared out the window.
    “It cannot be all that bad. What is it?” Lucy prompted.
    Cass squeezed her pretty blue eyes shut and then the words tumbled from her mouth in a tangled rush. “Mama told the duke that I’d go riding in the park with him this afternoon.”
    Lucy snatched her hand away. “She did what?”
    Cass tugged at her gloves. “I know. I know. He came to call and he was speaking so quickly and Mama was so enamored by him and … Oh, Lucy, all I know is by the time he left we’d all agreed that he would fetch me and a footman at six o’clock. What am I to do?”
    Jane fluttered her eyelashes at Cass. “I suggest you tell him—”
    “Shh,” Cass said, giving Jane another disgruntled look. “I need Lucy’s help.”
    Jane huffed and pulled a book from her reticule. “Fine. If you say so.”
    Lucy folded her arms across her chest and tapped her fingers along her arms, considering the duke’s latest play. This news shouldn’t surprise her. The man was determined, and so was Lady Moreland. But the duke had taken advantage of the situation, ensuring Lucy was not there when he next asked Cass to accompany him somewhere.
    A reluctant grin spread across Lucy’s face. Hmm. She had to admit it was well played of him. He’d already learned from experience, hadn’t he? If Lucy or Cass had had any idea that he was planning to pay Cass another visit, Lucy would have been sitting right there next to her friend waiting to do battle. He’d warned her, hadn’t he? She’d let down her guard, been too lax when she should have been prepared. But now that she knew just how cunning her opponent was, she would not make the same mistake again.
    First, however, she had to find out how Cass truly felt. She leaned forward and braced her hands on her knees, facing her friend. “I must ask you a question.”
    Cass blinked at her, her own knee bobbing up and down rapidly. “Yes, Lucy?”
    Lucy stared her directly in the eye. “Have you changed your mind at all? About the duke, I mean?”
    Another set of blinks. “I’m not