One Whisper Away Read Free Page B

entertainment.
    Never mind that Cecily hadn’t asked for the dubious honor. Grandmama could be horrified all she wanted, but truly, Cecily knew she’d done nothing wrong.
    Other than to refuse to fuel the rumors by repeating what he’d said. Even she wasn’t sure why she was being so reticent, except that she’d been more than a little struck by his dark beauty and he truly hadn’t been rude in any way. Quite the contrary. A little scandalous . . . yes, that was undisputed, but frankly, Lord Augustine had piqued her interest.
    None of the polite, fawning suitors of the season so far had done the same.
    “What happened is certainly not worthy of all this attention,” she protested. “Some clumsy gentleman bumped me and I spilled a bit of champagne. Lord Augustine came to my aid. That is all that happened.”
    “He touched your . . . your person , and with outrageous informality whispered something to you in a way that even a husband would not do with his wife in such a public venue.”
    Perhaps because most aristocratic husbands and wives can barely stand each other . She almost said it out loud, but refrained. Another lecture on the benefits of dynastic alliances and her duty as the daughter of a duke was the last conversation she wanted.
    Well, maybe not the last, because the current one wasn’t all that enjoyable either. If she could, she’d eschew reprimanding lectures for the rest of her life.
    “I am not responsible for his lordship’s behavior,” Cecily said with as much calm as possible, seeing with relief the arrival of a maid with the tea trolley. “And really, all he did was come to my aid.”
    “Not quite the story recounted to me.”
    Later, she would strangle Eleanor for pleading a headache and avoiding tea with the Dowager Duchess of Eddington, leaving Cecily to face the old dragon alone. She loved her grandmother, but there was no doubt she was a formidable personage in many ways.
    “It was perfectly innocent.”
    “If so, why not just reveal what he said?”
    Now there was a valid point. “Well, it was not completely innocent,” she admitted with reluctance. “However, I do not want everyone to keep talking about it, so I have declined to comment.”
    To her surprise, her grandmother paused for a moment and then nodded in approval. “If it would fuel the fire, it is best to keep it to yourself.”
    Through several cups of tea, currant scones, éclairs, and the chef’s famous raspberry jam, the subject lapsed and Cecily almost thought she was free of it until she rose to leave, going over to give her grandmother a dutiful kiss on the cheek.
    Her gray hair neatly coiffed, the lines of her patrician face as uncompromising as her posture, her grandmother said unexpectedly, “I know you will find this difficult to believe, but you are the spitting image of myself at eighteen.”
    Cecily straightened and smiled. “That is encouraging. You are very handsome, Grandmama.”
    “Humph.” The sound was derisive, but there could have been a faint uncharacteristic gleam of humor in her eyes. “False flattery doesn’t move me. My point is that beauty can be a commodity, child, or it can be a liability. Maybe it would be best to keep your distance from Lord Augustine.”
    Cecily left a bit bemused, for her grandmother rarely said anything personal. As she headed back toward her room, she happened to encounter her brother in the hallway of the family apartments. Roderick halted when he caught sight of her. “I was just looking for you.”
    With the same fair coloring and fine family features, he was close enough in age that they’d spent many childhood hours together, though as the heir, he had gone off to Eton, and then Cambridge, and been kept apart as they approached adulthood and he trained to become the duke someday. Only since she’d come to London had she had seen a little more of her brother.
    “You just missed tea with Grandmama,” she informed him.
    “Thank God,” he