Page 96 of Rival to Resist
“May I be of service, ma’am?” The gentleman descended the remaining stairs at a leisurely pace.
She offered a perfunctory smile. “I doubt that.”
A ripple of amusement passed over his expression, but it was gone so quickly, perhaps she had imagined it. “I pray you will forgive my presumption, ma’am, but would you happen to be Lady Radcliffe?”
Caroline opened her mouth, fully intending to put the stranger in his place, when her attention was pulled to the woman who appeared at the top of the stairs behind him.
While she must have been in her sixties, her clothing was in the first stare of fashion—though, many would consider it too colorful. She too held herself with confidence. Was she the gentleman’s mother?
If he had regarded Caroline with frank curiosity, the woman did so with unapologetic scrutiny.
Caroline was torn between amusement and affront.
“Is this…?” The woman looked at the gentleman, her brows raised in a question.
“I suspect so,” he replied.
“I believe I have not the pleasure of either of your acquaintance,” Caroline said, surprising even herself with her haughtiness.
The woman’s mouth pulled into a smile. “Putting us in our places! And rightly so.” She took hold of the banister and began her descent. “No doubt you are wondering why we have invaded your—forgive me for saying so—obscure village.”
“I assume you are here for the election,” Caroline responded.
“Well, we certainly are not here for the society,” the woman retorted as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She regarded Caroline with her scrutinizing gaze and smiled knowingly. “Yes. I quite see how he might be overset by you. You two will deal very well together, I think.”
Caroline’s confusion was growing by the second, indignation on its heels.
“Caroline.” Frederick stood at the top of the stairs. His eyes moved from her to the woman and the gentleman, then his mouth turned up in grim amusement. “Ah. I see you have met my family.”
“Your…family.” Caroline looked at them, and the pieces began to come together, locking into place one by one.
Frederick came down the stairs. “You mean you havenotmet them?”
“I…” She looked at the gentleman, and mortification began to creep into her neck and cheeks. “Are you…the duke?”
The man’s mouth quivered at the edge. “Guilty.”
She shut her eyes in consternation and curtsied deeply—all the more so to atone for her rudeness. “Forgive me, Your Grace.”
“There is nothing to forgive,” he replied amicably. “It was bad of me not to make myself known to you, but my curiosity overtook my manners, I fear.”
The older woman cleared her throat loudly.
“Right,” Frederick said, grinning. “Lady Radcliffe, allow me to introduce my aunt, Eugenia Ashby.”
“I am so pleased to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Ashby,” Caroline said, trying valiantly not to crumble frommortification.
“Areyou?” the woman replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“I was quite rude, wasn’t I?” Caroline said with a grimace.
“Were you?” Frederick asked, apparently liking the idea.
“She put us in our places,” Mrs. Ashby said.
“I am sorry to have missed it!” Frederick said with real feeling. “No one needs putting in their place more than these two.”
Caroline shut her eyes and shook her head. “I had thought…”
