Page 28 of A Diamond for a Duke

“I’m standing right here, and can hear every word.” They wouldn’t talk. That Jules knew beyond a doubt. “You’re sure no one else saw her with me?”

“You can rest easy on that account, Dandridge,” Pennington said.

“Well, keep your ears open, just in case. I must be off. I’ll be late for tea at Lady Lockhart’s.” With a wave, Jules continued on his way, ignoring their chorus of guffaws.

Damn them.

They knew he didn’t attend tea.

Not until Jemmah turned up in his life again.

He truly wasn’t given to rash, impulsive behavior.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

Which was one of the reasons he knew, beyond whimsy or doubt, Jemmah must be his.

Oh, his mother and uncles would pitch conniption fits equal to the Regent’s, but in the end, they’d concede.

What choice had they?

He was the Duke of Dandridge.

He controlled the purse strings.

His word was law, and it was far past time they acknowledged his position rather than treating him like a feckless, incompetent booby in need of their constant guidance.

His gratified chuckle earned him a curious glance from a pair of plump matrons dressed in the finest stare of fashion.

How wonderfully free and unencumbered he felt.

But how to persuade Jemmah that he was serious in his intentions after years of scant contact with her?

Such impulsiveness on Jules’s part would’ve send a buzz through the ton’s elite parlors if he were a rakehell or knave, but his reputation as a grave, severe sort made the notion preposterous to all but Theo, Sutcliffe, and Pennington, and he anticipated a full-blown cacophony when word leaked out.

And it would.

All it took was two or three visits to the same address, and the upper ten thousand would eagerly check their post daily for a wedding invitation.

How could he expect Jemmah to take him earnestly when what he proposed flew in the face of common sense and contradicted his typical behavior?

True, she’d kissed him like a long-starved woman, but he suspected she had been deprived of affection for years.

Had she responded because she desperately craved acceptance and love, or because she felt something for Jules?

Male pride demanded the latter, but prudence suggested the former.

Mightn’t Jemmah’s reaction be attributed to both?

Yes.

That seemed most logical.

He stepped to the side, permitting a nurse and her three rambunctious charges to pass.

Jules would use every advantage to win Jemmah and her mother over. He began making a mental list of tactics he intended to use.

A few minutes later, he rounded the corner onto Mayfair, just as Theo’s carriage rumbled to a stop before her mansion. He quickened his pace, his pulse keeping time with his hurried stride.