Surprised, Dalton took a step back. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She glared back. “Oh, yes, you do. Only this morning, Lady Fredricks told me that I should learn to whinny if I hope to gain any attention from you.” Angry red blotches begin to spread along her face and neck. “I’ll not become a laughingstock because of you. I won’t be ignored any longer!” She slapped his cheek, then spun around and rushed back toward the ballroom.
Dalton rubbed his stinging cheek and sighed. What in hell had brought that on?
“Dalton!” Olivia rushed along the hall to his side. “Whatever did you do to Elizabeth—?”
“I’m afraid it’s not what I did. It’s what I refused to do,” he replied playfully.
“Oh, Dalton. Trifling with Elizabeth can be a dangerous sport.”
Dalton laughed. “Dangerous?”
“Yes, dangerous.” Olivia’s blue eyes widened with alarm. “She fancies herself in love with you, Dalton.”
He felt a sudden jolt of sympathy for Elizabeth. “She’s still so very young, Olivia. Elizabeth only thinks she’s in love. By next week, she’ll outgrow her infatuation and fall hopelessly in love with someone else.” He winked at her. “You’ll see.”
Olivia shook her head. “Elizabeth is a headstrong woman who knows what she wants. She wants you, Dalton. I wish you’d take her seriously.”
He shrugged in futile helplessness. “You’re a delightful romantic, my sister. I hope your belief in true love will never desert you. But I’m afraid that every coupling can’t be as divine as yours and that husband you so cherish.”
Olivia frowned worriedly. “Sometimes you can be the most stubborn man.”
Dalton chuckled. “The evening is too lovely to spend arguing, Sister.” He took her arm and led her back toward the ballroom. “Forgive me for changing the subject, but have you spoken to Great-Aunt Mary about Lady Alicia?”
She stopped and looked up at him. Her fingers worked nervously with the ribbons on her fan. “Yes, I did.”
He glanced around for a quiet place to talk. “Come,” he said, urging his sister through the French doors and onto the terrace, away from the threat of meeting Elizabeth again. He took a deep breath of the invigorating night air. “Let’s take a walk through the gardens.”
Lilting music floated from the ballroom’s open windows as they strolled across the broad terrace. When they came to an empty bench beneath towering rhododendrons, they took a seat.
Olivia collected herself. “Alicia’s father is a notorious drunk, a gambler who has almost lost their family estate many times. Three years ago, when Alicia arrived for her first Season, she was thrown into the most shocking scandal.”
Dalton knew that Olivia, unlike their mother, disliked gossip, and he wished he could have found out what he needed to know about Lady Alicia Spencer some other way. But he needed to be discreet, and Olivia was one of the few people he trusted.
“The incident happened during Lady Alicia’s first ball, which was given by Mother at our London town house. It was also Elizabeth’s first Season. In fact, mother was Elizabeth’s patroness that year. Do you remember, Dalton?”
He shook his head. “No. That spring I was in Portugal, fighting with Wellesley’s campaign. Just before Drake enlisted—”
His words faded when he saw the pained expression cross Olivia’s face at the mention of their brother. “I’m sorry, Olivia. I didn’t mean…”
She laid her white-gloved hand on his sleeve. “It’s quite all right, Dalton.” She paused, glancing up at the stars twinkling overhead. “You’d think after three years that I would accept that he’s never coming home.” She shook her head. “I know I sound foolish, Dalton. Forgive me.”
“You’re not foolish, my dear. I miss him, too.”
“The worst part for me was not having Drake’s body returned to England. I so hate to think—”
He patted her hand. “Drake will remain alive in our hearts as long as we remember him, Olivia. He’d be so proud that you named your first son after him.”
The tight smile on Olivia’s lips faded. “Thank God that you returned safely from the war. I don’t know what I would have done without you, too.”
Olivia, so sensitive, so caring. He squeezed her hand in an attempt to comfort. She was almost nine years younger than he; maybe that was why he would always feel so protective of her.
“I haven’t told you the worst about Lady Alicia’s past,” Olivia said, recovering. She met his gaze. “On the evening of Alicia’s first ball, she was found with your friend, Justin Sykes, alone in his bedroom.”
“Sykes?” Dalton released her hand. “I don’t believe it.”
She nodded. “There’s no mistake. In fact, Great-Aunt Mary said that Mother and several of her friends found them together.”
Dalton furrowed his brows in disbelief. Justin Sykes’s reputation as a rake and a scoundrel was well-known. Rumor had it that he’d made his wealth from selling contraband to Napoleon’s troops, but Dalton had never believed it. Certainly an innocent like Alicia would be warned to steer clear of such a scoundrel, unless she thought herself in love with him. “Are you certain?”
“Yes. Word of the affair spread and by nightfall of the next day, Lady Alicia had returned home in utter disgrace.” Blue eyes, so like his own, stared back at him. “Great-Aunt Mary remembers the incident vividly. Before Alicia’s downfall, everyone said that she was by far the most beautiful jewel of the Season.”
“Did Sykes offer for her?”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “That’s what upset everyone the most. Justin Sykes offered to marry her, and the girl turned him down.”
“That’s devilishly queer. Why?”
“Despite all the rumors, no one knew the truth.”
Dalton thought back to the lovely, free-spirited woman who had barely concealed her animosity toward him. Beneath her plain gown, he’d seen the full high breasts and the feminine outline of her tiny waist and gently rounded hips, and he remembered his immediate reaction to her. He prided himself on being able to look beyond this sort of attraction to women in order to make astute judgments of the fair sex.
Yet the more he discovered about Alicia, the more mysterious she became. Now, he understood her initial refusal to tend Bashshar, and the sacrifice she’d made to come to the family estate and face his mother.
“I’ve done Lady Alicia a grave disservice, I’m afraid.”
“What do you mean, Dalton?”
“Alicia has put aside her feelings about our mother to help an injured animal. She’s here solely because she wants to cure Bashshar.”
“Hmm. I see she’s impressed you, brother.” A note of inquisitiveness rang on her words. “I’m curious to meet her.”
“Perhaps you could pay her a visit tomorrow. I haven’t told anyone else that she’s arrived. I’m afraid you might be her only friend while she’s here.”
“Oh, Dalton. Mother will never permit her to stay.”
“I’m now the duke. Mother will have to accept the fact.”
Olivia shook her head. “Don’t underestimate the damage Mother can do, Dalton. She’s still one of the most powerful members of the ton. She can destroy people with her tongue as easily as Wellington can with his sword.”