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.And if he were Michael, he’d enjoy this brush with passion.He would kiss her because pretty girls were meant to be kissed.If she offered herself, he would take her.And when the time came for Miss Ritter to sail off to France, Michael would escort her to the docks.With great affection he would wave her off, and before the ship was out of sight he would have forgotten about her.Jude wasn’t Michael, for he had begun to suspect he would never forget Caroline Ritter.With a glance out the door at the hovering servants, Mum said, “The tea is ready.We shall serve.”At once Phillips appeared, leading a parade of liveried footmen bearing cups and saucers, pitchers of cream, and bowls of sugar.Without making a sound, they set up on the immense sideboard.Goose took Miss Ritter’s hand and started toward a sofa.“Move aside, man.” Jude jostled him.“Let the rest of us have a chance.”“I say!” Turgoose sputtered.“You shan’t take my place.”“What about m…me?” Lord Vickers was not yet twenty and had fallen instantly in love with Miss Ritter, and he stammered with youthful indignation.“I should have a ch…chance with her.”“What about you?” The twenty-five-year-old marquess of Routledge smiled with all the confidence of a man with wealth, title, and comeliness.“What about me? I’m desolated by Miss Ritter’s reserve.”Turning his gaze on Caroline, Jude got a shock.As she gazed on the assemblage determined to admire her, she looked different.Like a temptress, like an accomplished flirt, like a woman who knew how to hold men in thrall with a glance of her slumberous eyes.He saw the woman she might have become if catastrophe hadn’t overtaken her, and that woman was irresistible to him.A swift look around confirmed his suspicions.Every man here watched her with hungry desire, their eyes alight.Then she changed.She stood upright, looked stern, and spoke briskly.“Gentlemen, I value your flattery as it deserves.Now go”—she glared meaningfully at Jude—“away.”He did, spent the rest of the tea splitting his time between Lady Pheodora and the Misses Foley, and afterward remembered not a damned word they said.But the memory of Miss Ritter’s seductive moment haunted him all through the night.Chapter 14“Dear, you should have seen it.” Nicolette swept into the library, talking as she came.“She made him behave.”“Miss Ritter made Jude behave?” Nevett put down his newspaper and looked over his glasses at his wife.Her eyes were snapping, her cheeks stained with color.She looked alive for the first time in months, and something inside him, something that had been tense for far too long, relaxed.“How did she do that?”“He was acting like a fool, flapping his handkerchief and insulting the ladies by suggesting how they could improve their costumes and their teeth—”“Their teeth?” Nevett showed his own teeth in annoyance.“Yes, their teeth.” Nicolette’s exasperation couldn’t be more clear.“I couldn’t do anything with him.He ignored my glares, and he’s a little old for me to take him by the ear and drag him away to sit in a corner, so I ran to get Caroline.She put up with his silliness for a few minutes, then she snapped at him—and from that moment on, he was the perfect gentleman.He charmed all the ladies.They’re still gossiping about the change in him, I vow, and Lady Pheodora could scarcely take her eyes off him.” Nicolette subsided in the chair opposite Nevett.“Although I thought her examination seemed more wary than infatuated.”Nevett cast the paper aside.Was this news of a potential daughter-in-law? “Who’s Lady Pheodora?”“Lady Pheodora Osgood of the Rochdale Osgoods.”Nevett searched his mind until he remembered the connection.“A family of singularly plain people.Is she a beauty?”“Not at all.” Nicolette giggled softly.“Do we care? She’s female, she’s English, and she’s breathing.”“Are we in such desperate straits?”“I’m not.You’re the one who’s so worried about grandchildren you hired a governess for your adult son.” Swinging her foot, Nicolette flipped off her slipper.“Other females could easily be lured into his net if he used the proper bait.”“It irks me that he has to fish at all.In my time, I was chased by all the—” Nevett abruptly recalled his listener and shut his mouth.“You were chased by all the debutantes.” Nicolette dimpled at him.“I don’t remember it like that.”“Not with you,” he said gruffly.With one look he’d been smitten and felt a right old fool for imagining himself in love with warm eyes and a gentle smile.He had told himself he was the duke of Nevett, that he was doing Nicolette a favor by making her a duchess, and he had settled a substantial sum of pin money on her.He’d made sure his sons would treat her well in the event of his death, and the arrival of another son had puffed his conceit and given him yet more hope for the future.Then Michael’s death had broken both their hearts and set him on a new mission—to get Jude married and the future of the family secured.It was only in the last few days, with that governess underfoot all the time—did she never return to her home?—that he’d realized he’d accomplished two goals.Nicolette no longer sat alone and read, or stared into space, and not once had he come upon her when she had tears on her cheeks.She was lively and amused, and for that he was grateful to his damned foolish-looking son and the spirited Miss Ritter.As if she read his mind, Nicolette said, “I had to speak quite firmly to Lady Reederman about Miss Ritter.”“What did the old cat do now?”“She suggested that I not invite such guests who would besmirch the other guests with a soiled reputation.”“Let me take care of the matter.” He spoke coolly, but he was furious.Lady Reederman was, after all, only a countess, and one who frequently got above herself.This time she had gone too far.When he was done with her, she would never again admonish his duchess, nor would she ever dare criticize his company.“I handled it.” Nicolette’s smile showed a hint of teeth.“I told her that if she wished to approve my guest list, she could take a position with the Distinguished Academy of Governesses as a social counselor and I would perhaps hire her.Until that day, I suggested she bully debutantes and green young men and others who are easily intimidated.” She nodded firmly.“She didn’t stay long after that.”“Brava!” Rising, he extended his hand to her.She took it; he pulled her to her feet and into his arms.“You’re magnificent.”“As magnificent as Miss Ritter?”He wasn’t blind.Miss Ritter was very attractive.But he wasn’t stupid, either, and he blinked at his wife as if astonished.“I hadn’t noticed.Is she supposed to be magnificent, too?”Nicolette laughed and linked her arms around his neck.“That was exactly the right thing to say.” And she kissed him.He was the luckiest man in the world.“I’ve never enjoyed the zoo as much as I have today
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