But she thrust all such thoughts from her mind now.
A chorus of cheerful greetings reached her as she took in the ladies in attendance: Lady Callie, the Countess of Ravenscroft, Lady Alexandra Marlow, and the youngest, Lady Josephine Danvers.
“I am so pleased you could join us, Isabella,” Callie said, grinning in that infectious way of hers that made it impossible for the recipient to do anything other than grin back. Rather as if they were sharing a joke or a secret.
Isabella found herself continually amazed that the garrulous, spirited, dark-haired beauty shared bloodlines with the golden-haired, somber duke.
“Forgive me my tardiness, I beg you all,” she said as she seated herself in the empty chair at Callie’s side. “I came as quickly as I was able. My school has been growing quickly. Response to ladies seeking situations and the training to obtain them has been so much increased that I have had to hire some additional staff to help shoulder the burden.”
“But that is an excellent thing, surely,” said Lady Ravenscroft, whose speech was rendered distinctive by the traces of an American accent.
“It is indeed,” Isabella agreed, proud of her school. “Many women are finding the means to support themselves and their families, or to free themselves from the tyranny of their current situations. The world is changing, and the time has come when a woman’s place is no longer that of wife and mother, never straying from the home.”
“I admire you, Miss Hilgrove,” said Lady Alexandra. “As a woman attempting to make my way in a science that has been largely under the auspices of male dominion, no one understands better than I do just how precious this time of change can be for us all. I have been blessed with a loving husband who appreciates my mind, but we all know not every woman is so fortunate.”
Lady Alexandra was a wonderfully eccentric woman whose love of the weather in particular and science in general fascinated Isabella, who had always been drawn to the arts, in spite of her practical papa’s influence. “You honor me, my lady, and I am woefully undeserving of such praise. I am merely a woman who saw change as it happened and attempted to climb aboard.”
“Nonsense,” Callie said then. “Do not allow Isabella to dismiss her accomplishments. Benny is so impressed by her that he has offered her school a tremendous endorsement in the Times.”
Her ears went hot at the mentioning of the endorsement, which she still had yet to read. “His Grace is too kind,” she said with a forced mildness she scarcely felt when it came to the Duke of Westmorland.
She wondered if Callie knew the reason for Benny’s public commendation.
The mere mentioning of him made her weak. Thoughts of him made her lips tingle and her body ache. Made her long for more of his wicked caresses. Even as she knew all such longings were fruitless and hopeless. He had wanted her as his mistress two nights ago in the magic of the moonlight and the heights of sizzling desire, but by the grim light of day, his pride would not allow him to make a second offer.
She was relieved, she reminded herself.
She was no man’s mistress. Neither the temptation nor the pleasure was worth a lifetime of regrets. Isabella knew herself well enough to understand that whilst she could not control her reaction to the duke, she was still herself, very much an independent woman who prided herself on her autonomy.
“In my experience, Westmorland does not readily offer praise,” Bo said. “He is a formidable man, a true stickler for perfection.”
“An arrogant arse,” she said, before thinking better of her words.
The moment they emerged, she clamped a hand over her mouth, eyes going wide. Dear heavens. They would toss her out on her ear over this slight to one of their own. Surely. And here was proof, had they still required it, that she did not belong here, rubbing elbows with ladies of their ilk.
Callie burst into peals of wild laughter, and the rest of the ladies joined in.
“Oh, my dear Isabella,” Callie said, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes when at last she caught her breath. “Do not look so ill. You only speak truth. If you have failed to notice, our circle appreciates frankness above all else, and you are one of us now. You may be happy to know the arrogant arse in question has pledged five thousand pounds to our cause, however.”
The Duke of Westmorland had pledged another small fortune to the cause of women gaining the vote? Something inside her softened toward him, rather in the fashion of an icicle dripping beneath the warmth of a bright afternoon sun.
“Forgive me,” she muttered weakly. “I did not mean to insult your brother. It is only that he sent away three of my best typewriters in tears…”
“The devil he did.” Callie’s eyebrows rose. “How dare he? I know he is exacting, but that is the outside of enough, even by his standards.”
Isabella bit her lip. That had been her sentiment exactly.
“For such an egregious act, I recommend we encourage Westmorland to increase his donation,” Bo said. “Perhaps double it. What say you? We are just beginning this fight, and we need all the coin and support we can get. If my husband and Westmorland are willing to favor our cause in the House of Lords…”
Even with two dukes in support of the measure, suffrage had been raised and summarily dismissed in the past. There was no guarantee they would be successful.
“We will need a great deal more than ten thousand pounds from the Duke of Westmorland to gain the vote, I fear,” she told the duchess.
“Bainbridge has also pledged twenty, and the Earl of Ravenscroft five as well,” Bo told her. “With funds such as this,
