Barbara Metzger by The Duel Page A

housing a vicious beast as well as a virgin?” Carswell quipped on his way out. Neither Ian nor Troy found his jest funny.
    “That’s what I wanted to talk about, my lord. You see, my sister has given up a great deal for me. Why, she could have had a London Season a few years ago. One of her friends invited Attie to join her for her come-out, but Attie refused, on account of me. She might have been married and had babies by now. I wouldn’t want her to go far away, but I don’t think she ought to stay on at my brother’s house either. It’s not right, having the two women under one roof.”
    Ian remembered the rows between his mother and his sister. “No, it is not.”
    “And Wiggy wants to marry her, I know. He wouldn’t be my first choice. Or tenth, if it came to that, but…”
    “But the choice should be hers, correct?”
    “I knew you would understand. You won’t let her be ruined, will you?”
    “Never.”
    The boy was not entirely convinced. “I know I asked you to look after my sister, my lord, and please do not think I am ungrateful. But maybe I asked too much?”
    “I do not think that is too much to ask of any gentleman. I admire you for your care of her, in your own distress. You are a good brother, Renslow, and will make an honorable man.”
    Troy’s fair cheeks grew red at the praise. “Well, it is nicer here than at our uncle’s house, but if Attie’s reputation is going to be hurt, and Wiggy backs out, and our brother hears of it—”
    “Your sister’s reputation will not be hurt. She will have a respectable chaperone at her side by dinnertime, I swear to you.”
    *
    The problem was—well, one of the problems was—that Ian did not have a respectable chaperone to uphold the niceties of polite behavior, having neither mother nor sister on hand. He vowed he would disown both of them on the instant and declare himself an orphan without siblings.
    His butler was waiting when Ian and Carswell returned below and repaired to the library. The messengers had returned, Hull reported, with winded horses but no ladies. The countess was indisposed with an ague in Bath. Lady Dorothy was away from her Richmond home inspecting cotton mills for a treatise she was preparing on child labor.
    “My own sister cares more for those nameless children than she does for me!” Ian stormed as his friend poured them drinks. Of course, he had been the one to interest her in the issue of reform, and he did use her valuable research in his efforts in Parliament, but why the devil did she have to be out crusading now, when he needed her? As for his mother, she was always suffering from some ailment, especially when asked to forego her twice weekly card nights.
    Ian threw his broad body into a leather chair and ran his hands through his hair. “Deuce take it, I need a respectable woman!”
    “Not your usual style, old man.”
    “What, my hair?” Carswell’s coiffeur was perfect, as always.
    “No, your women. Never known you to get within ten feet of a virtuous female, other than your mother and sister, of course.”
    “Damnation, I am not speaking of dalliance now. I need a duenna for Miss Renslow. By dinnertime. Surely you must know a female who could come act as dogberry, just for a day or two until my sister returns to Richmond.”
    Carswell shrugged.“Sorry, but m’sisters are breeding in the country, my mother’s been gone these fifteen years, one of my grandmothers is too old, and the other is too mean to put herself out for anyone. Besides, she hates you.”
    “You broke that blasted vase, not me!”
    “Ah, but I looked innocent, a regular little gentleman. You were a big, clumsy oaf of a boy.”
    “And I am still a big, clumsy oaf, making a hash of other people’s lives. But think, man. Surely between us we know some married woman I could ask to stay.”
    Carswell buffed his polished fingernails on his sleeve. “I hear that Lady Paige is seeking a change of address.”
    “Mona? I would not let