As the other ladies monopolized Hadrian’s attention for a moment, Lizzy leaned closer, her eyes sparkling as she examined Natalie’s gown. “Stunning,” she murmured. “The gold suits your coloring far better than mine.”

Natalie felt guilty for her initial rejection of the gowns. “Forgive me for not properly thanking you yesterday. I was too bowled over by your generosity.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really! My maid will be bringing more soon.” Lizzy rubbed her gently rounded midsection. “Oh, but I do envy your slender figure.”

“You’ll regain yours soon enough,” Natalie consoled, wondering if she’d ever experience the miracle of bearing her own baby. Her gaze inexplicably strayed to Hadrian, only to find him watching her, and she looked hastily back at his sister. “And the end result will be well worth any discomfort.”

“That’s what Wrenbury always reminds me,” Lizzy said with a sigh. “Three months to go yet. The trouble is, I’ve never been very good at waiting.”

“Whatever are you two whispering about, Lady Wrenbury?” Lady Birdsall called out, a brittle smile on her hawklike features. “Do share it with us.”

“I was speaking of babies, and how dreadfully long they take to make their appearance.”

Lady Cora and Lady Eugenie twittered and blushed, apparently unaccustomed to hearing talk of the natural functions of a woman’s body.

Even Lady Birdsall appeared disconcerted for a moment. “Well! Speaking of children, I was intrigued to hear a rumor that His Grace has adopted a little orphaned boy.”

“I told you the gossip would spread like wildfire, Hadrian,” Lizzy teased. “It’s so unlike the very proper Duke of Clayton to take in strays.”

Proper? Natalie remembered thinking of him that way at first. But no more. He was captivating, seductive, able to tempt a woman into sin with one smoldering look … like the one he was directing at her right now.

Thankfully, he returned his gaze to the others. “Leo is hardly a stray. He’s our second cousin, once removed. As for adopting him, I haven’t as yet.”

As yet. That might happen when he married Lady Ellen. Or perhaps another lady like Cora or Eugenie. Natalie clenched her teeth, telling herself it was concern for Leo’s uncertain future that caused her inner turmoil.

“Miss Fanshawe, you must be governess to the boy, since you accompanied him here from the States,” Lady Birdsall said. “It’s very generous of His Grace to give you time off from your duties to sit with us.”

The snide note in the woman’s voice irritated Natalie. Lady Birdsall seemed to be fishing for information as to Natalie’s place in the household.

“Actually, I’m Leo’s guardian,” she said. “His mother was a dear friend of mine. She and her husband were slain in a bloody massacre, and as she lay dying in my arms, she begged me to bring Leo to his family here in England.”

The ladies looked aghast at her blunt description. But she wouldn’t retract a word. It was the truth, and she had even withheld the disturbing fact that it had been British soldiers who had committed the atrocity.