Chapter Five
“I don’t know. Someone must have guessed and spread the word or something.” The duchess paused in her march across the room. “Oh, look, there’s your father.” She changed directions and headed toward him.
“Papa,” Gwendolyn said as they approached him.
He turned with a bright smile on his face. It quickly disappeared as he took her in. “What’s happened? You look pale and… and…” he said, trying to discern what he was seeing.
“Angry,” she supplied.
“Angry? Why angry?” he asked.
“We just had the misfortune to overhear some very rude people discussing Miss Sherman directly behind us. We left the vicinity immediately,” the duchess told him.
“They were discussing my ‘significant dowry’,” Gwendolyn told him. “How do people know what my dowry will be?” She narrowed her eyes at hi
