Chapter 21 #2
“I believe, my lord Haulton,” she murmured, “that you are about to get yourself busted.”
“Granny won’t know,” he said under his breath.
“The footmen will.”
“They won’t blame me.”
“But your girlfriends might. One of them already has suspicions.” Peaches smiled politely at him. “The blonde has been glaring daggers at me all evening. And let’s not forget Irene Preston.”
“Shall I look at you superciliously to throw them all off the scent?”
“You could try that, but you might want to first stop looking at my mouth.”
He smiled gravely, that polite smile she’d seen so much of before she’d wound up in medieval England with him and her world had been turned completely upside down. Only now, she realized it didn’t mean what she thought it had.
It meant he loved her.
“A waltz later?” he asked.
“If you like.”
“Will I suit, do you think?” he asked, suddenly serious. “Aunt Edna, I mean.”
Peaches was taken aback by the question only because it seemed odd that he should worry about passing muster with an obscure woman of such little consequence in the world. That he should care said something about his character.
And his feelings for her.
“Does it matter to you?” she asked.
“Very much,” he said frankly.
“You know, you’re going to have to stop this kind of thing in public places,” she said, blinking a time or two in spite of herself. “You’re going to get us both in trouble. And if you really want to know, yes, I think she’ll approve.”
The smile he gave her made her very relieved she was already seated.
She suspected the only reason it hadn’t brought his granny to her feet was that she had missed it.
Peaches made sure Lady Louise was still engaged in overseeing her guests, then succumbed to the conversational demands of a rather robust man on her left who turned out to be a very keen gardener.
She managed to make polite conversation with him in spite of Stephen’s continually brushing her elbow with his, or pressing his foot against hers, or otherwise distracting her from ignoring him as she knew she should have.
There was mingling after supper, which was just as painful as she’d feared it might be.
David kept her next to him the entire time, though she managed to avoid having his hands on all the various parts of her person that were polite to grab in public.
She was rather relieved to hear the orchestra warming up, though she supposed she shouldn’t have been.
David would probably try to monopolize her for the entire night—and not because he had any feelings for her, but for his own perverse reasons.
The only thing that saved her was that Lady Louise’s balls seemed to include only music for traditional dancing, which left David stumbling through several songs—something she hadn’t noticed at Kenneworth House—before he steered her over to the punch bowl and helped himself.
“I say,” drawled a voice suddenly in the poshest of tones from behind her, “Preston, old thing, don’t you feel it’s time to let someone else have a turn?”
Peaches turned to see none other than John de Piaget standing there, looking terrifyingly lethal in spite of his elegant evening clothes.
“Who?” David asked with a snort. “You?”
John lifted an eyebrow. “Family privilege and all that.”
“Your keep doesn’t even have a roof.”
“No, but my wife’s does and I’m happy to laze about as a kept man, so release my sister-in-law and go vex someone else with your troublesome self.”
“How dare you,” David said, drawing himself up and puffing importantly.
John took Peaches’s hand and tucked it under his arm. “Spare us the dramatics.”
“You won’t dare talk to me this way,” David said in a low but quite audible voice. “Not for long.”
Peaches wasn’t one to be unduly alarmed, but she couldn’t deny that the tone of his voice had made her very uncomfortable. She walked with John out into the middle of the ballroom, then stopped and looked at him.
“What do you think?” she asked him in the vintage French she was fairly sure the bulk of the company wouldn’t understand.
“I think I’m very happy my grandmother forced me to pay attention to a dancing master along with a master lutenist,” he said pleasantly. “And your accent is excellent, you know. You’ll make a certain lad who values that very happy over the course of his life.”
She pursed her lips as he swept her into a waltz. “I wasn’t asking that, though yes, you do dance divinely.”
“Better than my nephew?”
She laughed a little and was grateful for a brief distraction. “I believe on that subject I will remain discreetly silent. You will, I’m sure, be relieved to know that Stephen’s granny is watching you closely, but she isn’t scowling.”
“She’s still trying to work out why I look so much like her grandson.”
“What have you told her?”
“I haven’t come within ten paces of the old harridan,” John said with a mock shiver.
“I don’t dare, of course. We’ll let her think what she wants for the time being.
” He looked over her head for a moment, then back at her.
“As for our good duke, I think he’s trouble.
What kind, I don’t know yet. But I’m watching him. ”
“I’m sure Stephen is enormously relieved.”
“Actually, he is, though he told me to leave my blades in the car.”
“And did you?”
He only smiled. Peaches smiled in return, because she had the feeling that John and Stephen were both prepared to wield more than their good looks if necessary.
“And there is the good Viscount Haulton, watching me with a frown whilst a number of his lesser cousins are looking at you with great interest. Where shall I deliver you first?”
“Cousins,” she said faintly. “I’m not tangling with granny quite yet. I’m definitely not going to put myself between his girlfriends and their prey.”
“I think that might be wise. I’ll turn you over to the Chattam lads, then, until Stephen’s tormentors tire of the chase.”
Peaches didn’t want to tell him that she suspected Stephen would give out long before his would-be brides would, but he had already deposited her with one of Lady Louise’s lesser grandsons, who was astonishingly handsome, an excellent dancer, and content to limit his conversation to her health and the weather.
She was fairly sure it was Stephen’s diamonds overwhelming him so.
It was pushing midnight when she found herself standing with Tess and John, sipping punch.
David had disappeared an hour earlier, which had pleased her.
She’d had a remarkably lovely evening mostly dancing with Stephen’s cousins and once with his brother Gideon, who had treated her as if everything concerning her future as part of the family were already settled.
She’d had a delightful conversation with Gideon’s wife, Megan, and spent enough time with Tess to help her keep her equilibrium.
Life was, in spite of trying to pretend she had no feelings for Stephen, very good—
“Oh, my,” Tess said faintly.
Peaches would have asked her sister what the matter was, but she shut her mouth around the question she hadn’t managed to ask.
Stephen was walking toward her.
“Steady,” Tess murmured.
“Shut up,” Peaches suggested. “His grandmother isn’t going to like this.”
“I’m not sure he cares,” Tess said honestly. “Enjoy your fairy-tale midnight moment.”
“If he kisses me, I’ll kill him.”
Tess only laughed and allowed her husband to sweep her into his arms and out onto the floor. Peaches tried not to squirm as Stephen came to a stop in front of her, then made her a slight bow.
“My lady,” he said gravely.
“You’re mistaking me for my sister the countess.”
“I don’t think so,” he said, with a grave smile. He held out his hand. “Will you?”
She put her hand into his. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“Your grandmother will have a fit.”
“She’ll recover.” He led her out onto the floor, then gathered her into his arms. He sighed happily. “I think this might be worth the misery of the rest of the evening.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “Though I will admit your cousins were charming and very polite.”
“Transferring your affections to the other side of the family, love?”
She shook her head. “They don’t have calluses.”
He frowned slightly. “Calluses?”
She squeezed his right hand. “Calluses from swordplay. A girl has to have her standards.”
“You know,” he said, “I think no one would notice when the clock strikes midnight if I were to properly reward you for that comment.”
She laughed a little, because she was in his arms and at the moment, everything seemed perfect.
Then the clock began to strike midnight.
And things took a turn she hadn’t expected.