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“You would be well-advised, my dear,” she said gently, “to behave with all propriety tonight. Your copybook, you might remember, is a bit blotted at the moment.”
Delicate color suffused Rory’s cheeks, but she vouchsafed no answer other than a brief nod.
It was enough to satisfy Nell, however. Huntley escorted them to a set of chairs near the wall, and soon afterward there came a stir from the musician’s gallery as they began to make ready to play for the first set of country dances.
He stepped up to greet them the moment they returned. “I trust your card is not yet filled, my lady,” he said in his pleasant voice.
“Oh, no, indeed, sir. Why ’tis but half filled,” she replied happily.
“Inconceivable.” His eyes twinkled, and Nell could not be surprised when he received an immediate, glowing response. She glanced at Huntley, but he seemed unaware of any byplay, merely shaking hands with Talcott and greeting him politely.
The major took Rory’s card and scrawled his name in two separate places.
When he held it out to her again, she looked for a moment as if she might point out the fact that there were several other blank spaces, but she apparently thought better of the notion and merely smiled up at him as she accepted her card.
The next dance was the first by which he had entered his name, so once the music began, he bowed briefly to Nell and swept Rory off to join the nearest set.
Nell looked at her companion a bit warily, wondering if he might be annoyed. Huntley glanced down at her just then and she saw not annoyance but humor in the hazel eyes.
“Afraid of me, Nell?”
“Of course not,” she retorted instantly. “What a ridiculous notion, my lord. I cannot think what can have put such a thought into your head.”
He chuckled, taking a seat beside her. “Perhaps ’twas the fact that you looked for a moment as if you feared I might bite.”
She grinned back at him, then lifted an eyebrow ruefully. “I doubt you would bite, sir, though I confess I did fear you might be a trifle annoyed when I did nothing to intervene.”
“Intervene?”
“Well, the major has been a bit particular in his attentions, and there are some who would say I ought, as Rory’s chaperon, to put a stop to them.”
“I, however, do not number among them,” he said.
“Your partner will be wondering what has become of you, sir,” she pointed out, suddenly, and for no good reason that she knew of, nervous of his presence.
“I have no partner.”
The answer flustered her. “B-but you cannot … that is, you must have partners, sir. You cannot mean to dance only with Rory. People would surely talk.”
“They would think me an eccentric fellow?”
“Indeed. And you would not like your name and Rory’s to be bandied about in public, sir.”
“This afternoon you called me Philip,” he said irrelevantly, and she saw from the deepening twinkle in his eyes that he was laughing at her.
Her color mounted, but she faced him squarely. “No doubt I forgot my manners in the agitation of the moment, my lord,” she said.
He chuckled. “No doubt. But I prefer my name to all the blasted sirs and my lords you see fit to shower over me, my dear. Do you not think you could—by virtue of our longstanding friendship—put aside these airs of propriety at least when we are alone?”
The twinkle in his eye set her heart thumping, but she did her best to consider his request. After all, they had been good friends, although she would have used the term long-ago, to describe that friendship, rather than long-standing.
Still, that was little more than a quibble, and as it would clearly be tactless of her to point out that he had not asked his intended bride to use his given name—
“Nell?”
She started, flushing more deeply and giving herself a small shake as she recognized the trend her thoughts had been taking.
“I beg your pardon, sir, but you are betrothed to my niece, and it would be unseemly of me to make free with your name. Furthermore, you must find a partner. What will people think if you continue to sit here beside me when you should be joining in the dance?”
“Nell, Nell,” he said in a gentle reproof, “you are too sensitive. What else should they think, but that I am biding my time before my betrothed returns by passing an agreeable few moments with her aunt?”
“But—”
“No more buts, if you please,” he said, smiling now.
“You have told me that I must make my interests plain, and I can think of no better way. Aurora would certainly not take it kindly if I were such a sapskull as to attempt to monopolize her time. I daresay she would balk at more than two dances with me. I shall be lucky, in fact, if I can get her to accompany me down to supper without a scene.”
His words made sense, but Nell could not help thinking that he might make more of a push to define his position with her niece than just to sit beside her all evening.
It would accomplish little if Rory intended to flirt as much as she had done on other occasions.
Not but what it would be most agreeable. She gave herself another little shake.
“Do you mean to sit here all evening?” she asked.
“Well, I shall dance another dance with Aurora, of course. I put my name down for the second contradanse. But aside from that, I see no reason why I should not sit with you. Unless. …”
“Unless what?” she asked suspiciously.
He turned a little more in his chair in order to look at her directly. His eyes seemed to be teasing her, she thought idly. They were very nice eyes.
“Unless you will agree to stop being fusty about your duties long enough to dance. There is no reason I can think of for you to plant yourself in that chair for the entire evening. I’ve seen the way your feet beat time to the music, my girl.
You are just bursting at the seams to join the others.
If you will engage yourself to allow a few of the gentlemen who approach you to sign their names on your card, then I shall endeavor to trot a few of the more likely damsels onto the floor, as well. What do you say, Nell?”
“But my mama never danced when she took me about!” Nell protested.
He chuckled. “Your mama never exerts herself without dire need to do so. Believe me, the only ladies who did not dance to the assemblies we attended in London were those who were absolutely decrepit and who attended merely to play cards. You agreed to dance with me last evening when I pointed out that your sister would never sit still just because she had her daughter in tow. So just you hand over that card, my girl. Now.” He held out his hand imperatively. She looked at it, then raised her eyes.
It did seem silly when he put matters into such a perspective.
She had taken her cue from her own mother’s behavior during her come-out and, for that matter, the behavior of most of her friends’ mothers.
None of them danced. Mostly, they sat in a corner together and gossiped.
But as she looked around now, she could see several women her sister’s age, at least two of whom had daughters who had made their come-outs this year, and they were dancing despite the fact that their daughters, still unmarried, were doing likewise.
Huntley was smiling down at her, and his smile was a warm one.
Still, there was a look of implacability in his eyes that made her hesitate to press the matter further.
Indeed, she did not know why she would want to press it further.
He was quite right. Even now her feet were keeping time beneath the lace flounce of her pale blue skirts.
She returned his smile and handed him her dance card.
“Very well, sir.”
“Much better.” He scrawled his name twice, then looked up and gave a short nod with his head. Before Nell could imagine what he was doing, several young men approached her and requested the privilege of signing her card. She gazed at Huntley in amazement.
He grinned at her. “You know most of these rattles, I daresay. MacElroy, here, asked me to do my possible. The others agreed. Said it was a dashed shame such a beauty was intent upon remaining upon the sidelines when it was clear she was meant for dancing. Couldn’t help but agree with them.
There, Flint, pass that card along to Braithwaite, behind you.
” He looked down at Nell. “I trust you are not annoyed with me,” he said quietly.
“MacElroy is no more than a fashionable fribble, but he dances passably well, and the others are good sorts. I am persuaded you will enjoy the festivities much more as a participant than as on onlooker.”
“And you, my lord? Shall you keep your part of the bargain?”
He sighed. “I shall. Not that that means I shall be dancing as much as it appears you will be. But I shall endeavor to do more than merely hold up one of these so elegant walls. And to keep an eye on my prospective bride, as well,” he added with a little smile.
The rest of the evening seemed to pass quickly for Nell.
Only twice did she lose sight of Rory for any length of time.
Upon the first of these occasions, she had a strong sense of having failed in her duty and spent several anxious moments searching for her before she saw her approaching on Huntley’s arm and realized that he had merely taken her to find some refreshment.
Upon the second such occasion, her anxiety was not so great, for she was quite certain that Rory would reappear within moments, as indeed she did.
If Nell was not particularly pleased to see that this time, as she made her way through the crowd of merrymakers, Rory was accompanied by her current favorite among the Prince’s Own, she was too glad to have her charge restored to her to say anything.
It was only as the pair drew nearer that Nell realized that Rory was looking oddly subdued, while her large partner wore an air of sternness that she had not seen before.