Chapter Twelve #2
‘We are pleased you have joined us, my lord. We were quite surprised by His Grace’s request for your invitation. We hope you enjoy your evening,’ the Marquess replied politely. The Marchioness made a slight bow of her own, and the moment was over.
He paused for a few seconds.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Then, he continued, walking toward no one in particular, just away. Away from the gazes still boring into his back. A buzz was growing in his ears, a slight fuzz around his vision. He commanded himself to breathe.
‘My lord,’ a voice called before him. A beautiful blue butterfly with a winged glittering blue-green silver mask approached. He stopped and met the bright blue gaze of eyes he knew.
Thank God.
‘Miss Granger,’ he said softer than he intended. His relief at the sight of someone he knew and the beauty of her soothed him, even the part that had initially wanted to run.
‘I am so pleased you came, my lord. I was growing worried you would not show,’ she said, smiling at him as if he were her entire world, and in that moment, he was brought back to himself. His vision cleared, his heart slowed and the panic dissipated.
‘I made a promise to you. I wanted to keep it. Although I am…’ he paused and leaned a bit closer to her ‘…terrified.’
‘As am I,’ William chimed in from his left. ‘But we will muddle through.’ He sipped from his glass. ‘One of these—’ the Duke gestured ‘—will help. Back table.’ He took another sip.
‘A pleasure to see you again, my lord. I trust everything is going to plan with Miss Granger?’ the Duchess asked innocently, sending a surge of other, rather indecent thoughts about Ophelia through his head.
He coughed and pushed them away. ‘We are working towards finding me a match, so yes, it’s going to plan, I suppose.’ He tucked a hand in his trouser pocket.
‘And look at the bevy of interest in you already, my lord,’ Miss Hastings added, sliding her gaze subtly to his other side.
He followed the direction of her stare, startled by the number of ladies looking back at him. ‘I do think I may be merely a curiosity for now until word spreads as to who I am.’
‘That is exactly what we hoped for, my lord. Now you must ask me to dance,’ Miss Granger stated, setting her drink to a nearby table, where a cluster of other abandoned glasses had collected and not yet been removed.
‘Oh?’ he asked, a new thread of uncertainty in his voice.
‘Of course. Once they see you dancing with me, also an unknown in this circle, they will wonder what you are about and then succumb to finding out. You are strikingly handsome, if I may say so. They will not be able to stay away.’
While he had heard her words, he was far more enraptured by the desire to dance with her.
She was the beauty here this evening. Her gown was a creation of soft blue.
The more he stared at it, the more it reminded him of the shimmering blue green of a hummingbird’s wings, and as she moved and turned, the beads decorating it sparkled as they caught the light.
His chest tightened and that surge of lust and attraction he had felt for her since their first meeting swelled up inside him again.
He commanded it away. He was in pursuit of a convenient bride, she in pursuit of establishing a thriving business, and keeping his focus on these two priorities was essential.
He didn’t wish to ruin her future…or his own with any sort of scandal or suggestion of impropriety between them, even if it was only in his head.
He also knew how pursuing a woman he desired had turned out with Rebecca.
Poorly.
But dancing…that was allowed and encouraged and surely held no danger. He smiled at her and bowed at the waist before asking. ‘May I have this dance, if your card is not already full, Miss Granger?’
‘Of course, my lord,’ she replied with the sweetest blush he’d ever seen from her.
She bobbed a small curtsy and accepted his arm to lead her out to the dance floor.
While the other couples continued dancing, their gazes followed them.
As they began to move to the cadence of an allemande, he realised it was her they watched.
The men looked upon her with lust and interest, the women stared upon her with curiosity and wariness.
In truth, he couldn’t blame any of them. She was enchanting.
‘The room cannot take its eyes from you, Miss Granger. You are stunning, if I may say so.’ He twirled her out and when she returned to him, she beamed.
‘On the contrary, my lord,’ she replied.
‘It is you who has captured the ton’s imagination.
I saw it the moment you came in and entered the room.
Such wonder and fascination in their gazes, especially the ladies.
You are a handsome man and possess a commanding presence, no matter what you believe of yourself.
That is why they stare upon me with daggers in their eyes. They wish to be dancing with you.’
Her words, although spoken from the lips of a matchmaker rather than a woman interested in him, eked their way into his heart, sparking hope and joy within him.
Was it true? Was he not destined for loneliness, after all?
Could he dare hope for a future that held happiness and peace, with a family of his own?
A thorn of insecurity swiftly popped such hopes.
‘But they have not seen me, Miss Granger, and they do not know who I am. Not yet, although I am sure word will spread and this disguise of yours will be useless. The mask you selected covers almost all my scarring, as does the high collar of my coat and the expertly tied cravat from Denton. Is this not trickery of some sort?’ Despite his many faults, he did not wish to deceive anyone. At least not more than he had to.
‘Do not think about such things, my lord. Appearance is all reflections and tricks of the light, is it not?’ she asked, her eyes sparkling behind the glorious beaded mask that made her look every inch the mystical creature he had believed her to be on their first meeting.
His throat dried.
Not beauty like yours.
Such beauty as hers could not be mistaken, and as the music slowed, he could see a few gentlemen gauging their next moves…
toward her. He let go of her hand, the loss immediate and irritating, and gave a small bow of his head to her.
If their charade was to work, he had to release her and find a new partner, so with great reluctance he did.
‘Enjoy your debut, my lord. As shall I,’ she added quietly.
‘Good hunting,’ she whispered before she turned away.
They parted, each walking into their next partner almost immediately.
As he smiled upon the rather pretty brunette before him and asked her to dance, he realised Miss Granger had accomplished something he hadn’t been able to do in years.
He was at a ball, he had danced with a beautiful woman and he wanted to court someone far more than he ever had before.
The only problem was the woman he wished to court was not the woman currently in his arms swirling across the floor…but her. Ophelia.
And he absolutely could not allow himself to have her.