Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Matthew
“What is wrong with you?” Sebastian demanded to know, frowning at Matthew.
He jumped at the question. They were up on one of the balconies overlooking the ballroom, and he’d been busy watching Johanna, who was beside Lady Astrid and a stone-faced Rose as they held court for a throng of gentlemen.
None of them were particularly objectionable gentlemen, but it still stirred Matthew’s ire to watch them conversing with his wife. Making them laugh.
“Other than having to watch those bobbleheads courting my wife?” He was unusually growly; he knew that. It was not just that, of course. Matthew pulled his fingers from his pocket, where they were seeking his coin for the umpteenth time.
Sebastian slanted a look at him. Clinging closely to the shadows of the drapes, his chestnut-brown hair looked darker than normal, and his gaze was nearly black.
Very intimidating, when he wanted to be, was Sebastian.
Since Gregory was currently down on the floor with Nathanial and Drake, two of the other dukes who were currently off the market, Sebastian had fled to the balcony to get a break.
Matthew had already been up here, brooding, which he admitted was not his usual.
But it was easier to stay out of the throng without his coin to help direct him than it was to be among them. Too many choices down there.
Far less up here.
“They are not courting her.” His tone was bemused, as if he could not understand why it would bother Matthew even if they were. “They are…”
“Flirting with her. And Lady Astrid.” A small smile ticked the corner of his mouth.
“Perhaps not Rose, though.”
Not because they would not want to, but because it would take a particularly brave—or foolish—man to attempt such a thing with the way she was looking at all of them right now. He doubted he had to worry about any rakes approaching Johanna either, not with Rose at her side.
“They are flirting with her because she is safe.” Sebastian shook his head, his gaze darkening as he cast it over the ballroom at large. “They can speak with her without causing gossip or any expectation on her part for courtship.”
“I know,” Matthew replied irritably. “I still do not like it. I do not understand why we are not supposed to speak to our own wives at these events.”
“Of course you can speak to her.” Sebastian hesitated. “Just… you cannot monopolize her time. Perhaps you can do more next Season. Once the interest in the two of you has moved on.”
“Or I could stop being so damned proper,” Matthew muttered. But was it the right thing to do?
He did not want to make the wrong choice, not when it would reflect on Johanna as well as himself. Damn his coin… especially on tonight of all nights. The first time that it had ever slipped through his fingers, and it had to be now.
“I thought you wanted tonight to reflect well on her.”
“I do.”
“Well, then, you cannot hover like a jealous husband who does not trust her.” Sebastian cast his gaze around the ballroom again.
Clearly, he did not understand. Matthew did trust Johanna, but he was also a jealous husband. Jealous of her attention. Jealous of the men who could stand beside her and speak to her at the damned ball.
“Besides, she returns home with you.”
There was that.
Still.
“I am going to claim a dance,” Matthew announced. But he also did not move.
Sebastian eyed him curiously. “Are you?”
“Yes.” Still, he did not move.
“Matthew.”
“Yes?”
“Where is your coin?”
Matthew took in a deep breath and sighed it out. Gripping the edge of the banister with both hands, he rocked forward slightly on the balls of his feet and lowered back down to his heels as he rolled his head around his neck before answering.
“I lost it.” Just saying the words aloud struck him like a lightning bolt to the chest.
He could not look at Sebastian. Did not want to see the mockery in his friend’s face or the judgment. Whatever might be there. He rocked back and forth between his toes and his heels, his jaw clenched so hard, he could hear his teeth grinding.
After a long moment of silence, Sebastian’s hand landed on Matthew’s shoulder, strangely and unexpectedly comforting.
“Where did you lose it?”
Out of all of Matthew’s friends, Sebastian was not the one he would have expected sympathy from over the loss of his coin, yet he could hear it in Sebastian’s voice.
“Under my blasted armoire. Just before coming here.” Matthew shook his head as his throat clogged again. Grief? Panic? Some combination of the two? “I… I do not know what to do without it.”
“And yet you got here without it. You came in the door without it. You acquitted yourself admirably and are currently giving your wife the space Society demands, even though I can see it irks you.” Sebastian’s voice was gentle.
Almost big brotherly. Then again, he had a younger sister.
Matthew wondered if this was how he was with Tiffany.
“You came up to the balcony without it. And now you know you want to dance with your wife. So go dance with her.”
“What if it is the wrong decision?”
“Then you will deal with that when it happens. Just like the rest of us mere mortals. Now you will know what it feels like for everyone else.” A bit of gentle teasing had slid into Sebastian’s voice, but Matthew did not mind. “Though, even without your coin, you are still the Lord of Luck.”
That was… true enough.
Rolling his shoulders back, Matthew straightened and released the banister so he could tug his jacket into place. He was the Lord of Luck.
And he had not considered that everyone else did not have the benefit of his luck, nor his coin, to make their own decisions.
If they made the wrong one, they had to do exactly what Sebastian said…
deal with it when it happened. And only with the consequences because his father was dead and could not dole out anything additional.
“I am going to go dance with my wife.” He sounded far surer of himself than he felt, but that would have to do.
“Enjoy your dance.” Sebastian smiled at him, then turned back to look out over the assembled guests, his lips turning back to a frown. Probably because he was thinking about his own wifely prospects.
Matthew did not envy him. Nor could he think of any way to assist him at the moment. He clapped Sebastian on the shoulder, in a bolstering manner, then turned away.
He was going to dance with his wife.
Johanna
Extremely grateful for Lady Astrid’s stalwart friendship and Rose’s steady companionship, Johanna did her best not to show the strain as the gentlemen thronged about them flattered and flirted.
None of them seemed particularly serious, thankfully, yet she had to be on her toes to give them a good impression, regardless.
Matthew had gone to join the gentlemen almost as soon as they’d entered. Then Lady Stark had joined her own circle of grande dames, after giving Johanna over to Lady Astrid’s care. Johanna felt rather adrift, but Lady Astrid’s sotto voce remarks helped.
Apparently, gentlemen could not dance too much attendance on their wives. Even newlyweds. Lady Stark was signaling that she trusted Johanna to acquit herself well without her. But she’d also ensured that Johanna was left with an ally, for which she was grateful.
“I’ll show you the ropes,” Lady Astrid had murmured, just before the curious gentlemen descended. “Remember, you are a duchess now. There is very little you do that we cannot explain away, one way or another.”
Strangely, that reassurance had greatly helped.
But dealing with the gentlemen was still quite draining.
“I say, Your Grace, it is quite unfair of you to grace our ballrooms only after your marriage,” Lord Catterly said, giving Johanna a wistful look from the other side of the circle.
He was a handsome man, with fair hair and kind hazel eyes, a bit of mischief dancing in them.
“The rest of us did not even have a chance to enter the race for your fair hand.”
“Oh… well…” Johanna stammered over her words.
“I did not realize you were in the market for a wife this Season, Lord Catterly,” Lady Astrid said smoothly, tapping his shoulder with her gold-and-orange-lace fan, which went very nicely with her orange-and-black gown.
Orange jewels shimmered against her skin and in her hair as she turned to face him.
“I have some young ladies I should introduce you to.”
“Oh… well…” Lord Catterly repeated Johanna’s stammered words, much to her amusement, as Lady Astrid smiled widely at him. “That is very kind of you, Lady Astrid.”
“Yes, I am often described as very kind.” Lady Astrid fluttered her fan, smiling like a cat toying with a mouse.
Beside Johanna, Rose coughed. It was not a real cough, though. Johanna could tell Rose was covering for a laugh, and she could not blame her cousin.
Lady Astrid was shameless.
The sound of a violin tuning quavered through the air, and the energy within the circle changed as all the men perked up. Johanna’s eyes widened as she found herself, Rose, and Lady Astrid all pinned with eager looks from the gathered gentlemen.
“Your Grace, would you do me the honor of dancing with you?” Lord Boyd quickly said. He’d been standing beside her, rather quietly, for the entirety of the conversation. Now he’d turned to her, bowing, and holding out his hand for her to take.
“Oh…” She managed to keep from casting a frantic look at Rose; such a movement would be impossible to hide, and she did not know how he would take it.
Johanna did not particularly want to dance, if she was being truthful.
Having to make conversation alone on the dance floor, without Rose or Lady Astrid there to rely on if she floundered? “I—”
“Apologies, Boyd, but this dance belongs to her husband.”