Chapter Two
The music of Largo’s Fairy Dance ended in a series of trills and Gwendolyn breathed a deep sigh. She stumbled backwards, trying to escape the uncomfortable feelings that welled in her stomach during her dance with Lord Roland Montgomery, but he stepped towards her, placing his hand on her arm.
“Not so fast, Miss Burroughs. It is customary for the gentleman who has partnered a lady for the supper dance to accompany her to supper.” Again, she was aware of the edge in his voice, and she stopped.
She closed her eyes for a moment and then looked him squarely in the face.
“I am well aware of the conventions, sir, but I thought I would save you from the unpleasantness of my company for the next hour or so.” She had momentarily forgotten that Lord Roland Montgomery had claimed her for the supper dance, but her prevarication had no effect on her stubborn partner.
“I am not so eager to eschew all social conventions as you are. We are already drawing unwanted attention.”
Gwendolyn glanced around. He was right. A handful of guests had lingered in the ballroom and were looking at the two of them who were now alone in the center of the dance floor.
Her shoulders slumped but she held her head high and, pretending a nonchalance she did not feel, placed her fingers gingerly on his offered arm and walked primly beside him towards the door where the rest of the guests were filtering out.
She would show him that her manners were impeccable and that she knew what was right and proper.
The surge of people in the supper room seeking the best seats at the long tables drew Lord Montgomery and Gwendolyn forward.
Even in such a crowd, she was aware of Major Enderby, whose tall frame and compellingly handsome face were visible over the more average gentlemen who primped and preened like a flock of pigeons pretending to be peacocks.
Lord Montgomery began to guide her towards a table in the center of the room where his aunt was seated beside some other elderly dowagers but Gwendolyn tugged him to one towards the back where the Blythes and Major Enderby were settling down.
In her eagerness to be near her hero, she did not notice that her mother had followed her lead and was seating herself on the other side of the table, Mariana at her side.
Lady Burroughs was not acquainted with Mrs. Blythe and ignored her as she smiled brightly at the major.
Conscious that bringing about an alliance between the celebrated army hero and her daughter would be a social coup that would create envy among the members of the haut ton who still despised her for marrying above her station when she had won the hand of Lord Burroughs, she made every effort to further their acquaintance.
In this alone, the mother and daughter were of the same opinion, although their reasons for seeking out the major’s company were vastly different.
Roland Montgomery raised an eyebrow but ushered Gwendolyn to a seat next to the major.
She didn’t care, even if her actions gave him more ammunition to use against her.
To get to her seat, she had to walk past Robert Walker, who winked at her and smiled warmly, although he scowled at Montgomery and said, “How ironic that you don’t follow your own advice.
You have warned me against spending too much time with certain young ladies and yet, here you are. ”
Gwendolyn looked from one gentleman to the other, confused, but the momentum of the room moved her away from Robert to the seat she had spied beside Major Enderby, and she very prettily thanked Lord Montgomery for his assistance. And found herself facing her mother.
Lady Burroughs raked her eyes over her daughter.
“Sit up straight and smile, Gwendolyn. You do not look pleased, even though you are seated between two of the most eligible gentlemen here this evening.” She tried to speak sotto voce but her sharp hiss was heard by quite a few people near them, and sneers and titters greeted her words.
Oblivious to the titters around her, Lady Burroughs continued more loudly.
“I am glad that we are seated here, although Lady Wetherspoon invited us to join her table. You have not yet danced with her nephew, the Earl of Craddock, but there is still time to amend that. He is a sober gentleman of good taste, although he is a little shy and has not married, even though he is almost forty. You are just the kind of lady to bring him out of his shell.”
Gwendolyn was used to blocking out her mother’s voice and she said nothing as Lord Montgomery pulled out a chair for her and she sat down next to Major Enderby, smoothing her dress and tossing her curls.
She smiled sweetly at Grace and Bonnie, across the table, although her eyes did not reflect her outward bonhomie.
“It is good to see you, Miss Blythe, Miss Bernice. I trust you are enjoying the evening.”
Grace nodded briefly and gave a quick smile but the wary glance she cast at Major Enderby suggested that the ball, or her fiancé, was not meeting her expectations.
A chorus of greetings for Gwendolyn and the baron drew attention away from her, and almost no one was aware of how her eyes filled with hurt when the major smiled at Gwendolyn and took her hand in his, raising it to his mouth and placing a kiss on it in the continental fashion.
“Major Enderby, how good it is to see you here,” Gwendolyn purred. “From something Miss Langley said when I had tea with her yesterday, I expected you to be out of town. If I had known you were attending the ball, I would have left a space for you on my dance card.”
Major Enderby answered her gravely, his eyes flickering so briefly towards Grace that even Gwendolyn, who was watching him closely, did not notice.
“Business concerns on my family estate need some attention, but other matters in town also need to be seen to, so I have postponed my trip to the country. Besides, the pleasure of dancing with delightful young ladies such as yourself far outweighs the nuisance of rents and repairs.”
“You consider the welfare of the tenants on your estates a nuisance?” Montgomery asked, his voice still edged with the accusation that Gwendolyn was beginning to loathe.
Enderby looked over Gwendolyn’s head to where the baron was closely observing all that passed at the table. His mouth tightened and he looked at Gwendolyn again, saying, “Let us not bore the ladies with mundane topics. Miss Burroughs, did you attend the opera last Thursday?”
Gwendolyn shifted and caught her mother’s smug look as the major paid Gwendolyn attention.
She turned to one of the other ladies at the table and said, “I am surprised that someone so illustrious as Major Enderby would have been seated at the main table with Lord and Lady Wetherspoon, but the people he is with are not known in Society, are they?”
Lady Burroughs addressed the major as if she were well-acquainted with him. “How is your uncle, Lord Moorcraft?”
The major’s mouth was pulled into a straight line, but he answered politely. “My godmother’s husband, Lord Moorcroft, passed away some years ago.”
Lady Burroughs was undeterred. “Ah, now I understand why you have sold your commission. You have returned to take up your position as the new Lord Moorcraft?”
“I believe, madame, that you have been misinformed. I have not sold my commission, although I am considering doing so.”
Lady Burroughs was finally defeated, at least for the moment.
And if Gwendolyn could put aside her odd quirks long enough, there was now a new gentleman to entice. Lord Montgomery was a mere baron, but a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush.
Gwendolyn’s fingers tightened around her fork.
She tried to forget her mother’s background but even though, she might now be Lady Burroughs, Baroness of Tintern, many remembered when she had been only the pretty daughter of a small town solicitor who had never had a London Season.
Lord Burroughs, before he had inherited his title and had been simple Mr. Barrow, third in line for the baronetcy, had met her at a local assembly in Middleton and been charmed by the blue eyes and golden hair which she had later passed on to Gwendolyn.
Shortly after their marriage, both his uncle and his cousin had died in a boating accident in Italy, and he had become the baron.
His ascension to the aristocracy had coincided with disillusionment in his wife’s inability to make her mark in Society and disappointment with her inability to produce a son and heir.
Lady Burroughs had dedicated her life to finding connections who would raise her status in Society, but after twenty years, her only hope remained in Gwendolyn’s ability to marry well.
*
Bonnie, oblivious to the undercurrents around the table, naively began an enthusiastic account of her first ball. “I have danced every single set with such delightful partners. My feet are hurting a bit, and it is a relief to be sitting down.”
The tables were elaborately set with large platters of ham, chicken, salad, fruit, jellies, and creams. Footmen filled crystal flutes with champagne and, for those less inclined to imbibe alcohol, there was pink lemonade.
Bonnie eyed the centerpiece with trepidation.
A large pig’s head stared proudly at the guests, a bright red apple in its mouth.
“I’ve never seen anything so peculiar. It’s rather an odd feeling being stared at by the food you’re about to eat. ”
Gwendolyn, Mariana and Grace giggled, but Mrs. Blythe said calmly, “Bonnie dear, we would be better able to appreciate such observations if you saved them for when we are at home.”
In spite of her objection to the presence of the pig’s head on the table, Bonnie did not refuse a slice of the delicious pork her father cut for her. Soon, all the guests were enjoying the abundant repast and sharing the latest on dits of the ton.