Page 38 of The Best-Laid Plans

“I was pleased to see you at the Fancy Ball last evening,” she said. “I must confess myself deeply disappointed to not have the opportunity to dance with you.”

Newton would not be shamed into committing himself to a dance in the future. “I found myself engaged for every set,” he said. “The ladies, you will remember, far outnumbered the gentlemen. Such is too often the case, even though we are no longer in a time of active warfare.”

“I do hope should such a thing be once again true, you will reserve a dance for me.”

“‘Should such a thing happen again?’” he asked, feigning confusion. “A return to war? Heaven forbid.”

Her eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, as if she were attempting to sort him out. “No, of course not. I meant a ball at which the gentlemen are outnumbered.”

“Ah.” He nodded but made no commitment, what Artemis would have deemed “retreat.”

Lillian Napper, though, was not the sort to be distracted. “I saw that you found time to dance with my sweet younger sister. It has been nice to see her taken under wing by somebody. The poor thing has no experience in Society. We have resigned ourselves to knowing she has found her best home in being someone’s compassion project.”

If shaming him was a bad tactic, shaming Ellie was a far worse one.

“I am quite honored that your sister thinks me enough of a friend to spend time with me. Indeed, all of Bath has declared her a delightful addition to the Lancasters’ list of friends and close associates. Should I cross paths with your parents again, I will make certain to thank them for bringing her here.”

Lillian did not seem to miss the importance of his word choice and the slight turn in topic it constituted. “We would love to receive you at our house here in Bath,” she said. “We will be home tonight, in fact. We would be delighted to have you come. And Ellie will not be there, so you needn’t be worried that you will spend your evening advising the poor thing in how to go about in company.”

Retreat had failed. His shield had proven insufficient. There was but one tactic left.

“My parents are quite in demand amongst Society. I cannot remember the last time they had an evening without social obligations. Should they find themselves home tonight without plans, I will mention your invitation.” Goodness, he hated sounding so pompous and so pointedly dismissive. But returning fire was the only option remaining.

“I realize it is not considered gentlemanly to openly call on a lady when the connection between them is still in its early stages. As such, I suggested your parents calling so you could have an excuse to come.” She moved closer to him. “But I assure you, I am not so fragile as many young ladies. You needn’t wait on a pretense to call. I promise you will be received.”

He stepped backward as she approached but misjudged the location of the threshold and found his back brushing up against the wall. This could get awkward. “Pretense is not what is preventing me from calling on you, Miss Napper.”

Lillian had come quite close now, near enough that he could see the expression in her eyes better than he could a moment ago. She did not look coquettish; she looked nearly frantic.

“Perhaps,” he said, “I ought to simply leave my regrets and call later.”

“Do you not think it rude to leave me here, abandoned?” Her flirtatious tone was falling horribly short of the mark. “I’m certain Henson will be only a moment longer.”

“Whyareyou in here alone?”

“I came to see Ellie, but she is out.”

Newton shook his head. “She is whom I came to see. There really is no point remaining if she is gone.”

“No point?” She closed nearly all the distance between them. Standing uncomfortably close. Worryingly close. Scandalously close. “It seems almost like fate, don’t you think?”

“Fate doesn’t hate methatmuch.”

Anger flitted instantaneously across her face, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. “Ellie has no dowry.”

“Doyou?”

A quick flaring of the nostrils. A deep breath. “I do have something she doesn’t.”

“And what is that?” he asked calmly.

“This situation and the way it would appear to Society.” Gone were the flirting and demurity.

He’d been too subtle in his return fire. The time for kid gloves had passed. “Are you threatening me?” he asked in a low and intentional voice.

Again, she shrugged, but the gesture was no longer merely annoying. It was calculated.

“I think you overestimate the strength of your claim,” Newton said, “as well as my concern for your standing or mine.”

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