Page 79 of Miss Prim and the Duke of Wylde
The waltz and the two that followed gave them some respite, then it was back to the jungle of overwhelming ton attention.
Denton caught up with them in the crowd. “Thought you’d like to know that Alison and her beau are here.” Denton pulled a face. “Along with Hubert, who apparently thinks he has to play gooseberry.”
“Where?” Meg asked.
Denton pointed toward one of the side walls, and Drago looked over the heads, then nodded. “I see them.” He arched a brow at Meg. “Shall we?”
“Yes, please. I’m keen to learn how they’re faring.”
When they came up with the other couple, who had thankfully managed to separate from Hubert, they discovered that the answer to Meg’s question was not as any of them had hoped.
Joshua grimaced. “We’ve still not managed to convince Hubert to drop his opposition to our match. I suppose I can understand why Alison’s parents wish us to have Hubert’s blessing as well as their own, but I have to wonder for how long he’s going to make us wait.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Alison declared, her expression showing more determination than Drago had previously seen in her. “We’re going to marry, and given it is the Season, there’s no reason we can’t be patient for a few more months. And as we areimmovablein our decision to wed, Hubert will eventually have to give way.”
Meg murmured encouragingly, and Drago smiled. “You’ll get there eventually. Hubert might be stubborn and set in his ways, but I’ve never heard him described as stupid.”
That got a grin from Joshua and a smile from Alison.
As they parted from the pair, a little farther along the side wall, Meg saw the archway to the corridor leading to the ladies’ withdrawing room. Sliding her arm from Drago’s, she tipped her head that way. “I won’t be long.”
He looked, then scanned the crowd ahead and pointed to an older couple. “Friends of my parents. I’ll wait for you with them.”
She nodded and slipped through the crowd and into the corridor.
The withdrawing room was large and well appointed. There was no queue, and mere minutes later, Meg stepped back into the passageway.
A shadow moved farther along the corridor, away from the archway through which the noise of the ball spilled. Meg squinted, then smiled as she recognized Denton. With a dip of her head, she turned and headed for the ballroom.
She stepped over the threshold and paused. Since she’d left, the crowd had shifted, and she could no longer see Drago or the couple he had gone to join.
“Meg.”
She looked in the other direction and saw Thomas sidle through the crowd. If anything, the crush had intensified.
He reached her and smiled. “You seem to have lost your fiancé.”
She smiled back and waved in the direction in which Drago should be. “He’s not far.” She tipped her head, studying Thomas. “Earlier, Drago and I were talking of the risk you, and George and Harry, too, are courting in coming here to help with our current situation.” She brightened her smile. “We truly are grateful.”
Still smiling easily, Thomas shrugged. “Just part of being friends.” He glanced around, then looked back at Meg. “I probably shouldn’t comment, but you’re looking a trifle flushed.” He tipped his head toward the end of the room, which wasn’t all that far away. “If you’d like to take a quick stroll on the terrace, I’d be happy to accompany you.”
Meg was, indeed, feeling flushed; in the overcrowded room, it was warm to the point of being one step removed from suffocating. But she knew Denton was lurking somewhere in the corridor at her back, and even if she couldn’t spot them in the crowd, others would very likely have their eyes on her. Smiling with genuine regret, she put her hand on Thomas’s arm. “While I would love to take you up on that offer, I fear that doing so will only result in mild apoplexies occurring elsewhere in the room before we’re hauled back inside and have a peal rung over our heads.”
Thomas blinked, then understanding dawned on his face. “Ah. I see.”
His gaze slid over her head to the archway, and he grimaced lightly, then looked down at her and smiled again. “Perhaps we’d better not risk it, then.”
The musicians started up, and gallantly, he offered his arm. “We could dance.”
She laughed and shook her head, but reached for his arm. “You can escort me to where Drago must be waiting.” She turned him in the right direction. “He should be somewhere over there.”
Thomas nodded and obligingly set himself to cleave a path through the crowd.
CHAPTER13
The following evening, Drago and Meg dined with their immediate families at Wylde House.
Thereafter, they piled into various carriages and set off for Harcourt House for the first of two events, attendance at which their mothers had decreed to be their necessary fate.
