Page 56 of A Dreamy Match Made in Heaven
She searched the room until her eyes found him. It was not the best of decisions and she knew it. It would only hurt her to see him. But alas, she could not look away. He was there and she would need to gaze upon him for just the briefest of moments to lament.
But it was not long before she caught him with her eyes as he shifted his attentions to a beautiful young woman who brought a great smile to his face. They soon joined one another on the dance floor and began a beautiful waltz.
Sophia recalled having danced a waltz with him on more than one occasion. It had always been a happy time. It had always felt right to be in his arms and to know that he longed to have her there.
But alas, this evening was not of that time. And as she watched him dance with another, Sophia tried to hold herself together, steady and brave, determined that she should not show the emotions that beckoned within her.
Thomas looked happy. He appeared to have the look on his face that she would always have wished him to have for her. And although she was sad, Sophia was grateful that he had found someone who appeared to make him happy. She was glad to know that he was falling in love.
A bittersweet moment of pain for herself and happiness for the man she loved was a plague upon Sophia’s thoughts.
“Oh, he has spotted me. See? He is coming over,” Adrianna remarked as Officer Kingsley began crossing the room to speak with her.
Before long, they, too, joined the other dancers and Sophia stood where she was, wondering when her time might finally come.
Chapter 22
Thomas was anxious at having arrived so late to the ball, but his friend had been in quite a tizzy for the two of them to show up at the perfect moment and in the perfect way.
Officer Kingsley had insisted that they could not arrive too early, but once the time came for them to depart from the inn, he had realised that one of his buttons had popped off. It required finding a sewing kit, which the inn had. But they were out of the white thread that was needed.
Rushing about to discover a seamstress at the last moment had been stressful enough and had caused them to be even later than previously anticipated. But in the end, they managed to arrive at the ball and Thomas was more than ready to get there.
It had been a strange few days, to be sure. He had written back and forth with Lady Cranford a couple of times and they agreed to a dance with one another at the ball.
It was simply the early stages, before any formal courtship had been declared between them, but Thomas found that he was enjoying getting to know her. He wondered if she was enjoying it as much as he or if she really even liked him all that much.
And if Miss Wainwright thought they were such a good match, was he not meant to press forward and learn that for himself?
Once they had arrived at the ball, Thomas had intended to mingle with the gentlemen for a while or in mixed groups where he might find a few other women to dance with now and then to prevent any impropriety.
As he could not dance more than three times with Lady Cranford, he would need other ladies to fill in his time between.
And he knew that he would have to avoid Sophia at all costs if she was, indeed, present. He had made her that promise in his letter. He had given her a guarantee that he would not bother her and Thomas intended to keep that. He intended to do his very best to honour her.
Difficult though it would be if he saw her, it was for the best.
However, all of his plans had fallen apart rather immediately when Lady Cranford made her way to stand quite near him the moment he entered the room. He tried to pretend that he did not notice how intentional her action was and gave her the dignity of it appearing to be accidental.
And yet Thomas was very glad to see her as well. She looked riveting and he could not deny that her beauty was beyond what he had seen from her even thus far.
“Lady Cranford, what a delight it is to see you again,” he greeted, with a bow.
“And you as well, Officer Gregory. Have you been here long?” she asked.
“I have only just arrived. I fear that we are rather tardy and I know that Miss Wainwright is not fond of such things,” he laughed.
“No, indeed. But she has not yet made herself known,” Lady Cranford whispered in a conspiratorial way, enjoying the mystery that the strange woman always seemed to try and create.
“Well then, either she is watching from a secret place and shaking her head in disapproval at my bad manners, or she has no idea at all,” he replied.
“That is certainly true. But it is very nice to see you. I do hope that you shall have a splendid evening,” she said, as if waiting for him to suggest something.
Thomas was no fool and he understood exactly what it was that Lady Cranford wanted from him.
“Might you have a space on your dance card for the next?” he asked.
She smiled in a satisfied way.
