Page 34 of A Maid's Fateful Courtship
Taking over the estate was not at the forefront of his mind. Only freeing Josephine from the shackles that had been placed upon her was. He did not blame his father, for he knew him only to be a generous man.
Yet, he could not deny that it annoyed him beyond reasoning that the woman he loved had been put so out of reach. That was his focus, and he had to change that situation, but how, he did not yet know.
Chapter 26
The main hall was ablaze with colourful garlands and filled with the frenzied chatter of the guests. As Ethan entered the room, he was met by his Aunt Geraldine. She immediately suggested that he oblige her by dancing with the very agreeable Lady Matilda. Being duty-bound, he approached the lady in question and requested two sets of dances with her.
“It so happens I have the next dance free,” she replied. Ethan suspected her dance card was most likely full, but perhaps she too was under pressure to dance with him.
“I had thought this soiree was to be a smaller affair,” she said in passing as they made their way around the dance floor.
“My sister always gets carried away with herself,” Ethan replied. He purposely kept his answers short as they parted ways, according to the dance steps required of them.
Lady Matilda moved quite freely in her high-waisted, Grecian-styled dancing dress. Ethan, though, was a little less comfortable in a long-tailed jacket, with a tall, stuffy collar that rubbed at his neck. By the end of the dance, he intimated that he was going outside to take in some air.
“May I accompany you?” Lady Matilda asked, causing Ethan to let slip a frown as his brows knitted together.
Quickly, he hid his feelings and returned a forced smile to the lady. He had hoped not to have been forced into small talk with her, but now he could not escape the inevitable. The lady was obviously attempting to be seen with him. But who was driving her? Was it his father or, he supposed, it could be his aunt?
“By all means,” he replied, holding out his arm for her to place her gloved hand upon it, and they strolled outside together for all to see. Ethan very much liked Lady Matilda, she was elegant and genteel, but he was struggling to find any spark between them.
“Have you tried the food yet?” Lady Matilda asked, making polite conversation.
“No, but I will gladly accompany you there if you wish?” he replied, not feeling the least bit hungry.
“I will eat later with my brother, no doubt,” she replied, saying no more.
“Do you like to ride?” Ethan asked her, hoping she would say no.
“Not really,” she replied with a little awkwardness. “Although I do enjoy a trip in the open carriage. My brother often takes us around the park.”
This was not something Ethan ever did; he would rather ride a horse than sit in an uncomfortable carriage. He smiled at her to acknowledge her remark and changed the topic of conversation.
“You are a fine, accomplished dancer, Lady Matilda. Shall we go inside and enjoy the next dance?”
She returned his smile and he led her back inside the noisy hall. Taking their places in the dance formation, they waited for the music to begin.
At the end of the dance, Ethan bowed to Lady Matilda before she left the dance floor, but he did not accompany her. Any more than two dances and the whole room would be buzzing with gossip. They would all assume there was matchmaking occurring for the marquess’s son. That was something he wished to avoid at all costs.
The last thing he wanted was to be forced to marry someone he had little or no interest in. As he left the dance floor, his thoughts quickly left Lady Matilda behind, only to be replaced with notions of Josephine.
He would play for time in choosing a wife, though he knew exactly who he wished to spend the rest of his life with. Alas, courtship with a woman not of noble birth would be deemed a scandal, but did he care about such things? That was something he needed to consider for the future.
For sure, he was certain that Lady Matilda was not for him. But he would be giving the same answer for every lady who was put to him as a prospective wife. With such thoughts spinning around in his head, he spent the next hour observing the party guests. There was not one lady amongst them that he favoured, or wished to dance with, and so he made his way into the card room.
“I see you have only danced with the Lady Matilda,” Anthony’s voice greeted him. “She is a charmer, is she not?”
“She is pleasant to the eye,” Ethan replied, not committing himself to any open discussion about her.
“Oh, come, brother, you have danced with no other, so I do believe that you are smitten,” Anthony pushed.
“I do not care for dancing, is more the truth of the matter,” Ethan explained, hoping that would be the end of it.
“Ahh… so you spend your only dance of the evening with the prettiest woman in the room, eh?”
“You make too many presumptions, brother,” Ethan snapped, as Anthony’s remarks were starting to annoy him.
Anthony raised his arms in defence. “Say no more,” he declared.
