Page 16 of A Sinful Viscount's Mistletoe Affair
Sebastian had been standing on the sidelines for a few minutes after the first dance started when he realized several people were looking at him rather oddly. Then he noticed several young ladies standing near the dance floor, looking rather hopeful. He realized the problem: he was an eligible young man, and he was not dancing the opening dance at a ball when there was more than one young lady without a partner.
It was not the done thing, and he knew it. His mind had been filled with thoughts of Lord Evermere and Lady Isabella and how he could manipulate the situation to enable him to find out the truth. But in the midst of all that, he had quite forgotten what was expected of him.
He glanced around quickly, trying to decide what action to take.
A young lady was standing a little distance away, gazing wistfully towards the dance floor. She was moderately pretty, he supposed, with long dark hair falling down her back.
“Would you like an introduction, Ashcroft?” a voice said at his side.
He turned to see the Duke of Wexington standing next to him. They had been introduced briefly a little earlier in the evening, and Sebastian gave a slight bow in greeting.
“I would appreciate that very much, Your Grace,” he replied, knowing full well that he could not approach a young lady he did not know without an introduction, even in a ballroom.
And so, within a few minutes, he found himself taking the arm of Miss Felicity Harrow and leading her towards the dance floor. He hoped that this effort would help him blend in a little; the last thing he wanted to do was attract attention for the wrong reasons when he had so many plans for the house party. No, he must seem to be behaving completely normally and almost go unnoticed if he was going to use this opportunity to discover the secrets of his father’s past.
***
Felicity had felt a surge of gratitude when she had seen the young gentleman approaching her and welcomed the duke’s introduction, then accepted the offer of a dance with a mixture of relief and happiness. She hated being one of the only young ladies without a partner and was thankful to Lord Sebastian for rescuing her.
As she looked at him more closely, she realized how handsome he was and what a strong presence he had. His strong hands encircled her waist as they moved through the dance, and Felicity felt a strange sense of heat coursing through her body under his touch.
Their discussions between dances were not deep in any way, but Felicity was happy with small talk. She was happy to be shown any attention by this handsome man, and as they prepared for the next dance, she saw Isabella looking over at them. Her cousin was not smiling.
Felicity’s lips curved into a smile. Could Isabella be jealous? It made no sense when she herself was dancing with a duke. But then, of course, Isabella always wanted to be the centre of everyone’s attention, and Isabella usually got what she wanted. Felicity knew that her thoughts about her cousin were not charitable, and she would admit to herself quietly, in the privacy of her own chamber, that she was jealous of Isabella and her comfortable life.
But Lord Ashcroft had asked her to dance, not Isabella. And she was determined to enjoy every moment of it. Perhaps, at last, she had found her perfect match.
Chapter 7
An hour or so later, the ball was in full swing. Isabella and Daphne sat together in a corner, taking a break from dancing and chatting with the other guests.
Isabella took a welcome sip of her lemonade. “I am glad to have a rest, I must confess!”
Daphne smiled. “You have not been without a partner this last hour. I am not surprised that you are tired.”
Isabella let out a small sigh. It was true that she had danced the last few dances without a break, with various gentlemen, but the person she really wanted to dance with – Lord Ashcroft – had not approached her.
Now, as she looked up to see if she could see him, she groaned as she saw who was approaching. Felicity. She had not forgotten her cousin’s rather off-hand greeting to her when she arrived at the Evermere estate a few days ago, and since then, the cousins had not spent much time together. Isabella had not been able to fathom what exactly she had done to displease her cousin so much, but she assumed that perhaps Felicity was jealous.
Daphne looked up, too, and saw Felicity approaching. “Oh,” she said softly.
“How are you both getting on?” Felicity asked, smiling at them. Not for the first time that evening, Isabella observed that the smile she was on the receiving end of did not reach the giver’s eyes.
Daphne opened her mouth, clearly about to answer Felicity’s question, but before she could say anything, Felicity continued to talk.
“I had the most wonderful dance with Lord Ashcroft,” she said, and the smile on her face transformed into something more genuine as she said his name. “He is such an interesting gentleman with so much to say. And so handsome, too!”
Isabella felt a pang of envy as she looked at Felicity’s beaming face. She had been trying to convince herself that Lord Ashcroft had chosen to dance with Felicity out of pity rather than because he really liked her, but the way Felicity talked about him made her wonder.
“He told me about his most recent trip to Italy,” Felicity said, “and all the things he saw in Rome and Venice. Oh, how I wish I could see the world.”
Daphne shrugged. “You and Isabella have something in common there, then. I suppose all you can do is hope for husbands who will take you with them on their trips out into the world.”
Isabella glowered at Daphne. Surely she could not be suggesting that Felicity might have a hope of marrying Lord Ashcroft?
She knew she was being mean-spirited, but Felicity’s behaviour to her lately had been so strange, and she was finding it hard to control her jealousy.
“And I saw you dancing with the duke, Isabella,” Felicity went on, turning to face her cousin. “Did you enjoy yourself? Has he asked you to dance again?”
