Page 10 of The Duke of Kisses
The music hadn’t stopped, and the other squares had gone back to dancing. The other two couples waited, including the woman Fanny’s clumsiness had sent sprawling. “I do apologize,” Fanny said to her.
She was a bit pale and appeared put out to say the least. Her partner, however, leapt to Fanny’s cause. “Accidents happen. You’ve given us quite a story to tell this evening.” He laughed good-naturedly, and soon, everyone was laughing.
Still, Fanny wanted to melt into the floor until the ball was over, then creep back to her sister’s house—the one far away in the country,notthe one in London—and never return. Affixing a smile to her lips, she resumed her position in the square, and they did their best to start up again.
Unfortunately it just wasn’t to be, and it wasn’t entirely Fanny’s fault. She moved hesitantly, waiting to follow what the others did. But no one did anything save Anthony. As he danced to the center by himself, the rest of them burst into laughter.
Perhaps this would make a good tale after all.
At last the music ended, and they parted ways with the other pair of couples. Anthony escorted her back toward the corner. “I must thank you for a most memorable evening, particularly for St. Ives. What do you think of London now?” he asked David with a chuckle.
“This was not a good example of London,” Fanny said, throwing him a frown.
“I think,” David said, “that if you’d allowedmeto dance with Miss Snowden, you’d have been the one sprawled on the dance floor.” His tone was droll, and Anthony laughed again.
“So I would have. I’ll owe you one. Now, we must return to the club. Hopefully, we haven’t missed the spectacle.”
“What spectacle?” Sarah looked at her brother in suspicion.
“It’s nothing to do with me,” he said to Sarah before bowing to Fanny. “Until next time, Miss Snowden.”
“I don’t think there will be a next time. I may put my dancing slippers away for good.”
Sarah patted her arm. “You’ve said that before. You’ll feel better tomorrow.” She smiled prettily toward David. “It was lovely to meet you, my lord. I do hope we’ll see you again soon.”
“The pleasure was entirely mine.” He bowed to Sarah and then to Fanny, his gaze lingering on her as he rose back to his full height.
Fanny could scarcely believe he was real. She’d begun to wonder if he’d been a dream. She’d looked for him for weeks before coming to London, never imagining she’d find him here. As a bloody earl.
The gentlemen took their leave, and Sarah immediately sidled closer as they watched them depart. “Oh, he is very handsome, even if he’s not much of a dancer. He barely knew the steps, did you see? His gaze was completely fixed on what Anthony was doing. I daresay that disaster wasn’t entirely your fault.” Sarah patted the curls near her face. “Veryhandsome. And an earl to boot.”
“Yes, anearl,” Fanny said, irritated that she hadn’t been able to ask why he’d lied to her. She watched him move through the crowd, his dark head visible above most.
She’d been about to tell Sarah that he was David, the mystery kissing steward Fanny had told her all about, but the revelation crumbled to ash in her mouth. Why tell her new, very dear friend that the man she found attractive was the man Fanny had kissed and fantasized about these past four months?
Sarah was lovely and charming, the daughter of a viscount, and in search of a husband. It was also her fourth Season, and she was far more in need of one than Fanny. In fact, Fanny didn’tneedone at all. She had no parents prodding her to wed. Oh, her parents had tried prodding her in that direction until her sister Ivy had rescued her from her dull life in Yorkshire and laid a new future before her. That future included a home with Ivy and her family as long as Fanny wanted it.
Did that mean she would so easily relinquish the man she’d dreamt about?
He and Anthony disappeared from the ballroom, and the surroundings suddenly seemed dimmer.
“What are you thinking?” Sarah asked. “You watched my brother the entire time he made his way through the ballroom.”
“Not your brother,” Fanny said softly, apparently abandoning her earlier intent to keep David’s identity secret. “I was staring at David.”
“David?” Sarah sounded perplexed.
Fanny turned her head to look at her friend. “David.”
Sarah’s eyes rounded as realization struck. “David!” Her jaw dropped, and she looked back toward where they’d exited the ballroom. “You never said he was an earl.”
“I didn’t know until tonight.” Not being able to query him about it was driving her mad.
“Your mystery steward just became more mysterious,” Sarah said.
Indeed he had. And she had every intention of solving the puzzle.
