Page 17 of As the Earl Likes
“Noted, and you could, but I likely wouldn’t respond. No one has ever called me that. I have been Shefford or Sheff since the nursery.” He offered her his arm and led her from the dance floor. “Though perhaps you calling me by my given name would be a charming endearment that would captivate Society.”
Taking her hand from his arm, she lifted a shoulder. “I’ll consider it. I’m not sure you can be anything but Sheff to me.”
“Have a pleasant remainder of your evening,” he said.
“Don’t forget to behave. I’m for the ladies’ library and whisky.” Jo took herself off and went in search of her friend Tamsin Deverell, Lady Droxford, with whom she’d come to the club tonight. Tamsin was now a member in her own right. It was one of the few perks of being married, Jo supposed.
Jo found Tamsin seated against the wall on the ladies’ side of the ballroom with another of their friends, Ellis Dangerfield. “Ellis, you aren’t dancing?”
“No,” Ellis replied. At twenty-five, she was a few months younger than Jo and apparently just as content to be unwed. “They don’t match spinsters.”
“I was matched,” Jo said. “Twice. With Mr. Edwin Cleveland and Sheff.”
“You had to dance with my brother?” Lady Minerva, or Min, as they all called her, came up behind Jo as Ellis and Tamsin stood.
“A waltz,” Jo replied. She had to stop herself before making a sarcastic comment. It wouldn’t make sense for her to poke fun at Sheff if they were supposedly falling in love. A wave of agitation rolled through her. How was she going to lie to her friends? She’d only just made them recently. She’d never had close girlfriends before. And she liked having them. An unsettling feeling settled into her belly.
“Have you ever waltzed before?” Tamsin asked in her lilting Cornish accent, her naturally round blue-green eyes fixed on Jo.
“No. I did catch on fairly quickly, much to my surprise.”
“Don’t tell Gwen, not that she is here tonight. I am not sure when she and Somerton will venture forth from their newly wedded cocoon of rapture.” Min made a face, then laughed. “You know I am delighted for them.”
“We all are, but we can still poke fun at their bliss,” Jo replied.
“I will not,” Tamsin said primly.
“Only because you are in the throes of the same,” Ellis said with a hint of a smile. “And it’s lovely. We only speak in jest.”
Tamsin nodded. “I know. Also, because Somerton is my cousin, and I am thrilled to see him so happy and in love. Our grandmother is overjoyed to see him settled at last.” She looked to Min. “How was your dance with Mr. Wilton?”
Min made a sound of disgust in her throat. “He kept talking about how surprised he was that Gwen and Somerton are wed. Then he tried to insinuate that there was a reason they had to marry. I informed him that it was simply Cupid at work. Then I stepped on his foot.”
They all tittered. Jo wondered why she hadn’t noticed Min on the dance floor. Probably because she’d been too focused on learning the dance. Or she’d been too fixated on her partner.
“This matchmaking scheme for dancing is rather clumsy, isn’t it?” Tamsin asked. “They seem to be having trouble finding people, and the matches seem almost haphazard.”
Jo nodded in agreement. She was somewhat surprised she’d been paired with Sheff. But he’d likely arranged it.
“I don’t think I can manage another dance,” Min said with a shudder.
“Then let’s not,” Jo suggested. With a nod toward the door, she led them from the ballroom into an antechamber. “I understand we can drink the same liquor they serve on the men’s side upstairs. And I heard there is a new whisky that arrived today. Who wants to join me?”
“I do,” the other three said in near unison.
Ellis and Tamsin started toward the stairs, and Jo and Min followed.
“I’m sorry you had to dance with Sheff,” Min said. “Was he a terrible flirt?”
“He was his usual self, which I find amusing. Generally.” Damn, that did not sound like a woman who’d begun to see someone in a different light, namely a romantic one. “I actually enjoyed the waltz…immensely.” Jo added the last part to aid her cause. “Because of Sheff, which I suppose is surprising.” That much was true. He had taught her rather effortlessly, and she had enjoyed it, even if “immensely” was a slight exaggeration.
Min looked at her askance. “I was expecting a sardonic response.”
Jo shrugged. “Your brother displayed excellent behavior. Perhaps I am merely trying to honor that.” She winced inwardly. None of this sounded believable.
Too late, Jo realized she should not have made that comment earlier about poking fun at wedded bliss. Not if she was to about to become one of their number. Supposedly. Blast, this was harder than she’d anticipated. Min’s skeptical stare as they reached the first floor didn’t help Jo’s confidence that she’d be able to convince anyone that she was in love with one of England’s most notorious rogues.
Rogues!
