Page 103 of Emerald Green (The Ruby Red Trilogy 3)

I nodded.

“Excuse me,” said Gideon, with a little bow, and he pushed James gently aside. “I think there’s some mistake here.”

“You may well say so!” Shaking his head, James turned back to Miss Plum Jam, while Gideon took my hand and led me, not at all gently, into the next figure of the dance.

“Are you crazy?” he asked. “What was all that about?”

“I met an old friend, that’s all.” I turned once more to look at James. Had he taken me seriously? Probably not. He was still shaking his head.

“You really are hell-bent on attracting attention, aren’t you?” said Gideon in a furious whisper. “Why can’t you do as you’re told for three hours, just for a change?”

“What a stupid question! Because I’m a woman and totally unacquainted with reason, of course. Anyway, you were the first to step out of line in the dance with Lady Oops My Bosom Is Falling Right Out of My Dress.”

“Yes, but only because she—oh, stop it!”

“Stop it, yourself!” We glared angrily at each other as the final note on the violins died away. At last! That must have been the longest minuet in the world ever. I sank into my curtsey, relieved, and turned to walk away before Gideon could offer me his hand again (or rather, grab my own roughly). I was annoyed with myself for not thinking over what to say to James better—it seemed rather unlikely that he would turn up to meet me in the park. I’d have to talk to him again, and this time I’d tell him the whole truth.

But where was he? Those silly white wigs made all the men look alike. The lines of dancers had wound their zigzag way right through the huge ballroom, and now we had reached the other side of it. I craned my neck to see above the crowd, trying to get a sense of direction. Just as I thought I’d caught a glimpse of James’s red velvet coat, Gideon took me by the elbow.

“This way,” he said briefly.

I’d had about enough of his tone of command! But there was no need for me to shake him off this time. Lady Lavinia did it for me, coming between us in a cloud of lily-of-the-valley perfume.

“You promised me another dance!” she said, pouting, and at the same time, her smile conjured up cute little dimples in her cheeks.

Behind her, Lord Brompton was making his way toward us, breathing heavily. “There, that’s enough dancing for this season,” he announced. “I’m getting too fa—too old for that pleasure. Speaking of pleasure, did anyone else see my wife with that dashing rear admiral, the one said to have lost an arm in battle recently? Not a word of truth in it! I clearly saw him taking her in two arms.” He laughed, and his many chins wobbled alarmingly.

The orchestra began playing again, and rows of dancers were forming. “Oh, please! Surely you won’t refuse me,” said Lady Lavinia, clinging to the lapels of Gideon’s coat and looking appealingly up at him. “Just this one dance.”

“I have already promised to find my sister something to drink,” said Gideon, casting me a dark look. Well, of course he was cross to be kept from flirting with Lady Lavinia. “And the count is expecting our company over there.” The count had now left his place on the balcony, but not to sit down and rest. His eagle eyes were bent on us, and he looked as if he could hear every word we said.

“It would be an honor for me to find your lovely sister a drink,” said Lord Brompton, winking at me. “You’d be leaving her in the very best of hands.”

“There, you see!” Lady Lavinia drew Gideon away, laughing, and moved onto the dance floor.

“I’ll be right back,” he assured me, over his shoulder.

“Don’t hurry,” I muttered.

Lord Brompton and his rolls of fat started moving. “I know a good place to sit,” he said, beckoning me on. “They call it the old maids’ corner, but we won’t let that bother us. We’ll shock the old maids into going away by telling improper stories!” He led me up a few steps to a small gallery where there was a sofa. From up there, you had a good view of the whole ballroom, and sure enough, the sofa was already occupied by two ladies who were not as young as they had been, and probably not as pretty. But they happily adjusted their skirts to make room for me.

Lord Brompton rubbed his hands. “Comfortable, don’t you think? I’ll be back in a minute with the count and something to drink. I’ll make haste!” And he really did, pushing his huge body through the sea of velvet, silk, and brocade like a galumphing hippopotamus. I took advantage of being above the crowd to look out for James, but I couldn’t see him anywhere. However, I did spot Lady Lavinia and Gideon dancing, quite close, and I felt a pang to see how well they harmonized. Even the color of their clothes matched, as if Madame Rossini had chosen them herself. And whenever their hands touched, electric sparks seemed to fly between them. I felt as if I could hear Lady Lavinia’s musical chime of laughter all the way from where I was sitting.

The two old maids beside me sighed wistfully. I abruptly got to my feet. I really didn’t have to put up with this. Wasn’t that James’s red coat just disappearing through one of the doorways? I decided to follow him. After all, this was his home and also my school, so I’d soon find him. And then I would try to straighten out the Hector business.

As I left the ballroom, I glanced at Lord Alastair, who was still standing in the same place and never took his eyes off the count. His ghostly friend was shaking his sword with a murderous light in his eyes, and he would certainly be croaking words full of hatred. None of them noticed me. But my disappearance did seem to register with Gideon. There was another disturbance in the line of dancers.

o;You don’t say.” I danced past him, tilting my head slightly to one side so as not to lose sight of him. “All I knew about Haydn until now was that he liked torturing children.” At least, he’d tortured me as a child when Charlotte used to practice her piano sonatas with the same grim determination that she was now putting into searching for the chronograph.

But I couldn’t explain that to Gideon further, because by now we had danced out of a figure of four into a large circle, and I had to concentrate on going around to the right.

Just how it happened I didn’t know, but all of a sudden, I was really enjoying myself. The candles cast a beautiful light on the magnificent ball dresses, the music no longer sounded boring and dry as dust but exactly right, and the dancers in front of me, behind me, and beside me were laughing happily. Even the wigs didn’t look quite so silly, and for a moment, I felt light as air and free. When the circle broke up, I danced toward Gideon as if I’d never done anything else in my life, and he was looking at me as if we were suddenly alone in the ballroom.

In my curious mood of elation I couldn’t help smiling at him radiantly, never mind Giordano’s stern warning never to show my teeth in the eighteenth century. For some reason or other, my smile seemed to be making Gideon struggle to stay calm and composed. He took my outstretched hand, but instead of just placing his fingers lightly under mine, he took them and held them hard.

“Gwyneth, I’m not going to let anyone—”

But I never found out what he wasn’t going to let anyone do, because at that moment Lady Lavinia reached for his hand, placing mine in the hand of her own dancing partner, and saying with a smile, “Let’s change partners for a little while, all right?”

---