Olivia glanced between them and grinned.Did it work?she mouthed.
Smiling, Eleanor ducked her head in acknowledgment. Olivia had perhaps not the most experience in the world, but her tips had certainly worked. She had gotten under Sebastian’s skin enough that he contemplated her as a wife, and now they were here.
When they arrived at the ball, Sebastian handed both ladies down, and they entered the house on each other’s arms, giggling and laughing together. Sebastian accompanied them in, and they followed the footmen through to the ballroom.
Eleanor was, by now, accustomed to the gazes that followed her through the room, and she no longer wanted to hide. Instead, she smiled graciously at them all. Having Sebastian at her back, his fingers grazing her spine, was enough to make any woman feel as though she could conquer the world.
“Ah, Lord Greycliff!” Eleanor waved her fan at his now-familiar figure. “Please, join us.”
Luke turned and smiled, his grin broadening when he saw Olivia standing with them. “My friends,” he said as he approached. “What a delight to see you here tonight.”
Sebastian’s hold on Eleanor’s arm tightened, pulling her possessively into his side. “You say that as though you were unaware we would be attending. I wrote to inform you.”
“A delight,” Luke repeated firmly, and although Sebastian’s hand rested on her hip now, she caught the corner of Sebastian’s smile as he glanced away. Perhaps he could not quite close off his mind to his darker thoughts, but he still loved his friend.
The first dance was announced, and Sebastian held his arm out to Eleanor. “Wife.”
“Husband,” she offered, eyes twinkling as she accepted his arm and allowed him to lead them out amongst the other couples. Behind them, Luke asked Olivia to dance, and Eleanor reflected on the first time she had seen her friend, forced to dance with numerous gentlemen who made her feel either uncomfortable or bored.
Now, finally, both of them looked as though they might have their happy endings.
“Who would have thought we could have come here,” she said, looking up into Sebastian’s face.
He grinned. “Some might say it was inevitable.”
“Don’t say so. That implies it was inevitable that you would have been this way withanyoneyou were close with.”
He considered her for a moment, eyes turning somber. “I can say with certainty that this would not have been the case with almost any other lady.”
Eleanor glanced away, wondering whether he was thinking of Lady Lydia then.
His fingers touched her chin. “Eleanor?”
She forced a smile she didn’t feel. “Let’s not speak of things that never came to be.”
“Very well. What would you like to speak of?”
Eleanor hesitated, looking down at her hands, clasped in his. She disliked thinking of unpleasant things, but thinking of other ladies made her feel unsettled. Unsteady.
He had chosen her, but not for the right reasons.
She almost asked him if he regretted marrying her, and his failure in pushing her away, but forced the words back. Instead, she started a light conversation about the ball and the number of couples in attendance. They talked of idle matters until the very end of the dance, when he glanced behind her and froze. Confused, Eleanor looked from his face, suddenly blank, to that of Lady Lydia in the corner of the room. For an unmarried lady, her dress was remarkably daring: a red bolder than that of most, if it held just enough pink to keep it from being wholly improper. And a neckline that plunged almost daringly low.
And Sebastian looked at her as though he had never seen a woman before. Confused and transfixed, and… could he want her?
Surely not. Surely.
The thought was poison in her mind.
“Sebastian?” she asked, and his gaze snapped to her. The dance ended.
“Forgive me, my darling. I know you’re too generous to do anything, but excuse me.” He bowed over her hand, bringing it to his lips, and strode off through the crowd. To Lady Lydia’s side. Eleanor stood in the middle of the floor, alone, feeling as though she had been shunted abruptly aside by the man she thought cared for her.
Perhaps he merely wants to exchange pleasantries with her.
She had to believe it. If not, she risked her entire world crashing down around her.
Sebastian scowled down at Lady Lydia. Six years he’d gone without seeing her, now twice in the span of a week?
