His chest tightened. Was he happy now? Was it better to know that their compatibility ran far deeper than a sensual longing to taste her lips?
He could not wait to see her again. That he could not court her did not signify. She would only be in London a short time longer, and Heath did not wish to miss a single opportunity to share her company. Now when he thought of Miss Winfield, all he could picture was—
A passing maid frowned to see Heath standing in the corridor.
“Pardon my impertinence, my lord.” She glanced at the closed study door, then back to Heath. “Are you waiting for the baron?”
An uneasy feeling turned in his gut. “I am.”
“I don’t mean to overstep, but Lord Grenville left not five minutes ago.”
Heath’s stomach soured. “You must be mistaken.”
“I was cleaning the windows when I saw the baron leave. The groom was waiting for him.” She hesitated before adding, “I’m sorry.”
Heath sucked in a fortifying breath. He did not need the family maids to feel sorry for him. He needed a father.
Once again, it seemed one could not always have what he needed.
He nodded to dismiss the maid and turned back toward his sister’s sitting room in humiliation.
The groom who had taken Heath’s reins at the front step had not been waiting on the heir to arrive for an appointment, but for his master to depart.
Either the baron had never bothered to read Heath’s notes requesting an audience, or Father did not care to dignify the requests with a response.
Heath held his head high, taking care to appear as stoic as ever. One day, things would change. He would simply have to become even more perfect in every way.
So perfect even his busy, important father could not fail to notice him.
Chapter 16
Nora was poised to enter a fancy Society ball for the second time in her life. The first time, she had been terrified of being singled out. This time, she was amused to watch from the background.
Lady Roundtree and her footmen were arguing with the hostess andherfootmen. Was it better to carry the baroness in her wheeled chair up the exterior steps and down the interior steps into the ballroom so that she could follow the same path as the rest of the announced guests?
Or would the far more logical and easier solution of simply wheeling her round the garden path and entering through the rear terrace door humiliate them all by circumventing established norms?
It was exactly the sort of ridiculoustonquandary that Nora could have sketched a dozen humorous caricatures about.
She shook her head as the estate’s head housekeeper joined the fray to suggest adding a special carpet from the garden through the terrace so that a wheeled entrance would have just as much importance and cachet as the traditional descent down the wide staircase.
Nora stopped listening.
London was not for her. When she went back home, she would find some other way. Be a night shift maid-of-all-work at the vicarage if she had to. She wouldn’t risk her sketches hurting someone she cared about again. Not when all she had ever wished to do with her art was bring other people joy.
With an aggravated sigh, Lady Roundtree sent a frustrated look over her shoulder at Nora. “What do you think, Miss Winfield?”
Nora wasn’t going to be formally announced one way or the other, and as a paid companion she didn’t imagine her opinion in the matter held sway. But the baroness had asked, so there was no choice but to answer.
She cleared her throat. “I believe a baroness of your importance and stature among a community of your peers would not require the artifice of a hastily added carpet. You shall impose a grand figure just by entering from as beautiful a backdrop as this garden.”
All the various maids, footmen, and others stared at her in a moment of shocked silence before turning their backs and talking over each other at once.
Nora clearly had not grasped the significance and delicacy of an invited guest entering a room containing other invited guests.
Lady Roundtree waved both gloved hands to shush everyone. “Miss Winfield is right. We are wasting unnecessary time. Wheel me through the garden.”
In surprise, Nora fell into step behind the footmen. Given the lengths everyone was willing to go to ensure each arrival at the ball received the gravitas it deserved, she was surprised that common sense had won out. That she had been listened to.
