Blessing shrugged and gave her an evil grin. “One never knows.”
“I shall fetch the refreshments.” Matthew hurried away, chuckling and shaking his head.
“He would make you a fine husband,” Blessing said while watching the viscount weave his way through the crowd.
“We are friends,” Fortuity said, wishing her sister would stop. “Nothing more. The only reason we danced together twice was to avoid Lord Smellington and those three he currently has cornered.”
“Friendship is a fine foundation for marriage.”
“Has your condition of pending motherhood rendered you deaf?” Fortuity scowled at her sister. “Viscount Matthew Ravenglass is a friend to all of us, I might add. That is all. Besides, did Thorne not tell us the man swore off marriage years ago? Something about the woman he loved tossing him aside to marry a duke?”
“You could heal him. You would never betray the man you loved.”
“Who says I love him?”
Blessing took a step closer, and her demeanor shifted. She was no longer acting sly or teasing. “I know you, Tutie. I have seen the way you look at him.”
“Then you also know how much it would hurt me to lose his friendship because you pressured him into something he would never wish.” Fortuity bowed her head, fighting for composure. “Please, Essie. Leave it alone. For me?”
“But—”
“Please, Essie,” Fortuity forced through gritted teeth. “Stop. I write romantic stories with happy endings. I do not experience them firsthand because I am…me.”
Chapter Two
As Matthew madehis way to the refreshments, he caught sight of his younger cousin and came up short. Eleanor was standing entirely too close to the Earl of Fetterill, themarriedLord Fetterill, a man known to be on the hunt for a new mistress.
He scanned the ballroom for Eleanor’s mother, dreading what he knew he would have to do if she was still cowering in the ladies’ retiring room. Her thankless daughter’s removal from possible ruin would fall to him. A most undesirable situation, since Eleanor would just as happily trap him in a marriage of convenience as she would any other eligible male of the peerage.
“Anything I can do to help, old man?” His closest friend and Blessing’s husband, Baron Thorne Knightwood stepped into his path. “Even with your mask on, you’ve a face like thunder.” Knightwood followed his line of sight. “Ah… Never mind. I should have known it had something to do withher.”
“No good deed goes unpunished. I should have rescued Agnus on the condition that Eleanor stay in India and marry the man her father’s family chose for her.”
“I very much doubt Mrs. Sykesbury would have agreed to that. She appears most devoted to her daughter and quite blind to her behavior.” Knightwood shifted in place, scanning the large room with a sweeping gaze. “I do not see her, though. Shall I interrupt your cousin’s conversation for you?” He tipped his head in her direction. “You have rescued me once or twice, as I recall. Time to return the favor?”
While tempted, Matthew decided against it. “No. I would not do that to you and your wife—who, by the way, is famished and champing at the bit for them to announce supper. The last thing you need is the hungry woman carrying your child to be enraged with jealousy.”
Knightwood’s demeanor immediately shifted to one of concern. Even behind his purple satin mask, his expression shouted regret. “Old Atterley loves to hear himself talk. Our meeting lasted longer than I expected.”
“I am sure if you take Blessing a plate of those Naples biscuits along with some lemonade, she will forgive you.” Matthew kept his focus locked on his cousin, willing her to step back and put more distance between herself and the lecherous lord. The reckless, dark-haired wanton in her glittering mask that matched the silvery sheen of her satin gown glanced his way and smiled.
“You do realize she knows what she is doing?” Knightwood asked as he filled a plate with an enormous pile of biscuits, then accepted a goblet of lemonade from a servant.
“Making me look the fool?”
“No. She thinks she is stirring your jealousy.”
“She should know better than that by now.” Matthew lowered his voice even more. “I want her married and out of my home as soon as possible.”
Knightwood brightened. “To make room for a wife, I hope? A particular Broadmere sister, even? One with whom you danced this evening not once, but twice, according to the whisperings I heard while plowing through the guests?”
“You are as insufferable as your wife.”
Knightwood bowed. “Thank you.” Dodging a rather portly fellow headed for the refreshments, he nodded in the direction from which Matthew had just come. “I best get these to Essie. And know this, old friend—she is very protective of Fortuity andthinks the two of you are a perfect match. I know how you feel about marriage after… Well, after. So, consider yourself warned. If Essie has you in her sights for her sister, the issue will not go away easily.”
Matthew stepped aside while extending an arm to open a path for his old friend. “Best get those to the lady. A hungry woman is not a happy woman.” His past was a closed subject even though it had cemented his future. He would not discuss it, not even with Knightwood.
Before heading off to join his famished wife, Knightwood nodded his understanding of the unspoken request. As he disappeared into the crowd, Eleanor appeared at Matthew’s side.
