The two sisters linked arms and set off around the perimeter of the ballroom. Almost at once, they were stopped by two gentlemen.
“Miss Felicity,” one of them said, beaming.
“Baron Rollings,” Felicity responded. “How good to see you again. This is my sister, the Duchess of Windhill.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Your Grace,” the Baron said. “I had heard that Miss Felicity’s sister was recently married to the Duke. And this is my friend, Lord Hussington.”
“Lovely to meet you both,” Lord Hussington said.
Felicity turned to Isabella. “Lord Rollings and I have seen each other socially a few times,” she explained with a smile.
Isabella knew her sister well enough to read the expression on her face. She understood that there was nothing serious between Felicity and Lord Rollings and that Felicity didn’t want there to be. She could also see that things were perfectly genial between the two of them. It seemed to her that no spark of romance hadignited but that they found one another to be pleasant company all the same.
That suspicion was confirmed when Lord Rollings said, “Would you have time to join me in a dance tonight, Miss Felicity? Or is your dance card already full?”
“Oh, I have time,” Felicity said. “I’ve only promised a dance to one gentleman so far.”
“Only one? I find that difficult to believe—unless you’re holding out on them?”
“Oh, the night is young,” Felicity said with a laugh. “Isabella, do you mind?”
“Not at all,” Isabella assured her. “I’ll happily wait for you right here.”
“Or, if you’d like, Your Grace, I would love a dance,” Lord Hussington suggested. “Seeing as neither of us has a partner right now. But only if you’re interested, of course, and only if your husband doesn’t mind—I wouldn’t want to upset the Duke.”
“Oh, no, he doesn’t mind,” Isabella said though, of course, she hadn’t asked him. But if he minded her dancing with another gentleman, thenheshould have asked her to dance.
She allowed Lord Hussington to lead her out onto the dance floor, and the two of them began the steps. It was an easy dance, one she had done many times before, and it was nothing for her to lose herself in the rhythm of it—to forget that these weren’t the arms she wanted.
At least she was here. At least she had been allowed to come out tonight, and regardless of anything else, she was going to spend this evening dancing and enjoying herself. She was going to come home with pleasant memories that she would be able to relive. And as long as she didn’t do anything to make Arthur regret bringing her out tonight, there would be more balls. There was no reason to think that this would be the last one he would allow her to attend.
So as the dance progressed, she smiled up at Lord Hussington. The night was not a loss. She was still enjoying herself, still glad to be here, and she meant to make the most of it even if it wasn’t everything she hoped—just like she did with everything in her life.
CHAPTER 22
“Ican’t believe you didn’t ask her to dance,” Taylor reprimanded Arthur as the two of them walked away. “It couldn’t have been any more obvious that she was hoping to dance with you. Are you telling me you couldn’t see that?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Arthur said.
“It doesn’tmatter? She’s your wife, Arthur. How can it not matter? Are you telling me you have so little regard for what makes her happy?”
“I brought her here, didn’t I?” Arthur asked.
“I suppose you did that much,” Taylor agreed. “But why bring her at all if you weren’t going to show her a good time? You and I don’t have any business to discuss.”
“Of course, we do. We always have business to discuss. I want to know whether you’ve learned anything more about what happened between my father and Lady Reeves.”
“Well, I haven’t,” Taylor said. “And even if I had, it’s been years since his death, Arthur. Even if I had new information for you, it wouldn’t be the sort of thing you would need to hear about tonight.” He shook his head. “I really thought you were going to change once you got married, but you’re the same as you’ve always been—just as fixated on this thing that happened in the past.”
“But you did think I had changed?” Arthur pressed.
“Well, yes, I did,” Taylor admitted. “When you came to the ball with your wife, I thought—finally he has learned to give his attention to something other than this vendetta. Finally, he’s going to relax and have a good time. And I was happy for you, Arthur. I was eager to see you embrace this new chapter in your life. I believed you were going to be able to do it.”
“That’s good,” Arthur said.
“What difference does it make if it isn’t true?”
“It matters because if you saw things that way—my best friend—it means that the people involved with my parents’ murder might believe it as well. And if they do, that means that their guard will be lowered. It will be easier for me to catch them.”
