“I suppose the real question is whetheryouhad a good time,” Arthur said.
“It seems apparent that Isabella enjoyed herself,” Aunt Olivia pointed out with a smile. “You made a lot of friends tonight, didn’t you, dear? I saw how everyone wanted a turn to dance with you.”
Hadthatbeen a pointed comment? “I thought it would be all right,” Isabella said. “It was a ball, after all.”
“Oh, you thought right!” Aunt Olivia assured her. “That’s what balls are for, after all—dancing! And I’m glad you made the most of it.” She looked at Arthur. “I noticed that you didn’t seem to want to dance tonight.”
“I don’t enjoy dancing,” Arthur said. “You two are the ones who wanted to go to this ball, not me, and I allowed it. But you can’t be upset now because I didn’t want to spend my time dancing. You were both able to do plenty of it.” He focused his gaze on Isabella. “How many gentlemen did you dance with?”
“Six.” She kept her tone even—she wasn’t going to allow him to make her feel bad about this. “That’s how many asked me, and I wanted to dance.”
“Well, then, youdidenjoy yourself.” He blew out a breath.
She couldn’t resist. “Did you think I wasn’t going to dance with anyone?”
“You made it sound as if you wanted to attend the ball toseeit and maybe to see your sister.”
“And so you thought what, that I would just stand by the wall and wait until it was time to go? Watch it like it was a play or something but not be a part of it?” She shook her head. “And themoment we arrived, you took off to speak to your friend! You left me on my own!”
Aunt Olivia frowned. “Did you really do that, Arthur?” she asked. “I must say, when I told the two of you to go in ahead of me so that I could speak to Lady Everly in the garden, I never dreamed that you would abandon Isabella in that way.”
“I didn’t abandon her,” Arthur said. “I left her in the company of her sister. And I meant to come right back. We agreed that I would be right back, didn’t we, Isabella?”
“I didn’t agree to anything,” Isabella said. “Youtoldme to wait where I was, and then you walked away. I had no say in the matter.”
“Well, even so, you could have waited.”
“I didn’t want to!” Isabella said. “I came to the ball to have a good time and to dance, and you refused to dance with me.”
“I didn’trefuse.”
“You didn’t ask me to dance. Were you going to? Was it just that first dance you were sitting out, and perhaps you meant to ask me later?” She shook her head. “Don’t even bother saying anything. I know the answer to that question. I know because you just told us yourself, didn’t you? You said that you didn’t have any interest in dancing. In fact, you acted as though anyone who might have guessed or hoped otherwise was a fool.”
“I never pretended to be someone who would take an interest in dancing,” Arthur said.
“No, but I thought you might have an interest in my happiness,” Isabella replied. “I thought it might matter to you that I wanted to dance. But you never cared about that, did you? You only care about what you want. That’s all you’veevercared about.”
“I don’t see how you can say that after I took you out tonight in direct contradiction to what I would have preferred,” Arthur argued.
“If your concern in doing so was truly to make me happy, you wouldn’t have walked away from me as soon as we arrived,” Isabella said. “You wouldn’t be scolding me now for having enjoyed myself. You would have wanted to make sure I had a good time, and you wouldn’t have dreamed of letting me find out if you weren’t enjoying yourself. You would have found it much more important to ensure that the evening was what I wanted it to be! But of course, you didn’t do that. I don’t know why I ever believed you would. That’s never been the sort of man you are—putting someone else’s needs before your own.”
“How dare you speak to me like this?” Arthur asked.
Isabella laughed bitterly. “What are you going to do to me?” she asked. “Ignore me even more than you already do? Leave me even further out of your life? Isolate me further than I already am? I’m not frightened of you, Arthur. There isn’t anything left that you can do to make my life any worse. I know you’re not a violent man. You would never harm anyone physically. Andother than that, there isn’t anything you can make me suffer that you haven’t already.”
Arthur was quiet for a long time.
Aunt Olivia looked from one of them to the other, as if stunned at what she had seen.
Then Arthur spoke. “You humiliated me tonight,” he said. “Everyone expected to see the duke and his new duchess, and instead, they saw a lady dancing with everyonebuther husband. There will be talk.”
“That isn’t my fault,” Isabella argued. “I would have loved to dance with you, Arthur. I would have been overjoyed. But you didn’t ask me. And I can’t spend the rest of my life mourning the things you’re not willing to give me.”
“I see,” Arthur said. “Well, perhaps from now on, there ought to be no more balls for you.”
Isabella stared at him. “You can’t mean that.”
“I thought there was nothing I could do to you to make your life any worse,” he said, raising his eyebrows.
