He didn’t know—but he feared he might always wonder what would happen if they hadn’t held themselves back. Certainly, he wished to know right now.
“Your Grace, what are you doing here?”
Allan cursed under his breath, but at the same time, he was thankful that the voice belonged to a gentleman. He turned to see Seth standing slightly behind him, one eyebrow raised.
“And since when am IYour Graceto you?” he asked his friend.
“Since when do you hide in corners at balls?” Seth asked. “I don’t recognize my friend. Something is amiss here. Are you going to tell me what it is?”
“Nothing is amiss.”
“Well, surely you don’t think me foolish enough to believe that,” Seth said with a smirk. “I know you well enough to know that you would be out there enjoying yourself if that were the case. As it is, you look as if you’d rather be anywhere but here. Skulking in the corner like a thief—I’ve never seen anything like it from you. Who are you hiding from?”
“I’m not hiding from anyone,” Allan protested, feeling himself growing riled and irritated in spite of his best efforts. “And you don’t know everything about me, Seth, although you might like to tell yourself that you do.”
“Ah,” Seth said. “I see. You’re hiding from Lady Edwina.”
“I’m nothiding from Lady Edwina. What a foolish, nonsense statement. What possible reason would I have to hide from her?”
“I rather hoped you might tell me that,” Seth said. “It’s clear that something strange is happening. And I’ve been paying attention to you these past few days, Allan, and you haven’t spent any time at all in her company.”
“Well, I can think of no reason why I would,” Allan argued, feeling himself grow tense.
“What of your five dates?”
“Not every moment of my life is going to be given over to that, you know. I do have other things that I wish to do with my time.”
“I see,” Seth smirked. “So, you’re hiding from her because you don’t wish to see her?”
“I’m not hiding from her, I told you.” Allan’s irritation with his friend was mounting, and now, he wished that he hadn’t been spotted at all. He shouldn’t have come down for the ball—although, he supposed, he would have been conspicuous in his absence just as he was in his presence.
“If you’re not hiding from her, you may as well go and say good evening to her,” Seth suggested.
“What?”
Seth nodded toward the doorway.
Allan took a sharp breath in as he saw her. Lady Edwina was dressed in an ornate gown of pale blue embroidered with flowers and vines. Her auburn hair was curled on top of her head and pinned into an elaborate style that showed off her delicate face.
He had always thought her beautiful. Today, for the first time, he felt positively breathless at the sight of her.
Perhaps it was because of the kiss they hadn’t shared. He saw her now, and all he could think of was how it would feel to take her into his arms and finally get that kiss. He found that he longed for it. And there was every chance in the world that Lady Edwina would simply never speak to him again.
How could he have ever pretended to himself that he wasn’t hiding from her? Of course, that was what he was doing. Of course, she was the thing that plagued him. He had no idea how to manage himself in her presence now that this wall had been put up between the two of them.
He had been wrong to think that he could tolerate this. He ought to leave this party at once.
And then Lord Kentrow appeared before Lady Edwina.
Allan’s shoulders tensed.
He hadn’t spent a great deal of time thinking about Lord Kentrow since the day he had discovered the gentleman at Lady Edwina’s home, but seeing him now brought that memory back. First the visit to her at her home, and now this—it was clear that Lord Kentrow did have feelings for Lady Edwina.
And as he watched, he saw a flush come over Lady Edwina’s cheeks.
It was the same flush that had been there when the two of them had been on their own together. It was something he had beendaydreaming about since that moment. But seeing it now made him feel as though a monster had come to life within him. He felt full of rage that he didn’t know what to do with. His arms trembled, and he fisted his hands in his pockets to try to control it.
Seth looked from Lady Edwina to Allan and back. “Ah,” he said quietly. “Now I understand. She prefers him to you—is that it?”
