They made a handsome pair, too, whirling around in the waltz with as much elegance as any lord or lady in Mayfair.
“Well, at least they are enjoying themselves.”
He turned towards Beatrice, expecting to see her amused smile.But, instead, she had a little frown and a furrow between her brows.
“You do not need to worry about Charles,” he said, thinking she might be concerned about the man taking a liberty.“He is a good-hearted lad.I’d trust him with anything.”
She shook her head.“Iamworried about Charles.Just not in the manner you mean.”
The music had slowed, and Charles had caught sight of them.He gestured to the boy.
He had a large smile across his face.In a very gentlemanly fashion, he escorted Sally through the throngs, protecting her from the flailing limbs of the other revelers.
For the first time, Leith noticed that this Sally was a very pretty girl indeed.
“Apologies, my lord.Miss Sally only wanted to dance.”
“Vauxhall Gardens is the best place on earth!”exclaimed his dance partner.
“How much champagne have you had?”asked Beatrice, her voice in a low hiss.
“Only five or six glasses,” said Sally.“I’d dearly love another.”
Beatrice looked like she was ready to strangle the girl.Really, it wasn’t becoming behavior for a servant.
Charles, however, couldn’t stop beaming at the girl.
He was looking at her like—well, Leith didn’t like to reflect on it.But the expression on Charles’s face looked awfully similar to how hefearedhe had looked at Beatrice during their recent…encounter.
He cast up a silent prayer to the gods that he, somehow, had managed to look more dignified than his manservant did right now.
Although that seemed somewhat unlikely when he would have had his breeches around his ankles and his cock inside of her.
“I do feel a bit faint,” the girl said.“Bea, there are two of you!”
Sally held out her hand as if tracing the second Beatrice with her fingertips.
“Dear God, how many glasses did she have, truly?”Beatrice demanded of Charles.
For the first time, the boy’s sunny demeanor was punctured.“I—I wasn’t keeping count.”
“She’s foxed,” Beatrice said to Leith.“We need to leave.Immediately.”
“I’ll never recover from the disappointment,” he said, dryly.
Thankfully, she chuckled.
But the truth was, as they drifted away from Vauxhall on their boat, he did feel a bit wistful.
He had never enjoyed a trip there nearly as much.
Chapter Nineteen
When they returnedto the town house, Beatrice disappeared with Sally, who had started to look a bit green in the carriage.
Leith supposed that one tupping was enough for Beatrice anyway, so he retired to his own chamber.He took up his book.He was readingWaverleyagain.He supposed it was boring of him, but he loved the story.The plain but noble hero; his attraction to the vibrant Flora but his eventual choice of the lovely Rose; his clashes with Highland warriors—the combination of familiarity and adventure suited him extremely.
But as he read, his mind kept drifting away from the plot and characters and towards, instead, the garden tonight with Beatrice.
