“In a way, yes, though only just barely. I managed to spill punch all down my front and was trying to get to my carriage without... well, without ruining my Season before it has hardly begun. I do apologize for making my way this far from the rooms set aside for the ball. Your son found me moments ago and was going to escort me to the entrance hall. Though if you will point me in the correct direction, I will gladly be out of your way.”
Lucas could only stare. Truly? Just like that, she was going to take the blame and not even find an excuse to stay? Any young lady would pounce at the chance of an increased relationship with the Marchioness of Cheltenham, to say nothing of wheedling into the good graces of one of her two unmarried sons.
Mother had turned completely to her now, blocking Lucas from the conversation almost entirely. He should have been offended, but he was relieved to be spared conversing. “I am terribly sorry to hear about your dress. Of course you would want to leave unnoticed. I remember just such a situation when I was a debutante myself.” She laughed lightly to herself. “Tell your maid to put a bit of... Oh, what was it?”
“Vinegar?” Miss Faraday supplied. Mother’s eyes lit up.
“Yes, exactly. A bit of vinegar will take the stain out.”
Lucas began backing away. Clearly, the women had the situation well in hand. He would just return to his paper in the other room and hide himself away for the remainder of the evening.
But his mother suddenly stepped aside. “Well, I will leave you to it. I hope you will not judge all our balls by this first, Miss Faraday. We shall have you for another, and I intend to see you enjoy that one far more.”
“Oh, I did enjoy it immensely. I am simply unaccustomed to the heat of this many persons. Though I suppose the cool punch has helped with that.”
Mother smiled at the jest. “It is rather overwhelming, is it not?” Mother stepped back to the door, impeding Lucas’s retreat. She met his eye. “My son will see you out. Good evening, Miss Faraday.”
Lucas had long gained control over his every expression, but a look of surprise threatened to break through nonetheless. She was leaving them? Alone?
“Good evening, Lady Cheltenham,” Miss Faraday returned.
And Mother left, head high and expression content, as if she were not leaving Lucas to fend for himself. What was that she always preached? That family was more important than anything? She was no dragon, it would seem. She was a turncoat.
“You need not show me out.” Miss Faraday stepped around his frozen form into the sitting room beyond. Thus far, she’d shown no indication of recognition. “If you will just point the way?”
“No.” He pulled himself together. “I will show you.”
“Oh. Very well, then. Could I also prevail upon you to send a servant for my guardian? He will be wondering where I am.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
He led her through the sitting room that no longer felt like the small sanctuary it had been a quarter of an hour before. They traversed the remainder of his family’s home in silence, only the sound of their muted footsteps on the plush carpets to accompany them. He vaguely felt as if he should be giving her a commentary on each room they passed.Here is the sitting room—it does not serve as the best of hiding spots, it would seem. And this is the library. I should have hidden here, and then I might have avoided this entire situation.
Perhaps he could have exercised better manners by speaking with her, but the whole scenario sat uneasily with him. He didn’t have a grasp on this woman’s character nor her knowledge of him or his family, and thus he felt out of control in the situation. He had no wish to prolong it. Not much, at least.
He chanced a glance at her. Her head hardly reached his shoulder, and her golden hair framed her face prettily. Even the way she held her shoulders back despite biting her lip in clear discomfort drew him in. She was even more striking when not at the side of a darkened road.
He put an immediate stop to those thoughts. This woman could ruin everything if she recognized him. The last thing he needed was an unsanctioned attraction to her.
They reached the entrance hall, which was blessedly empty of partygoers, and Lucas sent one footman to find Lord Tarrington and another for their carriage.
“Do you need anything else?” he asked Miss Faraday, barely refraining from stepping away, back to safety.
“Only a better excuse than my own clumsiness to give my guardian.”
“Pardon?”
She shook her head with a smile. “Nothing. Thank you for your help.”
He nodded, hesitating. Would her guardian be upset with her? Should he remain to take the blame as she had for Charlie? Marietta would have remained. She always went out of her way to be kind. His heart ached at the brief thought of her.
The part of him that constantly strove to do not only the right thing but thebestthing warred with the part that knew this guardian could leverage the situation to try to increase his own standing. Perhaps even pushing for an engagement between the two. And Lucas could not let that happen. When he married, the match would be within his control. Unlike this current circumstance.
“If you are certain.”
“Entirely. Only . . .”
