“Indeed?” He smiled back. Her heart took an unwanted leap at the sight. His eyes crinkled and an endearing little dimple appeared in one cheek. He was, as Fanny had said, very handsome. Devastatingly so, to be honest. “It seemed much longer to me.”
“That must be a sad judgment on the company present.”
“Not at all.” His smile dimmed a degree, but his eyes never wavered from her. “It is entirely due to you.”
The nerve he had. She found it both alarming and exhilarating. “How so?”
“I could not stop thinking of what you said earlier. You were the only person to encourage me to solicit donations for the children. I entreated everyone with whom I spoke to make a generous donation to the cause—a foundling home, is it not?”
“Well done, sir,” she said in mild surprise. “The children deserve it.”
“Thank you for reminding me of them,” he went on. “It added greatly to my satisfaction with the evening to think of the unfortunate children who may be helped as a result of my speech. I confess that I do not always attend closely to the deeper purpose behind these evenings.”
Not many people did. There were some genuine patrons of charitable causes, but Evangeline would have guessed that most of the guests tonight had come for the entertainment. They would donate fifty pounds for the benefit of the children, and then spend several times that at the wine merchant or the modiste.
“May I beg the pleasure of your hand in the next dance?” asked Sir Richard.
Evangeline looked at his extended hand, in its pristine glove. Fanny, the traitor, had managed to melt into the crowd and leave her alone with the man. “I don’t think that would be wise, sir.”
“No?” He lowered his voice. “Are you a dangerous creature?”
“Why, yes!” She pursed her lips in irritation, even though she’d meant to smile and laugh it off. “I am. I thought Lord Allen would have warned you.”
“I have scaled Mont Blanc and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope.” His dimple reappeared. “I am not afraid of a beautiful woman.”
She hesitated. Merciful God, he was attractive. He met her gaze so directly. His eyes were such a startling blue because his face was tanned. His hair was not blond, but brown, bleached by the sun. At his collar, where it curled, she could see the darker color. Most London gentlemen were as pale as the ladies.
This man was not a Londoner, though. He had climbed mountains and sailed oceans and ventured deep into uncharted territories.
If Fanny were right about him . . .
Perhaps she might not mind being studied more closely for one evening.
“Once,” she said, placing her hand in his.
“Only once?” He led her to join the formation of couples. Evangeline caught the startled glances of the fellow guests and dancers.
“We are not acquainted, sir.”
The smile he gave in reply was nothing short of wicked. “We shall become so, while dancing.”
She sighed and tried to look unmoved by his flirting even as it made her heart speed up. It had been a long time since a man flirted with her like this.
With some effort she concentrated on the dance. It was a long country dance, where all the couples took their turns going up and down the set, which gave her plenty of opportunity to see the shocked expressions around her. Evangeline had stopped caring what the matrons of society thought of her, but it still irked her that they couldn’t even allow her this one, eminently ordinary and respectable, dance without openly displaying their horror. She told herself it must be envy, because Sir Richard was without doubt the most gorgeously virile man in the entire room.
Perhaps the entire country.
“What brought you to England?” she asked when the dance brought them together for a few moments.
“My sister,” he replied. “She married an Englishman and begged me to visit her here. She wished me to meet my young nephews.”
“How very devoted.”
He grinned. “She encourages me to attend events like this. It is her hope that I will become attached to English society and not wish to leave.”
“Don’t you wish to leave?” She smiled as she said it. “Of course you do. An explorer won’t discover much of interest in England.”
He gave her a searing look. “I would not say that.”
