“I am last, of course,” she said, her eyes laughing up at him.
He lifted her gloved hand to his lips. “You are firstandlast, Lady Olivia.”
“Oh!” she breathed. “You do pay me the prettiest compliments, Lord Kiltarlity.”
And she smiled at him so charmingly that any witty or clever response flew straight out of his head, and he could only mumble, “Supper dance?”
“As always.”
She was forced to move on by the press of arrivals awaiting their turn to greet the host, but his eyes followed her until she was absorbed into the crowd and lost to view.
It was some time before the musicians began to tune their instruments and Lady Kiltarlity allowed Robert and his sisters to escape from the receiving line and open the dancing. Robert hadalready been told he was to partner one of the Medhurst girls, who was widely acclaimed as the season’s Incomparable. There were many who held that Olivia should hold that title, but the Lady Angelica Medhurst was the legitimate daughter of a duke, and Olivia was only the illegitimate daughter of an earl, and to many in society, that made all the difference. Olivia’s loveliness, her sweet nature, her graceful deportment and her charm meant nothing. Even her thirty thousand pounds melted no hearts amongst the highest sticklers.
Amongst the gentlemen, however, she was the absolute favourite. They swarmed around her so closely tonight that her diminutive form was scarcely visible in the crush. In the end it was Lord Thomas Medhurst who triumphantly led her onto the dance floor for the first dance.
Robert was not sure he was the best company for Lady Angelica that night. He did his best but he kept being distracted by glimpses of Olivia, eyes shining, the curls framing her face flying out and her gown shimmering in the candlelight.
Eventually the interminable dance was over, and as Robert was escorting Lady Angelica back to her mother, he saw Bertram and Bea sitting together at the side of the room, with Lucas lounging against a pillar.
Bea waved cheerfully to him, and called out, “You are a clumsy oaf, Lord Kiltarlity. You nearly trod on your partner’s gown.”
Lady Angelica laughed. “A friend of yours, I take it? She looks lively. Do introduce me.”
“Of course. Lady Angelica, may I present Mrs Bertram Atherton and her husband, whose father is brother to the Earl of Rennington. That fellow by the pillar is their brother, Mr Lucas Atherton. And this is the Lady Angelica Medhurst, sister of the Duke of Wedhampton.”
“Delighted to meet you, Lady Angelica,” Lucas said, stepping forward eagerly to execute a deep bow. “Would it be presumptuous of me to hope to engage your hand for the next dance? I promise not to step on your gown.”
With a smile, she said, “Unfortunately, I am engaged for the next two… here he comes now to claim me.”
She had turned away almost before she had finished speaking, disappearing into the throng on the arm of her next partner.
“Ah, well,” Lucas sighed. “It was a little ambitious. The daughter of a duke will not look at an untitled man. A parson’s daughter is more my level, I imagine.”
“Nonsense, Lucas,” Bea said robustly. “You are a gentleman of means now, you know. Why should you not look as high as you please?”
“Because a modest house and an income of fourteen hundred a year is not enough to keep a duke’s daughter contented, that is why.”
“Combined with the duke’s daughter’s dowry of fifty thousand, she could be kept very contented, I imagine,” Robert said.
“Fifty thousand? Is that her portion?” Lucas’s eyes were wide.
“So it is said in the clubs. That was what her father promised her, and the new Wedhampton has agreed to honour that. She is a lovely lady.”
“She is!” Lucas cried. “But then… I am discovering that London is full of lovely ladies.”
“You are seriously looking for a wife, then?”
“Oh, yes! Now that I have my house, I want to put a wife in it as soon as possible.”
“How are you liking it at Welwood? That was a most unexpected bequest, I understand.”
Lucas laughed. “Indeed, and I was the last option. Eustace left his estate to his eldest son, if he had one, or failing that, his eldest daughter, or failingthathis wife. And failing that… me. Because I am a second son, seemingly, and Eustace had a sympathy for those in that position. However it came about, I am deeply grateful, although I have not been there very much, only to clear out Eustace’s things. So many weapons! I got Captain Edgerton to come and take them all away. He is very happy to take care of them, and gave me a good price for them.”
“And the smuggling? Is that still going on?”
“Heavens, Kiltarlity, for an outsider you know a great deal about our family business!”
“Olivia is a chatterbox,” Robert said, with a smile.
