“So she is. No secrets from you, then. I have told all the Welwood people that I want nothing to do with anything illegal, and if it goes on, I have no wish to know about it. Mind you, the brandy in the cellar at Welwood is of exceptional quality.”
Robert chuckled. “I am sure it is.”
He encountered Lord Embleton and his new bride, the former Miss Ruth Plowman, a most improbable match but one that, judging from the smiles of contentment on their faces, seemed likely to be a happy one. If only he could be so sure of his own future happiness!
Robert felt obliged to stand up for the next pair of dances, but this time he found Olivia and her partner were the next in the line, so he was dancing with her almost as often as with his own partner. It made him the stupidest dancer in the set, with no conversation and little attention to his steps, so that he had to apologise abjectly to his partner afterwards.
“It is not of the least consequence, Lord Kiltarlity,” she said, smiling at him. “Everyone must bow to the demands of true love without demur. My brother had some ambitions there, but he stepped aside smartly when he saw that you were high inthe lady’s esteem. She is the sweetest girl and will make an admirable countess, I am sure.”
Robert hardly knew how he answered, for he was watching Olivia being claimed by her next partner, and when he turned around, his own partner had gone. He was in such a muddle that he could not even remember her name.
He decided it would be safer for everyone if he sat out the next two and awaited the supper dance. Accordingly, he propped himself against a pillar and watched the commencement of the next dance. But it was not safer for his own sanity, he discovered, for he now had nothing to do but watch Olivia with her new partner, smiling and even laughing with him, and the pain tore at his insides. How could she be so carefree? Did she feel nothing for Robert, if she could enjoy herself so wholeheartedly with another? Useless to tell himself that this was exactly what he had wanted for her — a season free of any prior understanding so that she might choose the man who suited her best. He could not bear it, and how was he to wait until the last ball of the season before speaking? He would be fit only for Bedlam by then. No, it was impossible.
“Kiltarlity?”
“Mmm?” For a moment he could not place the man at his elbow. “Um…”
“Strong,” he said helpfully. “Alfred Strong. Sir Hubert’s brother.”
“Ah, of course. Forgive me… Um… did we…?”
“Invite me? No, but your servants very kindly permitted me over the threshold.” He smiled genially.
“I am sure the lack of an invitation was an oversight,” Robert said.
He chuckled. “I do not usually attend such events, but tonight I was supposed to dine with Winnie and Walter, and I was delayed, so I am come to apologise. Ah, here they are now.”
“Uncle Alfred!” cried Winnie, excitedly. “Well? Is it done?”
“It is.”
She squealed with delight. “Then, may I be the first to congratulate you —SirAlfred.”
Walter shook his hand, Winnie hugged him and Robert was moved to offer his own felicitations. “Bart? Or knight?”
“His Majesty has seen fit to bestow a knighthood on my unworthy self, to mark my retirement from the Treasury,” Sir Alfred said. “A baronetage is of no consequence to me, since I shall never now have a son to inherit.”
“Oh, never say never,” Robert said. “There is still time for you to marry a pretty young thing. Shall I introduce you to one or two who might like to be Lady Alfred Strong?”
Sir Alfred went slightly pink, but it was Winnie who answered. “I think he may already have a lady in his eye, Lord Kiltarlity. Is it not so, Uncle Alfred?”
“Well, the secret is out, I see,” he said, in some embarrassment. “It is true that the Lady Alice Nicholson has given me to understand that my addresses would not be unwelcome.”
“Aunt Alice!” Walter said in tones of astonishment. “I never thought she would marry again, but now that I think of it, I have noticed that you have been spending a lot of time in her company.”
“I have always admired her,” he said, “but I could not aspire so high when I was merely a lowly Treasury official. But now I am comfortably situated and… well, since Mr Nicholson’s demise, I have been able to offer her some assistance. Not that she needs a great deal of help, for she copes with her blindness admirably, but having someone to read the newspapers to her and discuss the reports with is useful. And perhaps I was some comfort to her in the darkest days after her husband’s death. Wehave become… close, and I have hopes that we will be married before the summer is out.”
“You will have to live at Corland Castle,” Winnie said. “You will not mind that, I dare say.”
“No, not at all. Alice cannot leave her home, so necessarily I must make my home with her. I have already spoken to Rennington, and he has no objection. Who would have thought I would marry at my time of life, eh? One never knows what is in store for one.”
“How lovely for both of you!”
They drifted away to find the other members of the family, but Robert stayed beside his pillar, watching the dance and pondering the strength of character that enabled a man to admire a woman for years… for decades, without giving a sign, and then step into the breach only when she was widowed. Could he have done as much if Olivia had married Embleton? He was not sure he could. And yet… if she had been happy, that would have made him happy too.
She was happy now, he could see. Her smiles, the jaunty way she danced, her animation when she talked to her partner all told him of her pleasure in the occasion. And there was that familiar twist of pain inside him… perhaps she would turn him down in the end? The uncertainty gnawed him constantly. He had to know!
As the dance drew to a close, he saw her eyes scanning the room, looking for him. She saw him, and her face lit up in its widest smile yet. Oh, that smile! It was sunshine and wine and the promise of a warm summer day, all rolled into one. A man could die happy with such a delight near him.
