The music ended, she curtsied to her partner and steered him towards Robert’s pillar, where he bowed as he left her.
“My supper dance at last,” she said with such obvious pleasure that he was heartened again. Perhaps she would accept him after all? “Shall we take our places?”
“Not yet. I have promised something special for Lizzie and Lucy.”
“How exciting!” she said, taking hold of his arm and snuggling close to him. “Here they are now.”
His sisters arrived, still puffing slightly from the dance. “Who are these mysterious partners you have promised us, brother?” Lizzie said. “Has he told you, Olivia?”
“No, not a thing.”
“He is being very secretive,” Lucy said. “They are extremely eligible, he says, and very keen to meet us, but he will say nothing about— oh! Oh, Lizzie,look!”
Winthrop was leading two men into the ballroom. “Mr Whitwell and Captain Lingard,” he intoned, and then gestured towards the pillar where Robert stood.
“Archie!”Lucy whispered, while Lizzie stared at the captain open mouthed.
The two men approached, they bowed in unison, their eyes fixed on the two sisters.
“Lady Elizabeth, may I have the honour of this dance?” the captain said. Too stunned to speak, she placed her hand on his proffered arm and he led her away.
Whitwell could not even manage so many words, merely holding out his hand to Lucy, who accepted it with a smile of pure delight.
“Who are they?” Olivia whispered into Robert’s ear, as they watched the four join the set now forming.
“Mark Lingard is the man Lizzie tried to elope with several years ago, and Archie Whitwell is Lucy’s lost love.”
“But you found him… you found both of them,” she said. “How wonderful you are.”
“Oh… well… I cannot take all the credit, Livvy. It was you, if you remember, who told me to ensure that everyone was happy, and I thought that ought to apply to my sisters as much as anyone else. I found the two men, discovered they were both still single, and both suffering just as Lizzie and Lucy were. So I arranged for them to arrive in time for the supper dance. I think… I hope I did the right thing.”
“Oh yes, for look how happy they are… all four of them. Are we going to dance, too? We can still join the bottom of the set, if you wish.”
“Would you care to take a stroll on the terrace?”
“Oh!” She leaned away from him to look up into his face. “It is not yet the last ball of the season, Lord Kiltarlity.”
“I know, I know, but I cannot wait a moment longer. Do you mind?”
She chuckled. “Not at all. It is so hot and stuffy in here, anyway, too hot for dancing. I had rather be on the terrace with you.Muchrather.”
And she smiled up at him in a way which warmed him through and through. It was going to be all right! Surely it would be all right?
Robert had forgotten how small the terrace was, for half the guests seemed to have spilt out from the ballroom to stroll about there, the ladies fanning themselves vigorously. He and Olivia could not take three steps without being greeted by someone, and there was no hope of talking privately.
“Well,” he said ruefully, “this is not how I imagined it.”
She looked up at him with laughter brimming in her eyes. “No, indeed, for I see no peacocks on the lawn, nor is there a fountain playing.”
“And there is no moon and no stars tonight, with so many clouds about.” He paused, as a passing couple made somecomplimentary remark on the success of the ball. “Thank you, thank you! Most kind.”
“And it is just a trifle crowded out here,” she murmured, as they inched past a loud group of young men to reach the low balustrade that separated the terrace from the narrow garden beyond. “But I distinctly smell roses nearby, so that is all right.”
He laughed. “I am sorry, Livvy. I cannot speak to you as I would wish with so many people here.”
“They are all watching us, too,” she said, then lowered her voice to a whisper, “so we cannot even steal a kiss.”
“What are we to do?” he whispered back.
