Florence followed the direction of his gaze, a look of surprise, followed by understanding, passing over her face. ‘Do you think?’ She dipped her chin, lowering her voice to a near-whisper. ‘What about being laughing stocks?’
‘You’re my wife.’ He let his fingers brush gently against her shoulder. ‘Like I told the Wadlows, I won’t let anyone insult you.’
She held on to his gaze for a long moment, her own doubtful, before she gave a small nod. ‘Very well. If you think it will help,I suppose one ball can’t hurt so much.’ She threw a defiant look at the ladies and then pushed herself to her feet. ‘Now, I think it’s getting a little crowded on this side of the room. Let’s try the other side, shall we?’
Chapter Eleven
It was one thing, Florence reflected, agreeing to attend a ball when the event was still two days away. It was another thing entirely on the evening of said ball, when the moment of departure was growing steadily and terrifyingly closer. And it wasn’t going to be like Gunter’s or the panorama, where there had been no requirement to mingle and she’d been able to hide her face behind either a large bowl of chocolate ice or in the semi-darkness. This was a social event. With people! Worse, theton!
She ran her hands over her hips, studying her reflection in the mirror. Cassie had been so thrilled by their change of heart that she’d insisted on taking Florence straight to the modiste for a new dress in creamy organza, with a low neckline, fashionably short peak sleeves and a dusky pink overskirt. A row of tiny flowers had even been embroidered around the hem, so that it looked as though she was walking through a meadow. It was incredible that such a gorgeous item could have been produced so quickly, although she had a worrying suspicion that bribery was involved and that somewhere, some poor debutante was missing a gown. None the less, with her hair twisted into a sophisticated bun and a selection of gorgeous accessories, including her gold locket and a pair of ruby earrings, a pair of kid gloves and impractically white silk slippers, she felt that, nomatter what happened that evening, at least she looked like a marchioness.
‘Because that’s what you are!’ Cassie laughed when she voiced the idea aloud. ‘You and Leo are going to look splendid together.’
‘Mmm.’ Florence dropped her gaze, pretending to adjust her gloves. The time she and Leo had spent together over the past few days had certainly been an improvement on their time at Rainton Court. As promised, he’d taken her to the Tower of London, as well as for several walks around Mayfair and in Hyde Park in an attempt to jolt her memory. She was grateful to him for that, as well as for what he’d said about putting the past behind them. He’d been polite and open and attentive, as if he was genuinely trying to make the best of things. Which was good, she supposed, since she wanted to as well, and yet, despite admitting her guilt after their meeting with the Wadlows, some part of her still resisted the idea. Every night she woke with the same questions spinning around her mind.Whyhad she deliberately trapped herself into marriage with a man who’d wanted her best friend, not her? Thetonmight marry for position and power, but was that really the kind of marriage she’d impetuously decided she wanted? Something about it just didn’t feel right, as if her head was telling her one thing about what had happened and her heart another. And there was still the matter of the love letters…
Fortunately, the more she thought about those, the more convinced she became that they must have been written to somebody else. Because firstly, how would she ever have met another man in Dorset? Especially right under the nose of her new husband? And secondly, if therehadbeen another man, surely he would have found some way to contact her by now?
‘There’s absolutely no reason to feel intimidated,’ Cassie linked arms with her as they descended the staircase, ‘exceptfor the obvious. It’s theton, after all. Collectively, they’re quite terrifying, but you’ll have Leo and George and me to support you. And remember, you’ll outrank most of the people there. You could stand on your head and they’d still have to defer to you.’
‘I don’t want anyone to defer to me,’ Florence protested. ‘I’d rather blend in with the wallpaper.’
‘Well, you can’t. You look far too pretty for a start. Doesn’t she?’ Cassie demanded of the two men waiting in the hallway below.
‘Doesn’t she what?’ George was busy putting on a topcoat.
‘Look pretty?’
‘You do indeed.’ He made Florence a courteous bow before kissing his wife’s hand. ‘As do you, my love, as always.’
‘Thank you, darling. Leo?’ Cassie’s tone sharpened. ‘What doyouthink?’
Florence turned her eyes nervously in her husband’s direction. Unlike George, who was wearing sage-green and white to match Cassie’s emerald ballgown, he was dressed in monochrome black and white, with only a single sapphire pin in his cravat for embellishment. As usual, he looked perfectly polished and pristine, only tonight there seemed to be something new about him, an intense, arrested gleam in his eye that made her breath catch in a whole new way too. There was no time to interpret what it meant, however, before his, and everyone else’s, attention was distracted by a loud crash somewhere in the vicinity of the dining room. It sounded a lot like pottery breaking, closely followed by shrieks and running footsteps. Seconds later a pair of small figures wearing matching guilty expressions skidded to a halt in the doorway.
‘Boys?’ George folded his arms. ‘Going somewhere?’
‘It was an accident!’
‘He did it!’
‘Don’t!’ Cassie lifted a hand. ‘Whatever it is, tell me in the morning. I’m in a good temper and I don’t want it ruined. O’Neil?’
‘My lady?’ A butler appeared out of nowhere.
‘Could you please escort my sons to the nursery and then find somebody to clear up whatever it is they’ve broken?’
‘I’ll see to it myself, my lady.’
‘Thank you. And please tell Nurse to send them straight to bed. They’ll need the rest so they can enjoy a bracing two-mile walk before breakfast tomorrow. Clearly they need to work off their excess energy with more exercise.’
‘Mama!’
‘Threemiles!’ Cassie thrust her chin into the air. ‘Now I suggest the rest of us go and enjoy ourselves.’
‘We’d better do as we’re told,’ Leo muttered to Florence, throwing a sympathetic glance at his nephews. ‘Are you ready?’
‘As I’ll ever be.’ She turned around, letting him drape a red velvet cloak around her shoulders. If she wasn’t mistaken, his fingers lingered there for a few seconds, as though he were wrapping her in his arms.
‘We can do this,’ he murmured softly, his breath skimming her neck in a way that sent a rash of goose-pimples shooting across her skin.
