“Isn’t he handsome?” Betsy asked with a sigh. “And such a tragic figure. His wife passed away last year. She was the daughter of a duke as well. I suppose that, if first you don’t succeed––”
“Try and try again.” Tilde chimed in. She ought not to be stunned.
All of the pieces began falling into place. When she’d known him, he’d begged her to call him Jasper. If he’d gone on to marry the daughter of a duke…
She shook her head. Of course, he was a peer.
She’d never stood a chance.
She swallowed hard. Lady Althea and Lady Eloise had lost their mother last year. Had they been close to her? Tilde, as a governess, knew more than anyone that some aristocratic families left the raising of their children to servants.
Her previous employers had not. They’d always made time for their daughters.
“They do make a lovely pair.” Betsy whispered.
All eyes remained on the couple leading off the dance. Lady Elaine, so fresh and lovely… and so very young. And Lord Willoughby, elegantly dressed, tall and oh so very handsome. Except he was far too old for the girl. Performing some mental math, she surmised he was practically twice the age of his dance partner.
He’d been twenty-four on the night he’d kissed her. She’d been seventeen. The same age Lady Elaine was now. So, yes, indeed. “He’s more than twice her age!” Tilde could not help but exclaim to her sister.
“How do you know that? Besides, he’s a man. Don’t you remember when Lord Pemberton married Horatia Smythe? He was almost four times her age. He was a bent-over old man. Lord Willoughby is most definitely not a bent-over old man.”
“No.” Tilde pinched her lips together. What was the matter with her?
“It would be quite scandalous if it were the other way around, though, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes.” This wasn’t the first time Tilde had considered the disparities between gentlemen and ladies.
By now the dance was well underway and Jasper and Lady Elaine led the other couples with elegance and grace.
She hadn’t really known the man at all. One night. They’d spent less fewer than three hours in one another’s company. His attentions had never been serious. She’d thought it was magic but to him she had been a handy bit of muslin for him to have some fun with.
She turned her back toward the dance floor. “I’m parched. Do you think there’s some warm lemonade around here somewhere?”
Betsy seemed reluctant to lose their place.
“If we remain in this corner all night, no one will see your beautiful gowns.”
Seeing the practicality in Tilde’s reasoning, Betsy relented, and the girls picked their way around the edge of the dance floor. If no lemonade could be found, perhaps they could locate a few glasses of champagne.
Admissions
Hell and damnation, Willoughby thought as he led the child onto the parquet dance floor. He would take his mother in hand tomorrow. She needed to know she could not organize his life. So many times he’d given into her manipulations and demands so as not to embarrass her, but he could do so no longer.
Lady Elaine was lovely and graceful but oh, so very young.
Too young.
He faced her as the couples queued up. Judging by the length of the line behind them, he prepared to endure a dance that would surely last close to an hour. He’d much preferred to spend the evening at home. He already felt as though he’d abandoned his daughters for far too long.
Althea had cried when he stopped into the nursery to wish her goodnight. Eloise explained. “The nurse is mean. She makes Thea sit in the corner for not speaking up when addressed.” Eloise had sounded so grown up. “And she takes away her doll.”
Jasper clenched his teeth at the memory. He’d taken the woman aside and demanded she not punish Lady Althea for keeping quiet. He’d threatened to sack her if it happened again.
He was in no mood for a ball. Especially one so ridiculously extravagant. Grand for the sake of being grand, excessive and overstated merely because they could do so. The flowers clawed at him. The heat from the chandeliers already made the room stifling. God help him, they’d left the doors and windows closed in the hope that Prinny would stop by.
Prinny never stopped by.
Tomorrow, if the agency failed to present an acceptable candidate, perhaps he would advertise the post himself. Offer some incentive…
