Olivia released another loud sigh. Although she knew better than to be alone with a single gentleman, she was not yet prepared to return to the ballroom. And since she wasn’t a gently bred lady, in practice anyhow, she doubted it mattered to anyone.
“Very well,” she conceded. “If it isn’t too great an inconvenience.”
Would he be so kind to her if he knew her identity? But then a thought struck. Perhaps he’d come outside to meet some other willing female whom he’d arranged to meet privately. “Why are you not in the ballroom, My Lord? Isn’t it considered rude of a gentleman to absent himself from dancing while young ladies remain wallflowers?”
“Who said I was a gentleman?” He reached in front of her to pull back a prickly looking branch.
“Harrumph.” Of course, he was a gentleman. His easy confidence, his elegant posture and speech, not to mention the perfect fit of his fine waistcoat and jacket screamed his upper-class status to all within his realm.
They traveled a few more steps in silence before he deigned to answer her question. “I will tell you a secret of my own. As long as you promise not to leak it to all of the other ladies.”
“I promise.” She smiled to herself. As if he had anything to worry about.
“For all of my talents, I have failed to master the art of dance. My cohorts attribute my refusal to participate in the activity to boorish behavior. But I would dance, if I could. While attempting to learn, I was constantly in fear of trampling my partners. Every second of it was torture. In London, my refusal to dance is considered my worst fault.”
“You’re joking, of course.” But she was laughing now and so was he.
“Unfortunately, no.”
“But I thought all gentlemen were required to learn how to dance.”
“We are all required to take lessons, my dear Miss...? You never did tell me your name.”
“I did not.” Olivia wasn’t ready to reveal herself to him. The thought that he’d remember and call her that horrible nickname again was mortifying. The thought that he’d remember and apologize profusely was even worse. Besides, oddly enough, she was enjoying walking with him. Even if he was only doing so out of pity.
“A lady of mystery. Lovely indeed. Finally, something of interest in Misty Brooke.” As the path widened, he lengthened their strides. “As I was saying, we all take lessons, but not all of us learn. To date, I remain my dancing master’s greatest disappointment.”
He was incorrigible!
“So, you follow innocent maidens into the gardens instead—purely to offer your protection, of course? You know, you could always excuse yourself to the gambling tables.”
He sighed dramatically. “But then I wouldn’t come upon mysterious young ladies, er… hiding amongst the foliage.”
Absurd! He was being absolutely absurd! “I suppose not.”
“And you, my mystery lady, have you been dancing the night away?”
She dropped her head. She had been taught to dance, along with Louella, but had never been asked. One must actually attend dances in order to be asked. Another activity her parents had curtailed when they’d realized her eye would never settle down.
“I can but….”
“Don’t tell me you are breaking all the gentlemen’s hearts with your refusals?”
Olivia shrugged. “I’d have to refuse them to break their hearts.”
“Now it is you who are joking.”
The gazebo appeared ahead though heavy clouds covered the moon. The fountain beckoned in front of it. Was the object of the statue doing what she thought he was doing?
Oh, but this was priceless. Perhaps she wasn’t the hoyden she’d imagined after all!
* * *
There wassomething oddly familiar about this young woman, but Gabriel could not quite put his finger on it. She wasn’t like most ladies of his acquaintance, but he rather liked that about her. Not that normal ladies of thetonweren’t lovely to look upon, but one quickly grew tired having the same conversation over and over again. And despite having been betrothed for years now, he’d consistently had to devise more and more creative maneuvers in order to evade the most persistent of marriage-minded mamas.
He grinned to himself. It was all a part of the games Society played.
“It isn’t, is it really? Oh, but it is!” At the sight of the fountain, just as he hoped, the lady beside him dissolved into a fit of giggles.
