Bethany watched as Tabetha fluttered her eyelashes. If the devil himself was a duke, her sister would still set her cap for him. “Easier spoken than accomplished,” she barely managed to whisper before the young duke turned his attention in their direction.
Chase made the introduction, and Bethany curtsied.
Another ten minutes passed and as the line of arriving guests trickled off, Bethany and Chace motioned that they would await the guest of honor in the ballroom.
“Are you sure I look all right?” Tabetha grasped Bethany’s wrist at the last minute. “I should have worn the rose gown. Or the apricot. I wish you could enter with me.”
Her sister’s last-minute plea summoned memories of Bethany’s own debut. Only, instead of their uncle to escort her inside, she’d had their father. She blinked away a few tears and then, clasping Tabetha’s hands in hers, spoke the words she’d needed to hear that night.
“You arebeautiful—the loveliest lady at the ball.” Because when a young woman makes her come-out, it has to be true. “Everyone is going to adore you, and all the handsome men will vie for your attention. And you deserve it, Tabby. This is the beginning of something wonderful.”
Tabetha nodded with a sappy smile. “I love you, Bethany.”
“I love you too. Now I’m going to walk away before we turn into a couple of weeping pots.” With one last squeeze, Bethany returned to her husband, where he awaited her with a patient smile, and the two of them joined the other guests.
Two hours later,Tabetha glowed brighter than all the chandeliers put together.
If she wasn’t dancing, she was surrounded by no less than six young gentlemen eager to garner her attention. Bethany would have worried when the Duke of Culpepper led her sister onto the floor if Stone Spencer hadn’t persisted in his careful watch.
Well done, Westerley.
Although far from perfect, on occasion, their brother sometimes exercised good judgment as far as they were concerned.
And the event was proving to be a crush. If only she could locate her husband. They’d danced the first set together and then dutifully gone their separate ways as all good married couples did.
“Don’t forget about your wager this afternoon,” Chase had whispered in her ear before taking his leave. “Because I certainly haven’t.”
Bethany shivered at the memory.
Her eyes flicked left and then right, hoping to catch a glimpse of him from where she stood against a brocaded wall, Felicity beside her. Both had just come off the floor after a lively set and were a little out of breath.
“You seem content in your newly married state,” Felicity offered quietly.
“Content is a tame word for it.” Bethany and Felicity had known one another for most of their lives and gone through a multitude of highs and lows together. She allowed herself a mysterious smile when she turned her head to meet Felicity’s gaze.
“Is that so?” Her friend’s brows raised.
Bethany didn’t want to reveal anything else, thinking that to do so could jinx it. Ridiculous that a grown woman could feel this way, a married woman, but… she mentally shrugged. “It’s as though I’m free to… be who I want to be. Does that make sense?” Before this last week, she’d simply been a spectator in life and now she’d become an actual participant.
She didn’t expect Felicity, who never seemed uncertain under any circumstance, to fully comprehend her meaning and was taken aback when she nodded.
“It does! But that’s wonderful, Bethany. Family is a wonderful thing most of the time… I’m happy for you. Truly, I am.”
Bethany squeezed Felicity’s hand but couldn’t keep herself from glancing around the room again. She stiffened when her gaze landed on an all-too-familiar, striking red-haired woman.
Lady Starling.
And standing beside the lovely widow was none other than her husband. A smile hovered on his lips but then he stilled, and his brows rose. Hair on the back of Bethany’s neck stood up when she watched him reach out to take a folded piece of paper the widow discreetly slid into his hand.
The corners of his eyes narrowed, and with a glance toward the terrace doors, he nodded. Lady Starling then touched his arm, rose up onto her toes and brushed her lips along his jaw. Sending him a lingering glance over her shoulder, the woman sashayed away.
Bethany clenched her fists, unclenched them, and then clenched them again.
Felicity witnessed the exchange as well and clutched Bethany’s arm. “It’s likely nothing.” But her voice was more sympathetic than reassuring.
“I didn’t realize she was back from Brighton.”It was nothing.
And yet…
