No one would guess that Eleanor had looked at James at the end of their dance like she had wanted him to keep her there.
No one.
Except Arabella.
James saw her across the room, standing near the edge of the crowd with Roderick at her side. Arabella was not smiling. Her gaze was on Eleanor, sharp and protective.
Then her eyes lifted, briefly, and met James’s.
It was not accusation.
It was assessment.
As if she were deciding what kind of man he was, and whether he was safe for her sister.
James looked away first.
He told himself it was because he needed to watch Harrowby.
Not because he could not bear the fact that Eleanor was dancing with another man, and the sight of her smile, even polite, even controlled, felt like a theft.
He forced his attention back to the room.
To the investigation.
To the faces.
To the danger he could name.
And not to the quiet truth that was becoming harder to deny.
He had walked away from Eleanor when she wanted him.
And he was not certain he would be able to forgive himself for it, even if she pretended she could.
CHAPTER 22
“You abandoned her.”
James did not look at Roderick. “I stepped away.”
Roderick snorted softly. “You walked off the floor the moment she wanted you to stay.”
James kept his gaze fixed on the far side of the ballroom, where the orchestra had just begun another set. “You are imagining things.”
“I am observing,” Roderick replied. “There is a difference.”
James turned sharply. “Stay out of it.”
Roderick lifted his brows. “I will not. You asked me to watch this room, and I am watching it. Including you.”
James exhaled through his nose. “We are not here to discuss my marriage.”
“And yet,” Roderick said, folding his arms, “it is the most interesting thing happening in this room.”
James ignored him.
Eleanor stood across the ballroom, her sea-glass gown catching the candlelight with every movement. The fabric skimmed her form with deliberate precision, elegant and controlled, revealing just enough to be dangerous. He found himself tracking the line of her back, the way her shoulders rose and fell as she laughed politely at something her partner said.
