“That sounds dreadful.”
“It was,” Cassandra agreed. “It made me not want to practice at all for the longest time, but it also taught me something useful.”
“What is that?”
“That the audience is almost never as invested in your failure as you imagine. We think that because of gossip and rumors we are always being judged, but then someone else does something worse and your transgressions are forgotten in the end.”
Philippa considered this, as did George.
“I had not thought of it that way.”
“You should,” Cassandra said. “You are allowed to exist without performing. If there is one thing that I could have known as a debutante, it is that.”
George turned away before he was caught staring. He wondered just what she was doing. She had made no effort with him beyond what was required. She resisted his decisions, challenged his authority, and yet with Philippa, she was warmth itself. He watched as Philippa relaxed, her shoulders loosening, her voice growing more confident.
Lady Cassandra had seen her, truly seen her, and that was all that she had wanted. The realization unsettled him.
He crossed the room and joined them.
“Are you both enjoying yourselves?” he asked.
“Yes,” Philippa said at once. “Cassandra was just telling me that it is acceptable not to be perfect.”
George raised a brow, pretending that he had not been listening.
“A radical notion, indeed.”
“An accurate one, I would wager,” Lady Cassandra replied.
There it was again, that subtle defiance that she seemed to reserve for him alone.
“You will dine shortly,” he said. “I trust you will find the arrangements suitable.”
“I am sure I shall,” Cassandra replied.
She did not thank him. He excused himself, retreating into the distance that had always served him well.
And yet, as the evening progressed, he became increasingly aware of her presence. His control, so carefully maintained,seemed to slip whenever she was near. It irritated him, it intrigued him, and, most dangerously of all, it made him ask a question he did not wish to answer.
Why did he care so much?
He took a measured sip of his drink and reminded himself that the party was the most important event of his life thus far. Even so, his gaze found Lady Cassandra once again.
And it lingered.
Chapter Nine
Cassandra immediately liked Philippa, and it had nothing to do with her brother.
It felt as though everyone in attendance assumed she had ulterior motives, or that she had had them when securing the Duke, but that was simply not the case. The young lady was simply pleasant to be around, and was capable of speaking for longer than a mere two minutes without mentioning marriage and men and how lovely everything was.
That was not to say that Cassandra did not notice her brother, of course.
“What are you reading at the moment?” Philippa asked as they prepared to leave for dinner. “I feel as though I have finished every book in my library, much to my brother’s disappointment.”
“Why would he be disappointed in the fact that you have an interest?”
“He is happy for me to have one. It is simply that he would rather I had a more acceptable one. Strangely, however, he was not terribly keen on my suggestion that I take up fencing with him.”
