Her eyes found Nathan’s tall straight back where he walked with Gabriel Deville’s fiancée. His hair curled more than his brothers’, and he often forgot to get it trimmed if his sister didn’t remind him. Beth had loved to touch the curls that rested on his collar, but it had been his smile that had first drawn her to him. It lit up his face and made her tingle all over when turned her way.
She’d been driving in the park with her friend Mary Blake the day she’d seen him. He’d been riding with his brothers. They’d presented a handsome picture, the rakish Deville brothers. But it had been Nathan she’d seen. He’d found her eyes, and his smile had filled her with giddy excitement. And that one look was all it had taken to tumble in love with the second-eldest Deville brother.
The pain of longing had kept her awake many nights.Had he missed her the same way?His disinterested look suggested no.
But none of that mattered now. She had a mission to accomplish, and Nathanial Deville was her past. Her future was to protect her family. And protect them she would. Her father’s treasonous actions had set them on this course, but Beth would do all she could to ensure that one day soon they were free again.
“Miss Carlow.” Mr. Eustace stood before her now. “May I enquire if you have a dance free?”
“I should be honored, thank you, sir.”
Beth lifted her card and filled his name into a space in the first set. It was nearly full, but the one man whose name she needed was missing.
“Do you see Mr. Valentine, Mother?”
“Not yet, dear.”
“Beth?”
She tensed as someone called her name. Approaching her was a lady who had once been dear to her. A friend.
“Miss Blake.” She curtsied. “How well you look.”
“Mary,” she said slowly. “My name is Mary.”
She forced a silly laugh from her lips.
“It has been overlong since last we met. I had quite forgotten your name.”
This was the second of the two people who had known her well. Someone she’d once thought as close as a sister. Forthright, intelligent, unlike the rest of her family, Mary Blake spoke her mind and did not suffer fools.
“Of course.” Mary backed away. “It is good to see you again, Miss Carlow. Good evening.”
Swallowing down the need to call her back, Beth said, “You also, Miss Blake.”
She would not cry. She would pull her shoulders back and remember why she was here.
“Mother, go and sit with your friends now, as I am to dance.”
“Very well. But you know where to find me. Stay safe, daughter.”
She placed her hand on the sleeve of her first partner and took to the floor. She’d seen both Nathan and Mary now; the worst was over. Perhaps not the worst, considering what she must do, but the most painful, she amended.
“Miss Carlow.” The clipped greeting came from her right as she moved to stand across from her dance partner.
“Lord Raine.” She curtseyed to Nathan’s brother.
“I would appreciate if you kept your distance from my brother,” he said so only she could hear. “I have no wish for him to suffer any further at your hand.”
“I—of course.”Nathan had suffered because of her actions.Her heart ached at the thought. But then what had she expected? He’d pledged his love to her as she had him.
He nodded, his eyes dark and angry. She stumbled back a step, landing on a foot.
“Pardon, Duke!”
“Had you been Lord Plunge, I may now walk with a permanent limp, Miss Carlow, but as it was you, I barely felt it.” The Duke of Raven smiled at her.
“Thank you,” she managed to get out.
