“Countess, please allow me to say how lovely you look this evening.”
“Thank you, my lord.” Sophie gave him a tight smile, and his dark eyes replied with a hard look, even as his lips tilted in a small smile.
“I had the pleasure of seeing your husband three days before his passing, my lady, and that is a memory I will always treasure,” Lord Coulter said.
“Yes, Melton told us of your visit, my lord,” Letty said, answering for Sophie. “It pleased him greatly to see you one last time; he and your grandmother were friends until her death.”
Three days! Oh dear, this is not good.Sophie focused on keeping the shock out of her expression.
“I did not have the pleasure of seeing you there, Countess, or the current earl, your son.”
Sophie’s tongue suddenly seemed to swell to twice its normal size, blocking anything articulate from leaving her mouth. “Ah,” she stammered.
“Indeed, my lord, my sister-in-law and nephew were visiting a friend with me at the time,” Letty intervened smoothly.
“Well, that explains their absence, then,” he replied. “May I have this dance, Countess?” he added suddenly, holding out his hand. “If your card allows it, of course?”
“Lovely. Off you go, my dear,” Letty said, smiling as if she’d not just plunged Sophie into hell at the hands of the dark lord.
She placed the tips of her fingers on the arm he held out and let him lead her to the dance floor. Sophie’s heart sank as she heard the first strains of a waltz.Bloody hell, why could it not be any dance but this one?He stopped suddenly, and Sophie tripped on his foot, as she’d been too busy panicking instead of focusing on where she stepped.
“Excuse me, my lord, I slipped,” Sophie said as he righted her.
“The fault was mine. Please accept my apologies.”
Find your backbone, Sophie.She could hear Letty’s voice in her head as nerves flooded her body. Dancing was something she’d not learned young like those around her, so Sophie had to focus. One wrong move could end in disaster.
One, two, three.
“Pardon?”
Looking up, she saw he’d raised a dark brow. Had she counted the first steps out loud?
“You made a noise.”
“A small cough and nothing more, my lord,” Sophie said.
He didn’t believe her. She read that, too, in his eyes, but thankfully, he was too polite to say it.
They danced up and down the room beside others, and Sophie had to admit that for a big man, he moved well. Better than her, but then that wasn’t hard.
“How does your son fare here in London, Lady Monmouth?” he asked just when she’d thought they’d get through the entire dance without conversing.
“He is well, my lord. His aunt and I took him on his first London adventure yesterday.” If she was talking, then he could not question her.
“He is very lucky to have such a caring mother, my lady.”
“It is I who am lucky, my lord. Both Timothy and Lady Carstairs are very special to me.”
“I’m sure they feel the same about you, my lady.”
Sophie wasn’t sure why she thought he was mocking her, but she did.Does he know something?
“Where is it you are from, Countess? I’m sure we have not met before this season?”
The words were spoken politely, as if they were just chatting, but Sophie knew he suspected something.
“I am from Devon, Lord Coulter.”
