“I wonder if her well-wishers were as polite as yours were,” Jamie said.
“My guess is not. She looks ready to commit murder.”
“How can you tell?” Toby asked.
He didn’t answer, just made his way toward her.
She was beautiful in a pale blue dress. The neckline exposed the swell of her breasts, and beneath was a bow of emerald satin. Her hair was styled with ringlets around her face, and an emerald ribbon circled her head.
Nudging his way into the circle, he overheard Miss Lambeth say, “But the shock, Miss Spencer, that you could become engaged to such a man, when to my knowledge you barely know each other!”
“Good evening.” Anthony moved to her side. He then took Evangeline’s hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow. “You were saying, Miss Lambeth?”
“Oh… ah, well, I was offering my heartfelt congratulations, my lord.”
He stood as the discussion dwindled, and suddenly everyone had somewhere else to be and left.
“Well,” Prudence Spencer said. “Your arrival was timely, my lord. You scared them all away.”
“Prue!” Evangeline was clearly scandalized by her sister’s words.
“I’ve had years of practice,” Anthony said as he heard the first strains of a waltz. “Will you honor me with this dance, Miss Spencer?”
She nodded but didn’t speak, and Anthony thought that was because she wanted to breathe fire. He placed her hand on his arm.
“Good evening, my sweet,” Anthony said when he had her in his arms.
Her eyes shot up to his from his necktie. “Why did you call me that?”
“We are in public.” He bent to whisper in her ear.
“I don’t think couples call each other that, and I don’t think I want to do this anymore,” she whispered back in a furious tone.
“Too late,” Anthony said.
“People are rude.”
“It’s taken you this long to work that out?” he said looking around them. Prudence Spencer was dancing with Mr. Landon, and Toby the widow Lady Blake, who Anthony knew he’d spent several nights sharing a bed with recently.
“No, I knew that before, but no one usually bothers with me. Now, apparently, I am worthy of their attention and probing questions about why someone like you would want to marry someone like me.”
“I too have noticed people want to speak with me, when normally they run the other way,” he said. “I’d hate to think I was becoming respectable,” he drawled.
“I doubt even I could make you respectable, my lord.”
He snorted, then looked down into her face, and there it was again, that fiery feeling in his chest. Why did this woman chase away the cold? But Anthony knew it wouldn’t last; nothing ever did.
Chapter Twenty
Evie had arrivedat the ball and instantly been bombarded with questions and snide comments under the guise of congratulating her on her engagement. Women who had never spoken or acknowledged her suddenly appeared to be her best friend…if her best friend wanted to subtly attack her, that was.
One thing was now abundantly clear, however. People thought the Earl of Hamilton could have done better.
“It’s all very well for you to find the situation funny, yet I cannot. So far, someone has hinted that I may carry your child. Or I have compromised you.”
“Someone actually said those things to you?” He raised a brow.
“They did not say the words outright, but I understood the meaning. Society may look polished and cultured. It may titter and take tea from dainty cups while eating sandwiches no bigger than my finger—”
