“I did not. Though I saw that Lady Gainsworth and the Duchess of Donburrow won.” He winked at Katherine and appreciated her little blush. “It seems you are quite the expert at cards.”
“She is,” Mrs. Sambrook said with a laugh. “If you are ever in a situation where you play whist with her, be sure to pick her as a partner. You do not want to play against my niece.”
Katherine shook her head. “You make it sound as though I would roundly trounce him if he were not my partner.”
“That sounds about right,” Robert teased.
Mrs. Sambrook glanced from one of them to the other, that appraising gaze more focused now. “Well, I think I shall get myself some punch. Will you two be fine if I leave you?”
Robert could tell that the question was truly aimed at Katherine. A way to suss out if she wanted to be alone with him. He waited her response and was pleased when she nodded. “Of course, Aunt Bethany.”
“I actually came to see if Lady Gainsworth might wish to dance with me,” he said.
She glanced over at where Charlotte and Ewan were playing. Their choice was the perfect song for a country jig. There would be little touching, at least nothing intimate like in a slower dance. But it was better than nothing.
“I would like that,” Katherine responded.
He nodded to her aunt, then extended a hand to Katherine. She took it, electricity leaping between them. He guided her into the space on the floor meant for dancing and joined in on the dance in progress.
When they swung in close together, he smiled. “I’m glad you accepted my invitation to dance, Katherine. I thought after earlier that you might run.”
Her smile faded. “Why would I do that?”
They parted and he waited to respond as they each performed their complicated steps and then stepped in together once more. “Because you’ve been hiding from me all day.”
She blushed. “That isn’t true.”
He arched a brow and they separated. Her cheeks held their flush as she twirled and then returned to him.
“Very well, Imighthave been avoiding you,” she admitted. “I was embarrassed that we were caught in such a state by Emma and Meg. I worried they would not like me anymore. But they quickly disabused me of such a notion.”
Her eyes were a little clearer as she said that, and he relaxed. He’d never believed the women would not be kind to Katherine in her upset, but to see that she had been calmed made him love his friends’ wives even more.
They returned to each other, and he said, “I am sorry that I caused you grief even for a moment.”
Her eyes went wide and she stumbled in the steps. “You? We were both in that room, Robert. We were kissing each other.”
He licked his lips and couldn’t help but think about doing the same right this very moment. “Yes, we were. And now I must ask you a question.”
Before he could, the dance dictated they part again. She kept her gaze on him, confused and concerned before they returned and touched hands. “What is your question?”
The music ended and he executed a bow. “Come to me tonight?”
She caught her breath, and for a moment he saw all the conflict in her mind play out across her features. But it took her only a few seconds before she nodded.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Something in him buckled at her acquiescence and his stomach flipped. He was so tangled up in her now. His happiness was starting to be bound to her presence.
“You two just danced the most serious jig in history,” James said as he approached them, arm around Emma and a grin on his face. “Charlotte has said she will play a quadrille. May we trade partners so that poor Katherine will not have to continue in whatever dour little conversation you were sharing?”
Katherine laughed and sent Robert a side glance. “His Grace and I finished our dour little conversation. I would be pleased to dance the quadrille with you.”
She flitted off with James to her place in the line beside him, but even as all their friends began, he couldn’t stop watching her. And knowing that whatever was between them was growing. If he was not careful, it would soon be out of control.
Chapter Seventeen
Katherine stood at Robert’s door for the third occasion in as many nights. But this time she didn’t feel nervous. No, that old anxiety had faded. What she felt was slightly more terrifying.
