Rowan looked at the lady in question. She held her ever-present handkerchief at her breast and sighed heavily as she looked out over the crowd. “I’m not sure. I think she rather likes being sad.”
“True, she does seem to revel in it.” Percy let his eyes move on. “Ah, I know, Winston Richards. His engagement to Miss Amanda Gregory just ended. You must not be as desperate as he is.”
Rowan found the gentleman in the crowd. He was actually laughing at present. “Winston was tupping every whore in arm’s length and hehatedMiss Gregory. He was only marrying her to appease his father.”
Percy shook his head. “You may be correct then—you are the most pathetic sack in the room.”
Rowan laughed again at the teasing, but before he could reply, Percy caught his arm and shook it. “Wait, I have it. I know who is far more miserable than you are.”
“Who?” Rowan said, trying to determine who had caught Percy’s eye in the crowd.
“Lady No,” Percy said with triumph. “Er, Lady Sophie.”
“Lady Louisa’s niece?” Rowan asked, though he knew full well to whom his friend referred. He was an old friend of Lady Louisa and no one could say that Sophie wasn’t…fetching.
He found her in the crowd on the dancefloor. She was taking a turn with a gentleman. Her dark hair framed her slender face to perfection, bringing out the brightness of her green eyes and the fullness of her pink lips.
“She’s dancing, you idiot,” he said. Then his eyes went wide. “Wait, she’s dancing?”
Percy nodded and the triumph in his eyes doubled. “She is! It seems Lady No has begun to say yes! Though she appears anything but pleased about it.”
Rowan stared at her again, and sure enough, Sophie looked annoyed as the music ended and she curtseyed to her partner. She was moving off the dancefloor when another man approached her. They spoke briefly and then she was led back for yet another turn. And as she spun out of his sight, he caught the frustration and desperation in her expression.
“You know, you may be correct. Lady Sophie may indeed be the most miserable person in the room,” Rowan said. “What in the world is going on? Everyone knows she doesn’t dance, or engage at all with virtually any man.Whyis she dancing?”
“You haven’t heard? Well, of course you haven’t, this is your first event out since…” Percy cut himself off, and suddenly he reached out to squeeze Rowan’s arm in solidarity. “Well, it’s your first event in a long while. At the start of the Season, she just started…accepting invitations. No one knows why, but she has a massive fortune at her disposal, so of course she hasn’t had a moment’s peace since she accepted her first dance a week ago.”
Rowan stiffened. Her fortune. It was over fifty thousand pounds, if the rumors over the years were to be believed. He examined her more closely. She looked no more pleased to be taking a turn with her current partner than she had with her last.
Which meant she was accepting these requests from gentlemen for some other reason than her own desire to find a mate.
Rowan had not considered marriage. It wasn’t that he was opposed to the institution, but it wasn’t on the top of his mind. He’d never focused much on one lady over another. He took lovers, he enjoyed sex immensely. But he wasn’t ready to settle down.
Only now that prospect seemed like one that could solve a great many problems. If he found a lady with money, rather like the one dancing past him right now with a scowl on her face, his brothers and their schemes would matter not.
Perhaps whatever was driving Sophie could make a match between them something mutually beneficial. She was certainly comely. He’d always been attracted to her, despite the fact that she avoided him as strenuously as she avoided any other man.
“You are worlds away,” Percy said. “Tell me you aren’t pondering the charms of Lady Sophie now that she has become Lady Yes.”
Rowan pursed his lips at the question and the tone with which it was said. In truth, he’d always respected Sophie’s independent spirit. Why should she say yes to some fool just to do what Society expected?
“No, just curious as to why the sudden change,” he said. “Perhaps I’ll call on her aunt and see if I can wheedle the truth out of her. We’ve always been friendly.”
Percy’s brows lifted. “If you could solve the mystery, you’d be the hero of the Season, I’m sure.”
Rowan shrugged. “I’m not much interested in the title. And to be honest, I am not interested in staying tonight either. I’m going to go.”
Percy looked ready to make an argument against the departure, but then he sighed. “Very well. I can see that you are truly troubled by whatever went on between you and your brothers. I hope you’ll consider talking to me about it.”
Rowan nodded. “I will. Later.”
Percy said his goodbyes and Rowan made his way through the crowd to the foyer where he asked for his horse to be brought around. But as he waited, he found himself thinking not of Alistair and Keaton and their dastardly ways, but of Sophie and the mystery of why Lady No had become Lady Yes.
And if he just might be able to use that change to his own advantage.
Chapter Three
Sophie limped into the parlor and flopped herself into a chair across from her aunt. Louisa lifted her brows as she handed over a cup a tea. “Something troubling you?”
