“Someone needs to lecture you from time to time.” Eleanor nodded to the other side of the room. “Now, come with me. I have some women I would like you to meet.”
He wanted to turn and run. It would be nothing to handle the business he had left to do then leave. However, leaving a ball early wasn’t conducive to finding a wife.
Instead, he followed Eleanor around the room, meeting young women and their mothers, smiling and talking with them though none of the ones he met could sustain a conversation that revolved around anything other than the pianoforte or drawing.
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Elizabeth,” he said, dipping his head to a pretty blonde woman with bright blue eyes and rosy cheeks.
She bats her eyes and giggles far too much, as if she is trying to take flight instead of have a sensible conversation. Nothing like my darling.
Lady Elizabeth curtseyed. “The pleasure is mine, Your Grace. Are you enjoying the ball? I’ve heard that you rarely come to the first of the Season.”
“It’s pleasant.” Andrew glanced around the room again, still hoping to see a flash of the feral creature. She wasn’t there though. In the time since leaving the terrace, he had been looking for her and hadn’t seen any sign of her once.
Eleanor cleared her throat. “Lady Elizabeth, I’ve heard you’re quite the accomplished painter, are you not?”
“I’ve done quite well with some paintings, I do believe, but accomplished is open to interpretation I believe. Many people see art in different ways.” Lady Elizabeth turned her attention to him. “Do you have any talents, Your Grace?”
Andrew shifted to the side, thinking he saw a honey-blonde flash, but there was nothing there. “No, I don’t have any particular talents to speak of openly.”
Eleanor forced a laugh, shooting him a warning glare. “Do not allow the Duke of Foxdrey to fool you. He’s quite a pianist when he deigns to play.”
“If you would excuse me,” Andrew said, the last of his patience for the conversation running out. “I have business I need to attend to tonight. I wish you a good evening, Lady Elizabeth.”
Before Eleanor or Lady Elizabeth’s mother had a chance to intervene, he turned and disappeared into the crowd of people, easing his way around the edge of the dance floor.
Is she out there and dancing with another man?
For just a moment, his blood ran hot. His hands clenched into fists at his side. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t like the thought of his wild cat dancing with another man. Jealousy had seldom been a problem for him before.
When he entertained affairs with women, he made sure there were no emotions involved. And while he treated those women well, they were nothing more than a temporary companionship.
Andrew let out a deep breath as he stepped out of the ballroom and into an alcove to catch his breath.
Perhaps he wasn’t meant to be a married man. Even the thought of spending time with another woman, one who cared only for gossip and idle frivolities, made his skin prickle.
Eleanor appeared in front of him, her brows pulled together, her lips pursed, and with her hands on her hips. “I thought you were going to take this seriously and now you’re out here after being cold to more than one young woman who would’ve made you a good wife.”
“I know that they might have, but they are… dull, Eleanor. I cannot marry a woman who cannot think for herself.”
“They might not be as dull once you get to know them.” Eleanor stood off to the side slightly as a man passed.
Andrew smirked. “See, even you cannot say that they aren’t dull.”
The corner of her mouth twitched as she rolled her eyes. “Fine, those women were not the brightest, but not every woman you’re going to meet will be.”
“I have doubts about that.”
Though, there was the little spitfire he kissed on the terrace. She was far from boring. He could see the fight in her every time they spoke, the need to spar with him each time they disagreed.
The things I could do to her…
“Have you ever thought that perhaps what you need is a woman who is steady? Who wants to stay home and take care of the family, and that means she might not be as exciting as the women you’ve pursued in the past?”
“Have you considered that the more interesting women have already been whisked away by their fathers because the last thing those men may want is for their daughters to be taken by the so-called Fox.”
Eleanor studied him for a moment, her head tipping just slightly to the side. “You brought this upon yourself. You knew what you were doing when you decided to bed those women, and now you must pay the consequences. Finding a suitable wife for you is going to be quite the feat.”
“I don’t wish to talk about this further. Not tonight.” Andrew stepped out of the alcove, catching the eye of the man he had been waiting for all evening and motioning him over. “I have business to take care of.”
