“You look pale, little one,” her brother murmured, his gaze sweeping over her.
It was what she’d gotten used to with him. Protectiveness blended with possessiveness.
“Stay close to me, especially during the first dance,” his words confirmed it all as he spoke. “It would show everyone that nobody should trifle with you. Your big brother is here to protect you as much as he can. However, you do need to show them that a Coulson is graceful and is not prone to fidget.”
“Joshua,” Lucy whispered, feeling deeply uncomfortable. “Look around. There must be a lady here who has caught your eye. A gentleman should never waste a first dance on his sister. We don’t want them to think that you have no interest in finding a wife. You are of age, after all.”
Her brother gave her a thin-lipped smile and replied, “Do not fret about what others say. My duty is to my sister. After all, a brother’s watch never ends.”
Lucy could only nod weakly at that declaration. She reluctantly joined her brother on the dance floor, barely remembering the blur of rigid movements.
Her brother knew the steps well and could perform them with precision, but somehow, everything felt like a drill. Worse, his eyes were too intently on hers that she had to avert her gaze.
Joshua needed to know how to relax his grip on her. He was overly attentive.
When the music mercifully ended, he walked her near a cluster of ferns as if to hide her behind the fronds. Then, he patted her hand as if she were a child or a pet.
“It was not that bad, was it not, Lucy?” he asked, with a smile warmer than the one he gave her before the dance. “Don’t stray too far. I am about to engage in necessary political discourse with Lord Ferris.”
Across the room, another pair of siblings was engaged in earnest conversation. Daniel stood by a pillar, his arms folded across his chest. The cool marble pressed faintly against his shoulder, but it did little to ease the tightness that had settled through his body.
He clenched his jaw as he saw Lucy being deposited to the side after that awkward display of a dance with her insufferable brother.
The fellow had barely spared her a glance before abandoning her like an obligation fulfilled. Daniel’s fingers curled slightly against his sleeve.
Bloody fool.
Lucy remained where she had been left, her hands lightly clasped before her. She attempted a small smile at a passing couple, though no one stopped to speak with her. The sight stirred something sharp and unreasonable in Daniel’s chest.
She should not be standing there alone.
There was nothing remarkable about her position, of course. Many ladies lingered at the edges of ballrooms between dances. Yet Lucy seemed almost… misplaced there, like something bright that had been carelessly set aside.
“You are brooding once more, Daniel. You do know that it’s time to smile and celebrate. This is a ball, after all, and not a meeting with your tenants or the parliament,” Daphne reminded him gently.
Daniel did not turn his head.
“I am fine over here, Daphne,” he grumbled, although his eyes were still fixed on Lucy.
Fine was not the correct word. Restless, perhaps, or irritated. Or distracted in a manner he found deeply inconvenient.
Lucy shifted her weight slightly, glancing toward the dance floor where laughter and music carried through the glittering room. Candlelight caught in the soft strands of her hair. She looked, he thought with a faint frown, like a wallflower who did not deserve to go unnoticed.
Meanwhile, his sister had narrowed her eyes at him.
It was a trial to live with several intelligent sisters.
“Ask her for the next dance,” Daphne suggested.
Daniel huffed quietly.
“I am not interested in twirling around the dance floor, sister,” he replied, still surly. “You know how it is. If I dance with the same woman twice within a week, the ton will begin to speculate about a wedding. I am not planning to be wed soon, nor do I have time to deal with the complications of rumors and scandal.”
Nor did he have time for distractions.
His gaze drifted again to Lucy.
Her bright curiosity, the warmth in her eyes, the way she looked at him as though he were not merely a title and a reputation but a man worth speaking to.
