“Please don’t interrupt me—else my courage may fail me!” he stammered.
“Oh, Charles,” she said in a rush, deciding it was kinder to cut him off. “You are a dear friend, but I should not suit you at all.”
He looked perplexed. “B-But why? I don’t understand.”
“I am too opinionated, too outspoken?—”
“I am sure that you would learn to temper your feelings,” he interjected.
“I am sure that I wouldnot,” she replied firmly. “I assure you, for a man in your position, who hopes to advance in the ministry, I would be a liability.”
That gave him pause to think. “But Alex, perhaps …”
“It is truly for the best,” she said.
“I …”
The sound of approaching footsteps caused Duckleigh to fall silent.
A gentleman appeared from around a boxwood hedge, his face wreathed in the pungent smoke from a cheroot.
Alex hastily took a step back from her companion as Branford exhaled slowly, forming perfect ‘O’s that drifted lazily away in the breeze as he regarded them.
“Is there a new country dance?” he inquired dryly. “One that entails a jaunt down a garden path?”
Charles stiffened. “I was just taking Alex—Miss Chilton— back to the ballroom. She was feeling a trifle … overheated.”
“Then you may take yourself off while she enjoys a last little interlude in the cooling breeze. I shall escort Miss Chilton back as soon as I have had a word with her.”
“I will not leave Miss Chilton out here in the dark alone?—”
“She willnotbe alone,” pointed out the earl.
Charles stopped, nonplussed. “That is what I meant, sir. Alone withyou.”
“You still seem a trifle confused. If she is with me, she will not be alone,” said Branford.
Charles was momentarily speechless, his face betraying a mixture of anger and consternation.
“That’s quite enough,” snapped Alex. “How dare either of you discuss me as if I ‘m some featherheaded widgeon incapable making up my own mind.”
Charles flushed while Branford’s mouth twitched up at the corners.
She caught the flicker of amusement and threw a black look at him before turning back to Duckleigh.
“Charles, you may return to the ballroom while I listen to what Lord Branford wishes to say. As a gentleman, he will naturally provide me with a proper escort back to my friends.”
Duckleigh clenched his hands into fists, but her words gave him no alternative but to agree. “If that is what you wish, Alex, then obviously I shall abide by your decision.” He inclined a formal bow, and after throwing one last glare at the earl, retreated with as much dignity as he could muster.
“Hmmph,” remarked Branford, casually blowing out another smoke ring. “Your friend has more gumption than I imagined.”
“His emotions are rather on edge tonight. And no doubt it didn’t help matters that you interrupted when he was making his declaration…”
Branford choked on a mouthful of smoke. “What!” he managed to sputter.
“I said, he was asking me to marry him when you?—”
“That’s ridiculous!”
