“You look lovely this evening, Miss Gibbons,” he said. They began the first steps of the dance, and Hannah let her years of practice take over her footwork.
“Thank you, Lord Bradley.”
“And how is your family?”
Hannah was grateful for his conversation as it kept her attention fixed on him rather than the couple dancing beside them. Lord Bradley’s dancing was fluid and executed with precision, so she should be able to make it through the dance without needing to concentrate. “They are well. And yours?”
“Very well, thank you.”
Her gaze strayed to Noah again before she could stop herself, and immediately her vision blurred with tears.
“Miss Gibbons,” Lord Bradley said, and she returned her attention to him. “Have I ever told you about the time I ended up on the roof of Willowcrest?”
Hannah tilted her head. “I don’t believe you have.” To be honest, she wasn’t sure he had shared much of anything with her. When Hannah spent time at the Bradley home, it was most often with Noah.
“Well,” he continued. “I was attempting to impress a friend of mine and declared I could scale the west wall of Willowcrest, to which my friend laughed.” He smiled. “Of course, that only made my resolve stronger, and I had no choice but to follow through and prove my claim.”
“Of course,” Hannah said, her voice quiet.
“Have you ever fallen to the ground a story up in the air?”
Hannah looked up at him. “I thought this story was about you ending up on the roof?”
“It is.” He spun her in a gentle twirl. “But I didn’t claim to have accomplished it in one attempt.”
“I cannot say I have experienced it. I assume it was quite painful.”
His chest jerked with a laugh. “It was painful, but I was not to be deterred. I had to prove myself, especially after such a humiliating moment.”
“And how many attempts did it take?”
“Only two.”
Hannah watched his smile. She needed to focus. Lord Bradley was doing his best to keep her distracted, and she needed to put forth her best effort as well. “And was your friend impressed?”
He raised his shoulder in a shrug. “To be honest, I am unsure. After the fall, they tried to dissuade me from another attempt. But, being a reckless young lad, I preferred my physical being beaten and bruised rather than my pride. And then she proceeded to yell at me until I returned to the ground.” His smile widened.
“She?” The question slipped out of her.
“Ah—” Lord Bradley’s smile dimmed, and he looked at the floor. “Yes. A friend from a long time ago.” He turned Hannah in a gentle spin, then found her gaze. “My point is, you have your entire life ahead of you, Miss Gibbons. And one failure does not mean you shall never have success. Even with the same goal. You can always keep trying. I hope you understand that.”
Hannah tried to decipher his meaning. It could be he was truly only trying to distract her. But part of her got the innate sense that he was trying to buoy her spirits. And, perhaps, to convince her not to give up on Noah.
Throughout the rest of their dance, Lord Bradley continued to tell her tales of his friend, always leaving out her name and keeping her a mystery to the listener. But Hannah could see the way his eyes lit up whenever he thought of her, even after all these years. And while he was trying to distract Hannah, all she could wonder was if she would hold on to her love for Noah as Lord Bradley clearly had for this woman.
When the dance ended, a swarm of people surrounded her. Lady Chatham introduced her to men, and Hannah accepted dances and compliments without any true realization or memory of it all. She hoped the men would remember the dance they had, for she would never recall it. Finally, after the crowd about her thinned, Noah approached.
“Hannah,” Noah said on a breath. “Do you have a dance left? Or has my mother filled your evening entirely?” His gaze washed over her face, his brow puckered.
She stared into his brown eyes, then swallowed and shook her head. “I don’t know.”
His brow knitted further. “You . . . what do you mean you don’t know?”
She shook her head as her mind scrambled, and she tried to think. “I honestly do not know. I have been asked for many dances, and I haven’t kept track.”
He pursed his lips and looked to the floor. “If you do not wish to dance with me then you need not make up an excuse.”
Hannah’s mouth fell open, and her eyes widened. “My thoughts have been preoccupied, so I would appreciate if you could find some sympathy and compassion, Lord Noah. I have done nothing with malice or contempt, only a blurry mind.”
