Numerous guests stood visiting while musicians played softly in the background. Dancing had yet to begin.
“Where would you prefer to stand?” his aunt asked. She insisted that since he was a duke, others should approach him rather than them wandering through ballrooms.
Philip didn’t especially care for her method as it felt too formal. He preferred to pause to speak with those he wanted to greet as he went and keep walking if he didn’t wish to talk to someone. It was more difficult to escape a person he didn’t like if they approached him.
“Let us walk around the room before we decide,” he suggested.
They hadn’t gone far when they came upon Lord and Lady Bolton. The couple was newly married, but he’d known Anthony Stanhope since university. Though now the Earl of Bolton, he was the same serious-minded person he’d always been. It was clear that his wife offered him much-needed levity and enjoyment of life. The man looked much happier since his marriage.
“Good evening, Bolton.”
“Your Grace.” Bolton bowed as his wife curtsied. “How good to see you again.”
The couple had held a dinner party the previous month that Philip thoroughly enjoyed. Watching the pair, who were so obviously in love, made him wonder if there was more to marriage than he’d thought.
But love was rare and fate fickle. It seemed more likely to be struck by lightning than to fall under its spell, let alone for two people to experience it simultaneously.
“A worthy cause is impossible to ignore,” Philip answered. “You remember my aunt, Lady Carstairs.”
“Of course.”
After pleasantries were shared, Philip glanced around the room. “It appears they will have an excellent turnout despite the poor weather.”
Guests were continuing to file in and already crowded the room. A lady in blue caught his notice. Though he only saw a glimpse of her, he knew immediately that it was Eliza. She was across the room, yet still, his heart sped, his body tightened, and all his senses went on high alert.
He turned away, taken aback by his reaction. It felt as if he’d lost control on some fundamental level when that was something he prided himself on and a requirement of his position.
Unfortunately, his body ignored all of that.
An elbow nudged him in the side, and he looked to see Aunt Eleanor staring at him.
At his blank look, she frowned. “Lord Bolton asked you a question.”
“Apologies.” He shifted his focus to his friend. “I thought I saw someone I knew.”
Bolton smiled, his gaze moving past Philip in Eliza’s direction.
He only hoped the earl didn’t realize it was a lady who’d caught his attention or who that lady was. His friend wouldn’t let him hear the end of it given their previous conversations on marriage.
“Not at all. I was asking if you intended to remain in London until Parliament is in session again.”
“More than likely.” That wouldn’t be until February, but staying in London until then, especially over the Christmas holiday, was preferable to returning to the country estate where so many memories filled the halls.
Parliamentary sessions could be tedious, but his father had felt it was an important part of his duties, and Philip agreed.
The conversation turned to politics briefly, something Philip normally enjoyed speaking to Bolton about. But this evening, it was all he could do to keep his mind on the topic when the image of a lady in a blue gown held his thoughts.
At last, he gave in to the urge to turn to look at Eliza again. Though she’d moved, he found her as if knowing intuitively where she was despite the crowded room. Perhaps there was more to the connection he’d felt with her than he realized.
“Is something amiss?” Bolton asked, once again looking past him to see who had caught his attention.
“Not at all.” Other than the fact that he could no longer deny his attraction to Eliza.
There. He’d admitted it to himself. Hopefully, that would allow him to push it from his mind. How unfortunate that the favor he’d agreed to grant her prevented him from avoiding her in the future.
A voice in his head laughed at the thought. As if that were possible.
“I saw someone with whom I need to speak,” Philip added. “But I’m certain they’re not going anywhere.” He could hardly rush to her side and request a dance when the musicians had yet to begin playing.
