“Do you always stammer?” Rose asked. “Because though my friend might have an interest in dancing with you, I will not recommend you to her if you cannot also carry on an amusing conversation.”
She saw him look over her shoulder to where Claire sat as it dawned on Franklin to whom she referred. No doubt they locked gazes since her best friend was most likely watching the exchange.
Rose noted with satisfaction that a small smile appeared on his appealing face, along with an interested spark in his cocoa brown eyes and a becomingly humble blush to his handsome cheeks.
Perfect. She had a feeling they would be well matched. Claire was an intelligent young lady with lovely blond hair, a sweet face, a good disposition, and blessed with a certain vivacity. Rose’s impression of Franklin was that he, too, was clever and easy-going. What’s more, Claire’s father and her grandfather before him were extremely successful financiers.
Any man should be pleased to gain Claire’s interest.
“Are you speaking of Miss Appleton?” Franklin asked, still looking past Rose.
“If I were, are you agreeable to such an association?” Rose asked, wanting to hear an affirmative before she said any more.
Franklin coughed. Rose knew her direct approach bothered some and scandalized others. So be it. She usually got results, and more quickly than beating about the bush.
“I would very much like to dance with Miss Appleton,” Franklin admitted. “However, it seems she is otherwise occupied.”
Rose turned to find her seat had been taken by James Sonders who clearly was attempting to monopolize Claire. For her part, Claire’s green-eyed gaze was still trained on Rose and Franklin’s encounter while admirably trying to wrest her hand from Sonders’ grasp.
Rose sighed.Good God!She couldn’t leave her alone for one minute.
She turned back to Franklin. “My dear friend is not in the least interested in Mr. Sonders, I assure you. I suggest that you and I rescue her since the next two dances on her card are free. I will engage the gentleman while you whisk away Miss Appleton to the dance floor. Agreed?”
Franklin merely nodded, seemingly quite impressed by Rose’s forthright manner.
With a “good evening, gentlemen” to his companions, leaving them with her most dazzling smile, Rose swished her gray-silk skirts as she turned on her heel and headed back to Claire, secure in the knowledge that Franklin was following on her heels like a good pup.
“Oh, Mr. Sonders,” Rose exclaimed as she approached the blond-haired fellow. “I was so hoping to run into you.” She grabbed his wrist so suddenly that he released Claire’s hand.
James Sonders looked up at her. “Miss Malloy,” he greeted her and, as a gentleman, immediately stood.
Out of the corner of her eye, she knew Franklin had taken her advice and was indeed striking while the branding iron was burning hot. He grasped Claire’s hand, brought it to his lips, and, in another instant, made off with her to where couples were dancing a slow Boston-style waltz.
“What can I do for you?” Sonders asked.
Rose stared at him, the man with unfortunately large teeth and an even larger fortune. “Oh, um. I believe if I’m not mistaken that my brother is looking for you.”
With that vague intimation, Rose curtsied and hurried away. She circled the room once more, sipping at a drink she’d grabbed from the refreshment table, something fruity, and wished she had an interest in any man there. She listened to the music and once more felt the tug of regret that she’d not had the opportunity to dance in public with Finn.
Taking another sip of her drink, she admonished herself against self-pity. After all, one glorious night, they had danced together, swaying to the sound of a young violinist practicing one floor above at his boarding house. The unskilled musician was terrible, but she’d enjoyed every second of being in Finn’s arms.
Rose came out of her reverie to realize that John Claymore was approaching her from one side, no doubt wanting to try and take up where they left off the previous summer. Her eldest sister, Elise with her husband, Michael, was approaching from the other. Moreover, she had a look of purpose on her lovely face.
Rose slipped through the doorway behind her.
Intending to go back into the Tremont’s ballroom through the door at the other end of the hallway, she stopped stock still upon seeing her brother. Reed and his wife, Charlotte, her unmistakable auburn hair drawing Rose’s gaze like a beacon, were chatting with the big-toothed James Sonders.
“Drats!” she muttered, feeling surrounded. She didn’t need Reed interrogating her on her doings of the past week. She’d been caught by their mother trying to go out without a chaperone after dinner. It had been harmless enough. Rose had wanted only to listen to a band on the Common and desired only her own company. Yet one would have thought she’d been secretly going to meet a man in a rooming house, by the way that Evelyn Malloy had carried on with a long lecture about propriety.
If only that had been the case. Rose’s heart gave its usual painful squeeze at the delicious memory of secretly meeting Finn.
Rose stood still until she realized her family hadn’t seen her. Though she wanted to watch Claire and Franklin have their first dance, she walked in the opposite direction. Same people, same dances. Same, same, same. No wonder her other sister, Sophie, had gone clear across the country to live, as far from home as one could get and still live in the United States.
Rose sighed and began a slow meander down the spacious hallway. When she reached the end, she climbed the wide stairs with its pretty floral runner. As she reached the landing halfway, she thought she heard footsteps begin at the bottom, and she faltered a moment. Obviously another partygoer was exploring the venue, or perhaps it was a hotel guest with a room on one of the three upper floors.
She continued upward until she reached the next floor, where another long hallway stretched out before her. She strolled toward the other end, intending to descend the far staircase and make a complete circle.
Hearing the steps behind her again, she increased her pace a little, her heart racing slightly. When she could stand it no longer and with nowhere to hide, she whirled about to face her tracker, hands on her hips.
