Chapter Twenty-Six
“Not only do the ladies catch the Earl of M__’s eye, but so do their baubles. Lord M__ pocketed a brooch belonging to Lady R__, who was most upset by the incident. The guests at Apsley House bore witness as Lord M__’s finances were again brought into question.”
-The Times
The evening was nearingits end with one dance left,La Boulangere. Julia had managed to regain her good sense and avoided being alone with Jasper the rest of the evening in an attempt not to make a moonstruck fool of herself. She’d even left her reticule with Mrs. Zebodar, hoping he saw it as her promise to behave.
Turning to leave the ladies’ retiring room, with a disobedient lock of hair secured, and Mrs. Zebodar in front of her, Julia stood upon something sharp. Looking down to see what had pained her through the sole of her slipper, she caught her breath and moved slightly forward so her gown covered the dazzler.
Without hesitation, she bent and retrieved an exquisite brooch from the polished parquet floor.
Ostensibly, her prayers to continue helping the poor had been answered.
A hundred blankets, a hundred wool coats, a hundred loaves of warm bread and bowls of hearty stew — she wasn’t sure what the piece of jewelry would turn into but something exceedingly wonderful. Something far superior to diamonds and emeralds.
In an instant, she pressed the large jeweled brooch into her palm and followed Mrs. Zebodar back into the ballroom. In a few steps, she would reclaim her reticule and secure the jewel in its satin depths.
Before she reached their table, Jasper appeared at her side.
“I should have asked earlier, but you’ve been a difficult woman to catch tonight. Do you have a partner for the next dance? It’s the last one.”
“No,” she blurted, still thinking of hiding the brooch.
“Perfect.” Without waiting, he took her hand, luckily the free one, and placed it on his arm.
Julia found herself being led to where the other dancers were lining up. This was untenable. She couldn’t possibly press palms, hold hands, or get through an interminable quadrille with the brooch still clutched in her grasp.
Heart pounding, she reached across her body and under his arm, fearing she would drop the brooch, but managed to slip it into Jasper’s pocket, despite it being angled back fashionably toward his buttocks.
He must have felt something, for he started to look down just as she yanked her hand back.
The music began. Julia would have been glad to partner with him and enjoy the final dance, except she couldn’t think how she would retrieve the brooch.
“My apologies,” he said, snagging her attention. “That was not well done of me, earlier tonight.”
She couldn’t believe her ears.Was he apologizing for his usual behavior?“I believe I led you to think it would be acceptable, even welcome. The fault is not all yours.”
She felt somehow purer for speaking the truth. It certainly wasn’t fair to put all the blame on him when she’d been such a willing culprit.
“Be that as it may,” Jasper said, “I do know better and promise you I can behave in a manner befitting a gentleman, although you are the most tempting female I’ve ever encountered.” He finished by offering her his most charming smile, and she nearly forgot about the brooch.
And then the quadrille ended, and Jasper returned her to her chaperone.
“All in all, a splendid evening, over too soon,” he declared. “Shall we go?”
Unless she were in his bedroom sometime soon, Julia could think of no other reason for him to remove his coat in her presence or for her to have access to his pocket. Letting him make love to her would certainly be no hardship, but seemed a rather drastic manner of recovering the jewelry.
Inspired, Julia gave him a little shove back toward the chair while taking the one beside him.
