Before her partner could offer to go with her, Julia disappeared amongst the tide of people crowding toward the dance floor.
In a very few minutes, she was on the level above and prowling the deserted hallway, hoping to find her hostess’s bedroom.
Chapter Four
“There was a battle of the petticoat and the cravat at Lady Pritchard’s ball, when Miss T__ in quite a pelt gave Lord M__ a sound tongue-lashing near the ladies’ retiring room. Although no good can come of eavesdropping, a nearby female heard the earl offer to ... Alas, dear reader, we cannot print his words lest we lose our license.”
-The Gazette
Jasper watched MissSudbury give her hapless partner the slip and leave the room.Hm. Where was the hoyden off to?So much for a chaperone.
Frowning, he searched for the Zebodar woman, only to find her sipping champagne and chatting with someone at the next table.
Not really sure why he was still interested or what he was going to do, he followed Miss Sudbury. By the time he pushed his way through the throng in the ever-hotter ballroom and strode into the hallway, there was no sign of her.
In all probability, she was in the ladies’ retiring room, and he didn’t want to be discovered lurking outside that particular door. Still, he could stroll the passageway until she returned.
While their next dance wasn’t until after dinner, if he ran into her, he could escort her back into the ballroom, and perhaps even ask her in a very roundabout way whether she had somehow — by mistake and completely innocently — opened his jewelry box inside his armoire and helped herself to his father’s sapphire cravat pin.
He realized all her antagonistic words had occurred as soon as he’d broached the topic previously. She’d created a good distraction, and he’d fallen for it.
Yet if her pretty cheeks turned pink and her sparkling blue eyes darted back and forth when he asked her, he would know the truth.
Thus, he began to pace, going to the end of the hall where long curtains were pulled across the window overlooking the street. And then he strolled back again, trying to keep his eyes averted as ladies came and went.
After a few minutes, he considered the staircase.Was it possible she’d gone back downstairs, maybe to the cloakroom?There was usually a seamstress there. However, it seemed unthinkable the girl would leave the floor without her chaperone.
He eyed the staircase again. She could have no reason to go upstairs. Yet he took a few steps toward it, unsure whether he would go down or ascend. Then he halted. This was madness.
At that moment, however, movement on the stairs caused his head to whip around, fully expecting Miss Sudbury to come into view.
A young man, his coat buttoned crookedly, and a disheveled young lady with very red lips and flushed cheeks descended. Relief flooded him that it wasn’t Miss Sudbury. Until that moment, it hadn’t occurred to him she might have taken off to enjoy a dalliance with some mutton monger.
On the other hand, these two were in for trouble if they returned to the ballroom in such a state.
Intercepting the wayward pair, Jasper ignored how the young man swallowed nervously and the pretty miss couldn’t meet his eyes. His glance took them both in and then looked decidedly past them.
