The lucky chap!Vincent wanted to knock him flat.
Her eyes widened when she saw him. “How was your ride, my lord?” she asked. “I admit that I am becoming more at ease with each long journey.”
“That was hardly long,” Lord Fincham said. “In fact, with you as my partner, it seemed monstrously brief.”
Bleh!Vincent hoped Lady Brilliance didn’t appreciate such drivel.
“Then the next part of your ride will return to the normal scheme of time,” he told the man. “Because Lady Twitchard has announced we are all to switch partners. And Lady Brilliance is now mine.”
“Egads!”Lord Fincham said, looking around. “Then I must make haste and find my new one before all the pretty ladies are taken.”
Vincent and Brilliance watched him go, heading straight to Lady Georgiana, who was staring back at them with a glowering expression.
“That wasn’t nice of him,” Lady Brilliance said. “At least he ought not to have stated it aloud. Any of the ladies can be good company regardless of their looks. And in truth, I don’t think there is an unattractive one here.”
Privately, he thought there was an assortment of horse-faced, big-eared, snaggle-toothed, scraggly-haired ladies along with the few pretty ones, such as Lady Martine and Lady Georgiana. However, Lady Brilliance was the only breathtaking beauty at the party.
Aloud, Vincent said, “He is an insolent blackguard who should have kept his miserably mean thoughts to himself.”
“Oh my,” she said. And then her laughter bubbled up again.
He was glad he had been the one to inspire it. What’s more, it was infectious, and he laughed with her. A life with her by his side would be one of happiness, he was certain.
“Shall we ride?” he asked, as others were starting to gain their saddles.
“If we must,” she replied. Then she leaned closer until he could catch her intoxicating floral scent. “I wasn’t lying about enjoying riding a little more each time, but I am happier to beyourpartner than Lord Fincham’s. Or anyone else’s here, for that matter.”
He beamed down at her, feeling honored. And when he assisted her into the saddle, he felt something else. Touching her, lifting her, sliding her foot into the special leather slipper stirrup — all these incidental encounters left him hard as a piano leg.
In turn, this made climbing into his own saddle a tad painful. But she was worth it!
Chapter Twelve
Brilliance was bursting with excitement at the notion of being in Lord Hewitt’s arms once again. Dressing for the ball, she vowed she was trembling all over, awaiting their first dance. Riding side by side earlier in the day had been delightful, too, as they talked about anything and everything. However, at the point where they turned and headed back to Lady Twitchard’s estate, their hostess made them switch partners again.
Brilliance had a notion it was only because she was riding with Lord Hewitt. Worse, she had been paired with Mr. Denham, whom she had not spoken with since the first evening’s introduction assembly. He made up for lost time by proving himself a tedious chaff-cutter, rattling on enough to jaw her dead.
By the time she was back in her room, luxuriating in a lukewarm bath before the six o’clock dinner, Brilliance had forgiven Lady Twitchard. She was merely protecting her female guests as a good hostess should. Surely at the ball, though, even Lady Twitchard must concede there was no harm in dancing.
Brilliance descended the main staircase as slowly and gracefully as she’d been trained and walked through the east wing toward the ballroom. All the while, she wished she couldrun. Dressed in the gown she’d saved for the occasion, gold silk slid softly over her skin, neckline to hem, with a fitted bodice and little cap sleeves. The entire effect was softened by an overlay of paler gold lace tatting. Feeling splendid in the London modiste’s creation, she couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she followed a trail of well-dressed men and women through the open double doors.
Dozens of candles in wall sconces set before mirrored disks and hundreds of candles in chandeliers suspended high overhead, dripping with crystals, lit the room like bright sunlight. Brilliance had seen the maids early that morning cleaning each and every crystal teardrop with vinegar.
The floor, previously covered with thick carpets, had been exposed and polished with beeswax. It shone, too, to the point one could gaze down and see one’s reflection. Everything was sparkling and glittering, like being inside a jewelry case.
Colonel and Lady Twitchard were just inside the doorway, greeting their guests.
“Everything is spectacular,” Brilliance told them. “I am grateful to be here.”
“We are grateful for your presence,” her hostess returned, although the Colonel was busy with his snuff box rather than noticing his guests.
Nodding, Brilliance moved on, hoping to find Martine who had already left her room when Brilliance went to look in on her. Before she saw her friend, however, she spied Lord Hewitt.
If she’d been alone, Brilliance would have gasped at the way the sight of him in his black tails affected her. Her heart squeezed, and her stomach twinged. This had to be how her parents felt upon first seeing one another ... or at least, when her father had helped her mother to remain standing after knocking into her.
Her feet took her involuntarily toward him. When he turned and noticed her, his eyebrows rose above his spectacles, and then he smiled.
Oh, that smile!
