He nodded, saying nothing.
“We could try tonight,” she volunteered as the music ended.
Lord Hewitt escorted her from the floor in thoughtful silence, and pain stabbed at her heart. He wasn’t going to give her any encouragement, it seemed.How odd!She’d been sure, at the beginning of the week, that they were destined for a mutual understanding and a lifetime of love.
Just before he turned away to find his next partner, he caught her gaze. “Will you do me the honor of a second dance later?”
Speechless, Brilliance nodded. Hope flooded her. Lord Hewitt did care for her.
He did!
Not for the first time, Vincent found himself thinking what an uncommon woman Brilliance Diamond was. It was practically a miracle that she had grown up in the bosom of the highest echelon of Britain’s social strata without absorbing its oft-times cunning ways and while not taking on its lowlier nature of prevarication or subterfuge.
Moreover, despite an intriguing quality of innocence about her, she seemed to have emerged into the full-flowering of female maturity without being battered and injured. It was almost as if no one would think to take advantage of such an open and willing soul. More likely, she had been incredibly fortunate.
The exact opposite to his own scarred psyche. He hadn’t tried to throw himself off a bridge as composer and pianist Robert Schuman had done, plunging into the Rhine during a fit of melancholy. But the betrayal three years earlier had scarred him greatly enough that Vincent didn’t know what he could offer a sweet lady who was telling him openly she would like to keep company.
That evening, the angelic essence of Brilliance was accentuated and amplified by her glittering golden gown. Upon first seeing her walking toward him, stunned by her appearance, Vincent had thought her the embodiment of all that a man could want in a woman — her spirited beauty and a sense of genuine sincerity, along with her blue-eyed gaze shining with eagerness.
But her question had caught him off guard. A part of him wanted to promise her he would seek her out in London. And he knew he would be disappointed to learn of her betrothal. Yet shecould hardly expect him to declare an inappropriately premature intent out of fear that she would be snapped up by someone else.
Could she?
On the other hand, he could not imagine a more suitable female. She lacked a few of the artistic graces one often found in an educated female of the upper class. Brilliance couldn’t sketch, paint, play music, sing, shoot, use a bow, or do needlepoint. She was better in a carriage than on a horse but, self-admittedly, not a good driver.
Regardless of her shortcomings, she seemed as capable of being an excellent wife as any woman he had ever met. More so!
When the ball was half over, Vincent claimed her for their second dance. Her smile as he’d approached caused him a pang of ... regret, perhaps? That he didn’t have a similarly trusting nature. That he couldn’t sweep her into his arms and tell her how she interested him to the point of having spent the entirety of the ball watching her. While he was partnering other ladies and she danced with the other gentlemen, she still claimed all his attention.
When they began a slow waltz, for which he was exceedingly grateful, a question tumbled from his lips. “Have you ever had your heart broken?”
Without hesitation, she said, “No, my lord. I have never had my affections engaged to such an extent that it could be broken.” She gave a small shrug, barely discernible while they were dancing. And then she stared into his eyes. “But I am not, at this moment, ignorant of how that might feel.”
Before he could think about why he had asked her such a personal question, she sent it winging back at him, “Have you?”
Brilliance was so painfully honest, how could he not honor her similarly? Moreover, he had been the one to bring up the delicate subject.
“Yes,” he confessed.
Her gorgeous jewel-tone eyes widened, and he could practically see her curiosity flickering in their depths along with her sympathy. And to her credit, that was what she first professed.
“I am sorry to hear that. I heard something of your pain in your playing.”
He hated to think his past still managed to leak out of him, as if he were a badly patched wine barrel.
They twirled around one end of the room, moving as if they were one entity.
“If only we could be as the animal kingdom,” she added.
He smiled despite himself. “Your meaning?”
“Oh, my lord, it is well known that many birds, and I am sure other creatures as well, simply decide to become mates and then are perfectly satisfied staying that way for the rest of their days.”
He nodded.
“Not love at first sight, I warrant, but something deeper,” she continued. “They agree to build a nest and watch over their eggs, and to do that over and over for the rest of their lives. Very mature, if you ask me, doing their bird duty.”
“Bird duty,” he repeated, biting back a laugh. She was speaking matter-of-factly, but he could sense there was a profound truth buried therein.
