Mrs. Grosvenor’s wasthe last ball of the season. Gene praised his hostess for the splendid atmosphere as he entered. They’d dressed the ballroom in an all-white, Ancient Grecian theme, the walls decorated with classical scenes and festooned with sheer draperies with satin couches and gilt chairs. Huge urns filled with an abundance of white flowers perfumed the air.
He told himself he wouldn’t look for Mellicent but did precisely that. Her behavior had worried him at the rout. She was miserable and perhaps even a little desperate. Pallthorpe attempted to control her, as she obviously didn’t like him and might cry off. As she had not sought Gene’s help, he could do nothing. But why didn’t Mellicent tell her mother?
“Your Grace, how good to see you again.”
He turned and smiled at the lady before him. “Lady Barbara. How good to see you.”
His first love, now Lady Massey, had changed from how he remembered her. Her face had a more settled look, and she was fuller in the figure. A mother, he’d heard.
“You haven’t married,” she observed.
“No.”
She nodded knowingly.
For some reason, that annoyed him.
“I heard about Lord Harrington. Devlin and I offer our most sincere condolences.”
“Thank you.”
“Your brother always was reckless.”
“But an expert sailor.”
She nodded with a sympathetic look.
“You have children, I believe.”
She smiled, revealing a fleeting glimpse of the prettiness which had captivated him years ago. “Three, two boys and a girl. Massey is delighted to have an heir and a spare.” She frowned. “But you should marry, Gene. You have need of an heir, now, especially.”
“I’m not yet thirty.”
“No. I’d forgotten. You always seemed…older, somehow.”
“When I was twenty-one?”
“Perhaps because you had the care of Harrington. Your father had wiped his hands of him, as I remember.”
“Parliament demanded much of my father’s time.”
“Yes,” she said, appearing unconvinced.
“Well, if you’ll excuse me…” He waved his hand toward a circle of friends several yards away.
“Gene?”
He turned back. “Yes?”
“Did my refusal to marry you hurt you very much?”
“At that age, such things do, I suppose.” He smiled. “But thankfully short-lived, and I survived, as you can see.”
She looked a little downcast. Did she want him to still nurse a broken heart?
“It was your family responsibility. Harrison was always there.” She lifted her shoulders in a helpless gesture. “I feared you wouldn’t have time for me. Young women want a man’s undivided attention.”
There was nothing to say to that, so he nodded and left her. She had wounded his young heart, especially when she told him he was too serious for her, that he’d make a dreadful husband and bore a wife to death. Her husband, Massey, could hardly be described as exciting either, but Gene hoped she was happy.
