If she was going to keep secrets from her husband, she did not want to keep secrets from himandembarrass him in front of Society.
The carriage ride was short and fraught, though if Lady Stark noticed, she did not acknowledge the tension.Johanna was watching Matthew, Rose was watching Johanna, and Matthew was looking out the window of the carriage at the streets of London, seemingly lost in thought.What he was thinking about, Johanna could not tell.
He was certainly not paying attention to his grandmother’s monologue on who might be in attendance tonight and who they would need to pay particular attention to if they were.Which meant it was up to Johanna to focus on that, but though she did her best to listen and nod at appropriate times, she could not help but constantly peek at Matthew.
Sitting beside him, she could feel the tension in his body.Saw his hand flexing against his thigh, his fingers opening and closing, tapping against his trousers at odd intervals.Though it was not appropriate for a woman of her station, and though she worried that his distraction was due to her mother, Johanna could not help but slip her fingers through his to hold his hand.
She kept her gaze on Lady Stark, nodding as the older woman explained about the particularities of impressing Lady Jersey, but she was aware of Matthew jerking in the seat beside her.His fingers closed around hers, holding on tightly rather than pushing her away, which eased some of the worry in her heart.Sitting beside Lady Stark, Rose’s gaze dropped to where Matthew and Johanna’s hands were now intertwined, though his grandmother pretended not to see.
“Now, Lady Cowper and Lady Jersey are great friends, so if you win one over, the other will be soon to follow.”From the tone of Lady Stark’s voice, one would think she was mustering Johanna to battle.
And perhaps she was.
Taking a deep breath, fingers entwined with her husband’s, Johanna focused herself.She was determined not to embarrass Matthew or his grandmother tonight.Their place in Society was riding on it.
ChapterThirty-Three
Matthew
“What is wrong with you?”Sebastian demanded to know, frowning at Matthew.
He jumped at the question.They were up on one of the balconies overlooking the ballroom, and he’d been busy watching Johanna, who was beside Lady Astrid and a stone-faced Rose as they held court for a throng of gentlemen.None of them were particularly objectionable gentlemen, but it still stirred Matthew’s ire to watch them conversing with his wife.Making them laugh.
“Other than having to watch those bobbleheads courting my wife?”He was unusually growly; he knew that.It was not just that, of course.Matthew pulled his fingers from his pocket, where they were seeking his coin for the umpteenth time.
Sebastian slanted a look at him.Clinging closely to the shadows of the drapes, his chestnut-brown hair looked darker than normal, and his gaze was nearly black.Very intimidating, when he wanted to be, was Sebastian.Since Gregory was currently down on the floor with Nathanial and Drake, two of the other dukes who were currently off the market, Sebastian had fled to the balcony to get a break.Matthew had already been up here, brooding, which he admitted was not his usual.
But it was easier to stay out of the throng without his coin to help direct him than it was to be among them.Too many choices down there.
Far less up here.
“They are not courting her.”His tone was bemused, as if he could not understand why it would bother Matthew even if they were.“They are…”
“Flirting with her.And Lady Astrid.”A small smile ticked the corner of his mouth.
“Perhaps not Rose, though.”
Not because they would not want to, but because it would take a particularly brave—or foolish—man to attempt such a thing with the way she was looking at all of them right now.He doubted he had to worry about any rakes approaching Johanna either, not with Rose at her side.
“They are flirting with her because she is safe.”Sebastian shook his head, his gaze darkening as he cast it over the ballroom at large.“They can speak with her without causing gossip or any expectation on her partforcourtship.”
“I know,” Matthew replied irritably.“I still do not like it.I do not understand why we are not supposed to speak to our own wives at these events.”
“Of course you can speak to her.”Sebastian hesitated.“Just… you cannot monopolize her time.Perhaps you can do more next Season.Once the interest in the two of you has moved on.”
“Or I could stop being so damned proper,” Matthew muttered.But was it the right thing to do?
He did not want to make the wrong choice, not when it would reflect on Johanna as well as himself.Damn his coin… especially on tonight of all nights.The first time that it had ever slipped through his fingers, and it had to benow.
“I thought you wanted tonight to reflect well on her.”
“I do.”
“Well, then, you cannot hover like a jealous husband who does not trust her.”Sebastian cast his gaze around the ballroom again.
Clearly, he did not understand.Matthew did trust Johanna, but he was also a jealous husband.Jealous of her attention.Jealous of the men who could stand beside her and speak to her at the damned ball.
“Besides, she returns home with you.”
