Sophie’s brows rose. “You went to all that trouble to ask me that?”
Mr. Kingsley shrugged. “The rest of the crowd are all clamoring to dance, drink, and fritter the night away. I see no other person clinging to the shadows with such ferocity.”
Giving a little squeeze, Sophie’s heart was rather pleased he’d noticed her. “Dull is a strong word, sir. Though I do find such gatherings uncomfortable.”
“You do not care for crowds?”
“Not this one.” The words came out before Sophie had the chance to think better of them.
Mr. Kingsley turned to stand beside her so they both had a good view of the ballroom. “They are a rather riotous bunch.”
Sophie’s hands gripped her skirts, and she gave him a faltering smile. “I enjoy balls and parties—or I enjoy the idea of them. However, the circles in which my parents travel are far too…” She paused, searching for the word, and Mr. Kingsley supplied one of his own.
“Overwhelming?” His tone matched her feelings of dread and distaste so perfectly that Sophie broke into a wide grin.
“Precisely.”
Mr. Kingsley nodded. “Then it is doubly favorable I stumbled across you, for we can commiserate with each other.”
Sophie gave him another saucy arch of her brow, and she didn’t know what had possessed the appendage, for it was determined to be audacious. “I am here because my mother dictates my social calendar, but you are master of yours.”
“At present, I am master to my duty and honor, which will teach me to give my word with more circumspection,” he muttered. When Sophie sent him a questioning glance, Mr. Kingsley continued. “A dear friend elicited my promise to accompany him tonight. For the duration.”
With a jerk of his head, Mr. Kingsley motioned to a fellow with a mop of bright ginger hair bobbing about the dance floor in a brisk gallop with a young lady in his arms.
“He wished for you to accompany him and promptly abandoned you?” she asked.
“And I am forced to choose between breaking my word and hiding in the corners of the ballroom.”
“So, rather than throwing him over, you invaded my haven?” Sophie gave another indignant sniff at that, mimicking so thoroughly the haughty demeanor of those prickly society matrons who viewed the world with perpetual dissatisfaction.
Mr. Kingsley slanted her a look with a spark of humor gleaming in his eye. “I was stuck between the devil and the deep sea, as my uncle is wont to say, so I hope you will forgive my impudence.”
“That depends.”
Mr. Kingsley waited a moment before prompting, “On?”
Sophie attempted a gimlet eye, but she was grinning too widely to maintain the pompous facade. “Whether I am the devil or the deep sea in your analogy.”
With all the hubbub around them, no one noticed how strongly Mr. Kingsley laughed or Sophie’s responding one, but she was all too aware of the way his eyes danced and his face lit with the emotion. Mr. Kingsley may look ordinary at first, but joy sparked inside him, lighting up his features until Sophie was quite certain he was one of the most striking gentlemen in attendance. He was certainly the most entertaining.
“Miss Sophia,” he said with a very proper bow as the strains of the music came to their natural conclusion, “would you do me the very great honor of dancing with me?”
Though others had asked just such a question before, Sophie could not keep her cheeks from heating as her heart gave an extra thump inside her chest. “Certainly, Mr. Kingsley.”
Chapter 2
With great care, Mr. Kingsley led her to the dance floor, guiding her through without being jostled or bumped. The first measures were struck, and the pair launched into a quadrille. Passing between the other pair in their square, they wove around each other—though Sophie’s eyes remained fixed on Mr. Kingsley’s. Something in his gaze made her feel at home. Of course, it was foolish to feel such sentiments about a fellow she hardly knew. And yet Sophie couldn’t deny how comfortable she felt around him.
“And where do you hail from, Miss Sophia?” he asked when their part of the dance paused while the head couples moved through their steps.
“Are you truly going to ask such an uninspired question?” Heaven help her, Sophie had no thought as to why Mr. Kingsley inspired such teasing, but each retort was met with a twinkling smile, which only pushed her to greater lengths.
“If I am to learn everything there is to know about you, I must begin somewhere.”
Sophie’s breath caught. She searched Mr. Kingsley’s expression to see if he was as serious as he sounded, and her heart fluttered at the earnestness steeped in his gaze.
“My friends call me Sophie,” she said, near pinking at her boldness. Mr. Kingsley’s gaze held hers steady, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he watched her.
