“Miss Sterling, may I present the Earl of Dunstan.”
Lucinda dropped into a curtsey and the earl bowed. He had a nice smile and kind brown eyes.
“I am happy to make your acquaintance, Miss Sterling. I do hope you might spare me a dance tonight.”
She nodded not sure her voice would betray her excitement. He took up her card and made his mark against a quadrille.
“I look forward to our dance. Until then…” He kissed her hand, smiled, and then turned and melted into the crowd.
“Well, he is handsome up close. I will give him that and he was quite right to ask for a quadrille. I did hear he has twenty thousand pounds a year.”
“Is that good?”
“It is quite as it should be, and with your dowry you would live well… if he is not one to be attracted to hells.”
“Hells? Oh, you mean gambling establishments. How would I know if he is or not?”
“That is what Tony is for. He will know if the young man passes muster or not within the week.”
“I never knew it was going to be quite so complicated.”
“Marriage is a game, my dear. A gamble, if you will. Just remember that. And ho, here is another to be introduced. Your dance card will be quite full, my dear.”
Three more gentlemen made their introductions and Lucinda found herself swept away in dance after dance. Marianne was also busy dancing and at one point they both escaped to the withdrawing room to escape the heat and compare admirers.
“My feet are killing me,” Marianne complained slipping off her shoes to stretch her toes.
Lucinda giggled and asked, “Who is your favorite so far?”
“Lord Frankston is quite nice. He is tall, which I like, and he has an adorable lock of hair that keeps falling over his forehead. He is not the best dancer, but he did not step on my toes, and he asked me lots of questions. What kind of flowers did I like and what was my favorite sweet.”
“He does sound promising.”
“And what about you?”
“They have all been nice but not remarkably interesting.”
“Well, do not worry. You still have Dunstan to dance with.”
“I am sure he will want to dance with you as well.”
“He is too short for my liking.”
Lucinda thought he was quite tall, nearly the same height as Lord Ashton, but she simply nodded as they reentered the ballroom.
“I hope he is more interesting than the others have been. I want someone I can talk to and who is interested in me as well.” She scanned the ballroom. “I haven’t seen your brother since our dance.”
“Oh, he likes to go to the card room and stay away from the debutantes. Let us not worry about him. Come on. We do not want the earl to be left waiting.”
They were soon joined by Anna and Gabrielle. This was the first time she had seen them since the disastrous family dinner. They greeted Lucinda warmly and asked about her dances.
“I must say, Miss Sterling, your first ball seems to be a great success,” said Anna.
Gabrielle lifted Lucinda’s dance card. “Of course it has. A full dance card, that is quite impressive. And I see you have a glass of lemonade in hand. I came up with that, you know.”
“Really?” said Lucinda. “It is a very clever idea.”
Anna took Lucinda’s hand then. “We, that is Gabrielle and I, want to apologize for that dinner. If we made you feel uncomfortable, it was not our intention.”
