Julian closed his eyes briefly; if Cass hadn’t been watching so closely she might not have noticed.
“She has, hasn’t she?” Garrett chimed in with a tight smile.
“Oh, yes. I was just about to say, it’s a wonder she’s remained unattached,” Daphne added. “Isn’t it a wonder, Julian?”
“Is it?” Julian ground out, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
Cass refused to allow him to see how his words hurt her. “Not such a wonder,” she murmured.
“Yes, well, we do expect there to be an announcement quite soon,” Lady Moreland said, a slinky smile on her face. She beamed up at Garrett, looking like the cat who stole the cream. Cass wanted to shrink from embarrassment.
Thank heavens, the queue moved just then and she and Garrett and her mother greeted their hosts and moved into the ballroom without further comment. They made their way around the large room, greeting their friends and making small talk before Garrett asked her to dance. They left her mother with a group of her friends.
Cass danced, even though she felt as if her insides might explode. Jane was supposed to be here tonight to meet them, her new nonexistent chaperone, Mrs. Bunbury, in tow. Lucy was supposed to be coming, too. Cass still hadn’t forgiven Lucy but it didn’t keep Jane from trying to get the two of them together in the same room at every opportunity. What else would make Jane come out to a ball of all odious things?
Cass tried not to look at Julian, tried but couldn’t help it. It seemed that every time she heard a man’s deep laughter, she turned her head and found him, across the room, tall, handsome, his burnished gold hair and wide shoulders filling out his dapper black evening attire. It was like torture, knowing Julian was back, alive and well and no longer in an arrangement with Pen, but still elusively out of Cass’s grasp. And who was the woman he supposedly cared for? The one who loved another man? Had she changed her mind? Given Julian another chance? Would they be announcing their engagement soon? Would Cass be able to stand it if that happened?
But the worst part, the very worst, was that she had lost him as a friend. No more sweet letters, no more long talks using their pens, no more communication at all. And it hurt. Penelope had already forgiven her, it seemed. Her cousin wasn’t one to dwell on things overly long. She’d laughed off Cass’s explanation of how Lucy had turned her into Patience and said something like, “Oh, my, I wish I’d been there to see that.” Then she’d gone back to talking about a Mr. Sedgewick whom she had apparently developed strong feelings for over the summer and autumn. It was the first Cass had heard of Mr. Sedgewick and she secretly wondered if he, much like Patience Bunbury, did not actually exist.
Cass’s mother had been furious with her. She’d nearly stopped speaking to her. But the thing that had served to soften her was Cass’s spending so much time with Garrett. Lady Moreland was delighted to accompany them about, playing the role of the apt chaperone, but otherwise, making it quite clear to Cass at every opportunity that until she managed to secure a proposal from Garrett, she would not be entirely restored to her mother’s good graces.
Thank heavens for Garrett. He had been lovely, appearing whenever she needed him, escorting her to events, being a steady shoulder on which to lean. He was a good, good man. For the hundredth time she wished she could fall in love with him. She felt a bit of guilt for leading him on, if, in fact, he had feelings for her, as Lucy seemed to believe. But at least she knew he was quite well informed about where her affections lay. Every time they saw Julian, Cass turned into a mess, and Garrett was there to pick up the pieces. Oh, sweet, kind Garrett. He certainly would makesomeonea wonderful husband one day. And unlike Julian, Garrett was a marvelous dancer.
“Thank you,” she said as Garrett spun her around on the floor.
“Thank you? For what?” Garrett asked, his brow furrowed.
“For being there,” she replied with a smile. “Whenever I need you.”
“What else are friends for?” His grin was wide.
“Garrett, I—” She bit her lip. This was awkward. “Mother obviously expects you to propose and I just want to say that—”
He shook his head. “No need. I understand.”
“Understand what?”
“You need me right now, and I would never leave you. I consider it part of my duty to help mitigate the unholy mess for which my cousin is responsible.”
At the mention of Lucy, Cass went rigid.
“But don’t mistake my help for anything other than how it is intended,” Garrett continued. “Like your mother, I, too, expect you to be announcing your engagement soon.”
Cass met his gaze. “But I—”
“Your engagement to Swift,” Garrett finished with a sly smile.
Cass felt as if the breath had been knocked from her body. “My engagement to— Oh, I’m afraid that’s impossible.”
“I’m well aware that my cousin is under the mistaken impression that I’m in love with you, and at the risk of insulting you, I’m afraid Lucy is quite wrong. Though she would never admit such a possibility exists. Not that you’re not lovely and accomplished, of course.” He winked at her.
Cass had to laugh at that. “Would it be wrong of me to tell you that I am relieved?”
“Not any more wrong than my telling you in the first place. Now, as for your engagement to Swift, it’s not impossible,” Garrett said. “Improbable at the moment, perhaps, but not impossible.”
Cass smiled at her friend. “Oh, Garrett. I should have taken your advice that night in the library. I should have told Julian the truth right then.”
“We all make mistakes, Cassandra. Some of us are merely forced to pay more for them than others.”
