When they joined the ladies in the vestibule, Algenon helped Phillipa and Charlotte with their cloaks. They would be his responsibility tonight, since his father would probably hide away in the card rooms the moment they arrived.
Three carriages had been brought round to carry them to the large stone and brick assembly hall in Maidstone. His oldest sister and her husband would accompany his father and stepmother in the barouche, with the other two sisters and their spouses in the middle carriage. He and the younger girls entered the last. It felt like a symbol of his status. Unmarried, he was useless to his sire.
He pushed away the disparaging thought, not wanting his father’s influence to dampen his enjoyment. Javenia had accused him of being an uncontrollable flirt. A slow smile spread across his face. Tonight, he would prove her wrong.
Large lanterns lit the two-story building as carriages lined the cobblestone drive. Algenon handed each of his sisters out when it was their turn, then escorted them into the hall, their progress slowed by all the neighbors they stopped to greet.
Inside, a chalk outline had been laid on the floor. It would be gone by the end of the night but would be used as a guide for the newest country dances. Phillipa all but squealed when she spotted Miss Janessa Harris. Apparently Lord and Lady Upton had decided to let her finally come out.
Her appearance instantly made him search the room for the one person he wished to see. When his gaze finally landed on Javenia, a burden he didn’t know he was carrying lifted from his shoulders. Life had always been lighter and brighter when she was around.
With her back to him, he took the liberty of drinking her in. Her toffee-colored curls piled high on her head with a few shorter ones clinging to her delicate neck drew his attention first before he took in the shimmery green gown settling nicely over her slender figure. When she finally turned, his breath caught. He loved the intensity of her deep brown eyes. They sparkled with intelligence and determination.
She smiled at something the gentleman to her left said and instantly his attention snapped to her lips. They were pinker than normal tonight, as were her cheeks, probably owing to the roaring fire in the large hearth that heated the room. A long-buried memory wormed its way to the surface of his mind.
He’d tasted those lips once, right before his sixteenth birthday. No one other than the two of them knew. It had been an experiment, a childish impulse, really. Neither of them had ever kissed anyone, and they’d never been good at resisting curiosity.
Her gaze settled on him, and he reined in his thoughts. That kiss had tilted his young world on its end, just like the tiny smile she cast his way was doing now. How could one look make him float higher than the chandelier?
“Algenon?”
Someone waved a hand in front of his face. He blinked several times before looking down.
Charlotte grinned at him. “Glad to see you have not fallen into a trance. I thought we might have to fetch the physician.”
“Or the vicar,” Phillipa added with a smirk.
“Because you thought I was about to expire?” he asked.
Phillipa pulled her arm from his. “No. Because if your look had grown anymore heated, the only cure for it would be to marry you off right away.”
His mouth fell open a fraction. Charlotte pushed it closed with a finger, then followed Phillipa as she strutted away. He was in trouble if his sisters had read his expression so easily. He glanced around, hoping his father had not witnessed it.
Thankfully, his father and stepmother were speaking to someone near the door, their attention fully vested in the conversation.
A hand settled on his shoulder.
“Nate told meour prodigal friend had returned.” Eddie smiled at him. His expertly styled dark hair accentuated his angular jaw and piercing blue eyes.
Algenon clasped his hand in greeting. “Yes, but unlike the prodigal son of old, I did not come back to my father because I gambled away all my goods.” He tipped his head toward the door his father was exiting through, the one that led to the card room. “He does enough of the wagering for the both of us.”
Eddie’s face darkened. “Do Nate and I need to intervene to save your inheritance?”
Algenon chuckled. “It is not as bad as all that. He comes with a set amount. You know my father, all straight lines and no deviations.”
“Yes, unless it comes to sons,” Eddie grumbled.
He wasn’t wrong. The reminder made Algenon glance back at where his father had disappeared. Hopefully this was not one of the places Lord Roberts gave into extremes.
Then Eddie’s expression lightened. “I see my wife has found her favorite companions.”
Algenon followed his gaze to the tiny, flaxen-haired woman who’d captured Eddie’s heart. Lady Braithwaite, nay, Mrs. Kendall now, appeared as flawless as ever. She reminded him of a small china doll, but he knew her to be as fierce as the tigers in the Tower of London. She was not a woman with which to trifle.
Next to her was Melior—Nate’s wife and Eddie’s sister. Mrs. Kendall and Melior were a study in opposites. Where one was short, the other was tall. Mrs. Kendall’s eyes were a fascinating color of green, while Melior’s were cobalt blue, the same as her brother’s. Melior’s skin was as clear as Javenia’s, but Mrs. Kendall had a soft dusting of freckles on her nose. Even their personalities contrasted.
Mrs. Kendall pandered to no one. Her conversation was polite, but she didn’t cater to ridiculousness. In contrast, Melior wasthe picture of perfection, nodding and commenting at all the right places even if the speaker’s chosen subject was as dry as the sands of the Sahara Desert.
The flash of Javenia’s green dress drew his attention as she looped her arm through Melior’s. His pulse picked up. Javenia was the balance between the other two ladies in almost every way. She was neither tall nor short, her hair color a mix of theirs, and her personality was just the right combination of proper and rebellious… however chaotically applied.
