Pleasure shone in Emily’s eyes. “By the way, that gown suits you much better than it ever did me.”
“Thank you once again for lending it to me. And for helping Uncle James find appropriate clothing as well. We’re indebted to you.”
“Nonsense,” Emily said with a wave of her gloved hand. “True friendships never have debts attached. I’m merely happy to help.”
“Nevertheless.” Ada gave her friend a warm smile. “You truly are one in a million, Emily. Any man would be lucky to have you. Is there no one here for you to consider?”
“I’m afraid not, which is all right as far as I’m concerned. As rebellious as this may seem, I’m not really looking to marry. If it happens it happens, if not then…” She shrugged. “Point is, I absolutely refuse to settle and… Oh dear.”
“Oh dear, what?” Ada followed Emily’s line of vision until she spotted Mr. Gibbs’s friends. They were chatting between themselves while walking in their general direction.
“I probably ought to go see how Papa is faring,” Emily said, retreating a step.
“But—” The Duke of Stratton shifted his gaze and glanced toward them at that exact moment. His eyes widened and he instantly halted his progress. The Duke of Corwin turned to him with a questioning look.
“Please forgive me,” Emily said in a rush. “I’ll be sure to catch up with you later.”
Ada blinked as Emily fled. It wasn’t until she was gone that Stratton resumed his progress. By the time he reached her, the hard expression he’d worn just moments before had vanished behind a friendly demeanor.
“Miss Quinn,” he said. “We’re so glad you chose to join us this evening.”
“It’s a pleasure seeing you both again,” she said, voicing the sentiment with some hesitancy while frowning in the direction Emily had vanished. Something was odd about her friend’s response just now, to say nothing of Stratton’s.
“Has Westcliffe mentioned the progress we’ve made?” Corwin asked. “We saw the two of you chatting and thought he might have told you about it.”
“I don’t believe he had the chance,” Ada said. “We spoke of other things, but please, feel free to enlighten me.”
Stratton placed his hand gently against her elbow and steered her toward the edge of the room to a spot where no one else stood. “We’ve almost finished the first draft.”
“Truly?” When both men grinned and nodded as though they’d just conquered the highest peak, Ada nearly threw her arms around them in what would have been considered a most undignified hug. She beamed at them instead. “But that’s incredible news. I can’t wait to read it. Did you make things harder for the earl and his love interest? Were his sisters’ reputations at stake, and if so, how did you resolve it? Oh, and—”
“We’re not revealing anything.” Corwin chuckled. “You’ll simply have to read the book yourself in order to find out how we figured out all the puzzle pieces.”
“Took some effort,” Stratton said, “but I do believe you were correct, Miss Quinn. The story is stronger for it.”
“And will surely be a marvelous success once published.” Ada could not hide her excitement. She shared in their joy as though she herself had written the book. “Any idea when it will be finished?”
“In the coming week, I reckon.” Corwin glanced toward the dance floor. “Westcliffe was right. Sharing the work enabled us to complete it much faster than we would have done otherwise.”
“It helps that we had nothing better to do than write,” Stratton muttered. “I think we’ve put in ten hours a day each for the past two weeks. We’re just struggling a bit to smooth the transitions now.”
“And to make sure that it reads from beginning to end as though it was written by the same author,” Stratton told her. “Fixing the inconsistencies has taken some time.”
“In one spot,” said Stratton, “Westcliffe had written about an upcoming ball. But when I continued writing, that ball was completely forgotten.”
“So what did you do?” Ada asked. The easiest solution would have been to not mention the ball in the first place.
Stratton pushed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “After discussing the issue at length, I decided to write two additional chapters.”
“It was necessary,” Corwin explained. “Without the ball, the story lacked the fairy-tale element we were trying to achieve.”
“I’m thoroughly impressed,” Ada told them sincerely, “and proud of you all. Writing a novel is no small feat. Many aspire to do so but it takes time and dedication to actually get it done. Especially with revisions taken into account.”
“Believe me, I know,” Corwin said with a twinkle in his blue eyes. “But the truth is, I’ve actually enjoyed the experience. I think we all have.”
Stratton nodded. “Agreed. We’ve already discussed writing a second book once this one’s finished. The next step will likely be printing and publication.”
“I recommend proof-reading first,” Ada said. “A job I’ll happily undertake if you like.”
