Were they about to be thrown out of the ball? Her reputation would never recover!
“Oh no,” she moaned.
“Oh yes,” he returned. Then he held out his hand to her and flashed that cheeky grin. “The only way forward is up.”
“A nice sentiment if I were a bird, but I’m not.”
He chuckled. “But maybe I am large enough to carry us both.”
Chapter Six
Unlike his usualmarks, Miss Spalding clearly knew she was being used. Unfortunately, she’d been his only option tonight. No young lady of consequence would dare dance with a common scoundrel like him, and so he had found one he could force. Unfortunately, they were both about the pay a heavy price for his audacity. Unless, of course, he maneuvered them out of it.
Good thing he’d planned for this.
The first person he made nice with was the Dowager Countess of Byrn. After all, if she started complaining that he had insulted Miss Spalding with that waltz, then he was done for sure. He began by talking loudly as he escorted Miss Spalding to the edge of the dance floor.
“You are quite lucky to be sponsored by the dowager countess. Her son and I are good friends, and I have always been impressed by the entire family.”
Miss Spalding answered in the way all debutantes must. She smiled and agreed wholeheartedly. “I am extraordinarily lucky and grateful. She has found excellent husbands for all her daughters and now Mairi has wed a future duke!”
Perfect. Miss Spalding obviously knew they were avoiding disaster together.
“A duke? I hadn’t heard,” he lied. He looked at the dowager countess. “Congratulations on such a wonderful match.”
How could the countess respond to that except with a bumbling thanks? At least that was his hope. Sadly, the lady proved much too smart for so easy a ploy.
“Don’t try to butter me, sirrah. What cause have you to make a spectacle of my charge?” Her eyes flashed to Iseabail. “I thought you were the sensible one. Take off that necklace at once.”
“But it’s my necklace,” Miss Spalding objected. “The catch broke, and he recovered it for me.”
And while the countess was shocked by her charge, Reuben took the moment to turn his charm on his hostess. “It’s not the only piece I’ve discovered. I knew this was yours the moment I saw it at the jewelers. Lady Finley, I believe this exquisite piece belongs to you.”
He pulled an old necklace out of his pocket, one that had originally been set with three dull rubies. Those gems had been replaced years ago. What sparkled in his hand now was paste, but it was beautifully done paste and so he presented it with all the panache of a man carrying the crown jewels.
The lady gasped as she saw it, her gaze hopping to her husband and no wonder. The man had pawned it a month ago to pay his gambling debts and apparently, she hadn’t realized it was missing.
“I know I travel in circles not as elevated as you, Lady Finley, but it allowed me to have the catch on Miss Spalding’s necklace fixed and also to see that this lost item was returned to you.”
“Lost item,” the woman repeated, her expression tightening. “Thank you, sir, but you need not have interrupted to my ball in order to—”
“But of course, I did,” he interrupted. “Tonight is the ball of the Season. I had to come to it. You understand the allure, don’t you? The beauty that surrounds me, the exquisite decorations, the perfection you display as hostess.”
“Spanish coin will not help you—” she began, but her husband interrupted her.
“Mabel, dear, can’t you see he was just having a bit of fun? He went about it the wrong way, but look. Your necklace is returned, all right and tight.”
The necklace, yes. Not the bracelet or the earbobs, which he still possessed. And that, of course, was why Lord Finley was being so accommodating. He knew that Reuben was his only hope of ever recovering his wife’s jewelry.
“All right and tight,” his wife echoed, fury in every syllable. She knew her husband’s gambling had gotten out of control. And she no doubt guessed where the other pieces of the set were. “How dare you bring your disgusting—”
“Perhaps I might be of assistance,” he said, cutting into her diatribe before she could say something she couldn’t take back.
“You—”
“I have friends throughout London. I’m an amiable fellow, after all. We could assist you in limiting your husband’s entertainments to appropriate levels.”
Not surprisingly, Lord Finley objected. “Now wait a damned moment—”
