Twelve
She must have misheard him, because it sounded as if he’d just said he’d come here to teach her to waltz, and that… well, that was impossible.
How would he ever have come up with such an idea? He didn’t know she’d never learned to waltz.
Unless… had Harriett told him? Or had he come to his own conclusions from her absurd flight through the ballroom last night? Oh, when would she learn to stop overreacting, and giving herself away?
She eyed him, searching for any hint of what was going on inside that handsome head of his, but he merely gazed silently back at her. She couldn’t read his expression, but he was gazing at her so intently, it was as if he weren’t lookingather, butintoher, and prying loose every one of her secrets from their hiding places.
As if he couldseeher.
She clutched at the book in her hand, squeezing until her fingertips turned white. “It’s kind of you to offer, my lord, but I don’t require waltzing lessons.”
There, that would do. She hadn’t claimed to know how to waltz, so she hadn’t lied, precisely, but neither had she?—
“Yes, you do, Miss Templeton. Harriett told me you never learned to waltz.”
Dash it. What did Harriettmean, spilling Phee’s secrets to her brother?
“You’ve no need to be embarrassed.” He leaned toward her, bracing his hands on his knees. “Harriett said you only had one season, and that it took place before waltzing was proper in London ballrooms. Thus, there’s no reason you should have ever learned.”
He knew about her failed season, as well? God above, was there anythingHarrietthadn’ttold him? “I’m not embarrassed.”
She was a trifle warm, that was all.
“Forgive me. It’s just that your cheeks are a rather vivid red for a lady who isn’t blushing, Miss Templeton.” He raised an eyebrow, a suspicious twitching about his lips, and then…
Then, the man did something so awful, so dreadful, for an instant she could only gape at him in horrified shock.
He smiled.
The blasted mansmiled. It started with that telltale quirk at the corners of his lips, and then the rest of his mouth curved upward into an honest-to-goodness grin.
Why, howdarehe smile so charmingly at her?
How dare he have such a charming smile at all? How dare it take over his whole face, changing his demeanor entirely? Such a man should have a tight smile, a stiff, half-curve of his lips, not this lovely, boyish one that lit him up and made his eyes twinkle.
Wasn’t he handsome enough, without that smile?
It wasn’tfair, dash it?—
“Miss Templeton? Are you unwell? Your eyes have gone a bit glassy.”
“I, ah…” Say something, for pity’s sake! “Very well, Lord Fairmont. I don’t deny that I don’t know how to waltz. Harriett is quite right in saying I never learned. What I meant is, I don’tneed you to teach me, because I will never have occasion to waltz.”
“Of course, you’ll have occasion to waltz. Lady Upton’s ball is the week after next.”
“I’m aware of that, my lord, but I don’t intend to dance at Lady Upton’s ball.” She hadn’t danced at a ball since her first season, and she wasn’t going to start with Lady Upton’s. Indeed, if she could manage it without offending Harriett and Lady Fosberry, she wouldn’t attend Lady Upton’s ball at all.
He leaned back in his chair, that shrewd gaze still pinning her down, missing nothing—not the merest twitch, or catch of her breath. “I had a word with Harriett last night, when we arrived home after Lord Powell’s ball,” he said at last. “I told her I’d noticed you go to some lengths to avoid drawing attention to yourself, and she agreed that was true.”
For pity’s sake! She loved Harriett dearly, and yet at that moment, she would happily have delivered her a blistering scold that would have left her ears ringing for days.
“Why don’t you ever dance, Miss Templeton?”
She started to reply, but before she could say a word, he held up his hand. “A warning first. If you’re about to tell me you’re too old to dance, then you may as well preserve your breath. It’s utter nonsense, and I think you know that.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to say.” It was a lie, of course. She’d been about to tell him it didn’t become spinsters to dance, but if she said it now, he’d only argue with her, and it would prolong what was becoming a rather awkward conversation.
