“You do not like dancing, Lord Daniel?”
“Hate it with a passion. Still, not possible to avoid when one is under orders to find a wife. I suppose you will be looking about for another prospect yourself.”
“How is Lady Patience?” Lance said, without much interest.
“Oh, her!” her brother said, rolling his eyes. “She got off lightly, if you ask me. I say, do you know if there is anything decent to drink in this place? All I have been offered is champagne.”
“There will be plenty in the card room, I imagine.”
“I have strict instructions not to play cards. Have to dance, you see. Parade myself in the ballroom.”
“There is punch in the supper room.”
Lord Daniel’s face brightened. “Punch — the very thing! Come with me, Chamberlain, like a good fellow, in case any avaricious mama tries to get her claws into me on the way there. You must protect me!”
Lance had no objection to a glass of punch, so he led the way to the supper room, still quiet at this early hour, with only a little cluster of girls whispering together in a corner, and a couple of footmen in and out as they laid tables.
“Lord, this is better,” Lord Daniel said, throwing himself into a chair. “Glad to escape from that crush. Fetch me some punch, will you?”
Lance did as he was bid, and sat down himself. He had no objection to dancing, but it was pleasant to have male company for a change.
For a while, Lord Daniel talked about nothing very much, but then he said, “You did well to cut yourself loose, Chamberlain. Patience would have been kicking up her heels all over town if she had married you.”
“Would she?”
“Lord, yes! Dreadful girl. No morals worth mentioning. Did you never wonder why the parents raced up to town in themiddle of the hunting season to tie you up, eh? Stupid girl had been fooling around with one of the grooms. Nothing came of it, luckily — we would really have had to throw her out if it had. No, she was lucky, but Father thought it best to get her safely engaged to you just in case of future accidents. Had no liking for it, but it had to be done. But then the stupid creature had to go fooling round with Pardow. Do you know Pardow?”
“I have never met anyone from that family.”
“Lucky you. We wish Patience had never met them, either. So then she found she had one in the basket and Pardow long gone, so the push was on to get her safely married to you. But you worked it out, fortunately. I have to say, I never liked the idea above half — forcing a man to take another man’s get. Not right, is it? I would never stand for it. Get me some more punch, will you?”
“The punch bowl is only two steps away, my lord, and if that is too much effort, there is a footman over there. I have a cotillion to enjoy.”
As he left the room, he heard Lord Daniel’s imperious voice calling, “Footman! Hey, you there!”
Seething, Lance barely noticed his surroundings until a familiar female voice hailed him.
“Lance? Are you quite well?”
“Oh… Lottie! Just the person I need. Your smiling face will help me cool my temper.”
“Was that Lord Daniel I saw with you just now?” she said.
“It was, and a more arrogant, selfish, underhanded, devious, scoundrelly family I never met in my entire life. But I beg your pardon! I should not vent my spleen on you. This is our dance, I believe. Shall we?”
“Not for the world! Let us find a quiet corner where you can vent your spleen at whatever length is necessary to restore your equanimity.”
“A quiet corner? In this crush?”
But she led him round the room a little way, avoiding the dancers forming sets, and behind some potted plants to where a sofa sat unobtrusively.
“There! We shall be quite private here, and you may unburden yourself, Lance dear. At least, as much as you wish to tell me.”
“I am not sure if I can tell you everything, Lottie,” he said. “You are still an innocent, and the details of Patience’s betrayal are not fit for the ears of any respectable woman.”
“You mean she was with child? Oh, I know that! We all know that,” Charlotte said calmly. “Her own maid was outraged by her behaviour and told Lily’s maid before she left — in the strictest confidence, naturally, but you can imagine how long that lasted. I dare say every upper servant knew of it within minutes, and thus it seeped upstairs, too. Everyone was very glad you saw through her in the end. Disgraceful woman!”
“Well!” Lance said, with a bark of laughter. “There are no secrets, it appears.”
