The brothers were still with the group of nobles—Drake was describing the silks in a cargo of theirs that had just arrived—when the orchestra that had been playing quietly in the background struck up a flourish and fell silent. The butler announced Lady Marple and then went on to name each of the three daughters of the house, the two Wintergreen sisters, and finally young Lord Marple.
Bane had eyes only for his Lady Misrule.
“Which lady has caught your eye?” asked the Duchess of Winshire.
He did not even think of prevaricating. “Miss Wintergreen, Your Grace. Miss Olivia Wintergreen.”
“You like a challenge,” the duchess surmised.
She was right. Where Cilla was a calm lake, Livy was a storm at sea. Challenging, yes, but also exciting, thrilling. A worthy opponent and an even worthier partner. “She is worth fighting for,” he said. “A warrior queen. I admire her more than I can say.” And why was he sharing this with a stranger when he had not even been as honest with his brother?
“Good answer,” said the duchess. “I shall send you and your brother invitations to my ball, young man. The Marple and Wintergreen girls, too.”
That was unexpected. Bane wrenched his attention away from Livy and turned to look at the duchess. “Thank you, ma’am. Thank you very much.”
The duchess’s eyes twinkled. “Miss Wintergreen has been adamant she does not wish to marry, Mr. Sanderson. So much so that she has frightened off every suitor who tried to get close for the past two seasons. I suspect most of them saw her dowry rather than the young lady herself. But not all. I shall watch your courtship with interest.”
*
Livy
“What is theSanderson misfit doing with the Duchess of Winshire?” grumbled Jasper. “And the duke. And the Duke and Duchess of Dellborough. How did those mushrooms finagle that?”
The Duchess of Winshire? Lady Sutton was the daughter-in-law of the Duke of Winshire, or so Livy had been told by the same person who had spoken of Lady Sutton’s work with women who had been abused or seduced by men.
Livy looked in the same direction as Jasper and there was Bane, magnificent in well-crafted evening wear. He was bowing to a lady who must be one of the duchesses, while several other magnificent personages looked benignly on.
Now he stepped back so that Drake could take his place, and as he effaced himself, he turned to gaze across the ballroom. He must have been watching her earlier, for he looked first to the stairs down into the room and then to the side, where they all stood with Aunt Ginny, who was introducing each of her charges, in strict order of precedence, to the partner who would lead them out in the first dance.
He smiled when he caught her eyes, and she had to fight not to smile back. Perhaps he would introduce her to the duchess!And then what? Livy could not imagine herself asking a duchess for an introduction to her daughter-in-law.
“Jasper, pay attention,” Aunt Ginny scolded in a hiss. “I shall be signaling the orchestra in a moment, and you must be ready.” Jasper would take his eldest sister into the dance, of course. The other four gentlemen were sons of some of Aunt Ginny’s friends. The higher-ranked men would take in the Marple twins, and the two others, Livy and Cilla. Livy would have been better pleased if she had been ignored, or if Aunt Ginny had chosen for them by height rather than by precedence.
Livy’s assigned dance partner was Mr. Curston. He was almost a full head shorter than her, and would be spending the dance staring up at her or, which was worse, gazing at her chin or, worst of all, down the front of her dress. Given it was Mr. Curston, she guessed it would be the third option.
She cast another glance toward Bane. He was still watching her. He, at least, was taller than her. When their dance came about, she wouldn’t feel like a rat matched with a mouse.
The orchestra played the opening chords, and Jasper and Pearl led the way onto the floor, followed by the Marple sisters and then the Wintergreen sisters in age order. They took the first five places in a long dance, but other couples crowded onto the floor.
Pearl, as the leading lady, called the first pattern, and the ball had begun. Soon enough, Jasper and Pearl handed over the lead to Ruby and her partner took the lead. So it went, with each couple taking their turn at the lead, then dancing down, the man behind the row of men and the lady behind the row of ladies, then together back up through the couples, to finish their turn by weaving back down the line again, the gentleman twirling each lady in turn, and the lady being passed from gentleman to gentleman.
Livy’s partner, as she had expected, failed to meet her eyes, nor did he speak with her or show any interest in her, beyond attempting to ogle her breasts. Being ignored would have been preferable to being undressed with his eyes, but the horrid slug managed to do both. The only signs of enthusiasm he showed came when he was circling one of the other ladies, whom Livy had met as a friend of her cousins.
Apart from Bane, who was in the set with a lady Livy didn’t recognize, no gentleman on the floor was as tall as Livy. The two occasions that she circled Bane were the best of the dance.
“Thank you, Miss Wintergreen,” said her partner, politely. He didn’t bother to escort her back to Aunt Ginny, who was, in any case, only a few paces away. He had already left her in his mind even as he half bowed, for his eyes were searching the crowd.
Livy couldn’t even squash the man like the bug he undoubtedly was. Not without embarrassing her sister and her aunt. “Thank you,” she replied.
Jasper was complaining to his mother when she took the few steps that brought her to Aunt Ginny.
“What is Wolfbane Sanderson doing, hobnobbing with dukes and marquesses?” he complained. “You should not have invited him, Mama. It is an insult to your guests to expect them to socialize with such a man.”
Aunt Ginny frowned at him. “Jasper, please keep your voice down. Bane and Drake Sanderson have a longstanding friendship with Lord Thornstead, the son of the Dellboroughs, and they have clearly also met Lord Andrew somewhere. He, of course, is the Duke of Winshire’s son. The Sandersons are personable young men.”
The Duke of Winshire’s son would be Lady Sutton’s brother-in-law! Surely meeting the young man would be a step closer to the lady herself? Could she ask Bane to introduce to them?
“Andrew Winderfield is a mongrel, but Thornstead should know better,” Jasper complained.
