I understood, especially with the Lord Mayor and several of his fellow barristers attending the ball, he needed to circulate. He was an officer of the courts as much as a peer, but I needed his smile, any part of it.
My pride wouldn’t let me chase after him like I was Lady Lavinia.
So I danced with a banker. Then a baron. Then a knight. Time passed.
The punch bowl lowered.
The heat of the ballroom became oppressive. Maybe if I went out and let the night air touch my face, I would feel better.
This house was a maze. Nothing looked familiar. A suit of armor here. Left then right. Then I turned around and back.
With a shake of my head, I headed for quiet. This was as good as being outside.
My eyes drew to something shiny on the floor.
Scooping it up, I saw it was a fob, his fob with the etched T. Broken glass, hands stopped a half hour ago.
Tick. Tick. Tick.That noise should be his watch, but it was my heart pounding through my bodice. Daniel?
Then I saw naked legs, bare feet.
Chubble! Chubble!I screamed trouble in my head, but nothing came out of my mouth.
Those legs gained a torso. The moonlight from a near window made this man’s waistcoat sparkle.
Daniel.
Charging forward, I pressed, shaking.
I dropped to my knees.
His face—bloody. Swelling consumed an eye. Beaten?
Why was he missing pantaloons?
Shaking hard.
Couldn’t hear anything but the violence in my chest.
I pushed at his sleeve. Too unsteady to sense the thud of a pulse.
Cupping my hand to his bloody nose, I felt air.
Alive.
I fell upon him. “Daniel. Daniel, wake up. Are you much hurt? Where are your breeches?”
One eye opened to a slit.
And I smelled something I never smelled on him. Brandy.
After putting his fob in my reticule, I touched his arm, his sides, and he winced like a rib was broken.
Then I realized that he’d been beaten. Someone wanted to make it look as if he’d drunken himself into a stupor.
And to steal his breeches was to embarrass him. “Sorry, Daniel.”
“The voices started again. Make them stop, J.”
