Close enough that she could see the exact shade of dark blue that his eyes were in this light, close enough that she was aware of him with a completeness that left very little room for anything else.
He held her there for one breath, and then another before he stepped back. His hands returned to their correct positions, and his expression returned to the composed, neutral version she knew.
She looked back at the middle distance and said nothing and concentrated on breathing at a normal rate. But on the inside, her mind was flying in every direction.
Surely, they had just shared a moment. Temperance had never been this close to a man before, and she wondered if it had any impact on the duke.
But annoyingly, he did not let any reaction show. Was it possible for him to be this unbothered about everything? It was irritating, if not a little offensive.
“That was better,” he said to the room in general. “Joseph, did you see how to do things differently?”
“Yes,” Joseph said from the side of the room.
Harper looked at his son.
“I suppose we are done here,” he let her go entirely, and she felt the absence of it at once. Though she tried her hardest not to let her emotions show.
If he’s not going to react, then I shall not either.Why should she give him the upper hand?
“That was a good lesson,” Joseph said. “Miss Hosmer seems to be a better dancer than I thought, though one can forgive that last misstep.”
Harper nodded at his son and then turned back to Temperance and said, “There is a masquerade on Friday. We should be ready by eight.”
“A masquerade?”
“Yes, and we are required to be there,” he said, not bothering to add any more context.
“I…”
Her words were left unfinished as he left the room before she could get them out.
CHAPTER 14
“Icannot decide,” Charity said, leaning slightly forward in her seat as the curtain rose on the second act, “whether the tenor is genuinely talented or simply very loud.”
“Both, I think,” Temperance said. “He has committed to the volume regardless of the pitch.”
“That is very charitable of you,” Alethea said, from her other side. “I would simply call it loud.”
“He is passionate,” Temperance said. “One must admire the commitment, even if the result is somewhat overwhelming.”
“Passionate,” Charity repeated, as though testing the word. “Is that what we are calling it.”
“It is what I am calling it,” Temperance said. “You may call it whatever you like.”
The opera house was full and their party occupied two boxes, the ladies in one and the gentlemen in the other. Temperance had been looking forward to this evening for some time for the specific pleasure of an evening with her friends that was not a ball and did not require her to smile at strangers for three hours. She had put on her best evening dress and she had come out with every intention of enjoying herself.
Which was going as planned until the interval arrived and Harper appeared in the doorway of their box.
Charity saw him first and said, very quietly, “Oh dear.”
“Miss Hosmer,” Harper said, from the doorway. “I wonder if I might have a word.”
“The interval is only twenty minutes,” she said.
“I am aware of what an interval is,” he said pleasantly.
She looked at Charity, who gave her the expression of a woman who was going to want a full report later, and stood up and went with him into the corridor, which was cooler and considerably noisier, full of people taking the interval as an opportunity to move about. Harper steered them to a slightly quieter section near the far wall and turned to face her.
