He had attended countless seasons watching beautiful women dance and flirt without caring in the slightest. He had encouraged such behaviour often enough himself. So why did seeing Charlotte laugh softly at another gentleman’s comment make him irrationally irritated?
Penelope suddenly appeared beside him like an evil little ghost. “You look murderous.”
Victor glanced downward. “Do I?”
“Yes.” She grinned wickedly. “It is terribly amusing.”
“I have no idea what you mean,” he said.
“Of course not, for it is a false engagement, is it not?” She giggled and walked away.
Victor narrowed his eyes slightly while Penelope laughed under her breath as she wandered away before he could interrogate her further.
Infuriating family.
Across the ballroom, Charlotte completed another dance and immediately found herself approached by two more gentlemen. One kissed her hand. Another complimented her gown. Victor’s jaw clenched harder. He recognised this feeling suddenly. Possessiveness. The realization hit him unpleasantly fast.
No. Absolutely not.
Charlotte was merely part of a temporary arrangement. A complication. An employee with beautiful eyes and dangerous lips who somehow continuously invaded his thoughts.
Nothing more.
Yet when another gentleman leaned too close while speaking to her, Victor began crossing the ballroom before he consciously decided to move.
Charlotte looked up in surprise as he approached.
“Your Grace?”
Victor offered her his hand smoothly. “I believe this dance belongs to me.”
The gentleman beside her looked disappointed immediately.
Excellent.
Charlotte stared at Victor for half a second too long before slowly placing her gloved hand into his. Victor ignored the dangerous satisfaction curling warmly inside him as he led her onto the dance floor.
This is becoming a serious problem indeed.
* * *
Charlotte could feel his warmth as he held her in his arms as they danced.
“You seem flushed,” he said with a smirk.
“It is merely warm in here, nothing more,” she said.
Is it so obvious that he affects me so?
“Are you having a good time?” he asked.
“I am. I am happy to see my sisters so diverted and able to be in society as they should,” she said. His hand wrapped around hers as he twirled her with the cadence of the other couples.
“I see. Though I did not ask if you were happy for your sisters, I asked if you were having a good time. You and only you,” he said.
Charlotte noticed his eyes darken as his gaze moved to her lips, waiting for an answer. It had been so long since anyone cared about her happiness. Whether or not she was having a good time. She felt perplexed by this question.
“I…I suppose I am having a pleasant time, Your Grace,” she said.
