Page 32 of A Countess Never Tells

“Well, ‘they’ can be wrong, as I have attested to you.” Judith sighed and took her arm again, a great deal more gently than before. “Come, let us return to the ball. I suppose you do owe the gentleman an answer.”

Chapter 14

Almost as reluctantly as he’d gone to Lord Haxby’s townhouse, Ash presented himself before Lord and Lady Haxby at the edge of the ballroom floor opposite the orchestra. Kitty was there as well, of course, moving nervously, or excitedly, from foot to foot. At the sight of her again—he’d been concentrating so hard on acting aloof to her earlier he’d scarcely noticed anything about her—he was awestruck by just how exquisitely lovely she looked this evening.

Her hair had been pulled up into a row of small rolls across her head, little pink jewels scattered all over. They winked in the candlelight whenever she turned her head. Her gown of pink silk was a fantasy come true, with a bodice low across her ample breasts, so low he feared they might actually pop out. The gown was frothy with white lace covering the stomacher then down the side of the overdress and around the hem. She reminded him of a divine sugary treat he would’ve loved to gobble up here and now. Damn, but he needed to stop ogling her before her brother took notice.

Making his best formal bow, Ash summoned his most charming smile and straightened, ready for battle. “My lord, my lady, Miss Tate. Good evening.”

“Lord Ashwood.” Lord Haxby pulled himself up to his imposing height, hoping, no doubt, to intimidate him.

Fortunately for Ash, he’d had much experience with irate fathers, brothers, and on occasion, husbands. This was no different at all—except the stakes had now risen to an appalling level. How could he gain Lord Haxby’s good will when the man despised him so thoroughly?

“I believe I made myself clear when last we met that you were not to attempt to dance with or speak to my sister. Yet Lady Haxby informs me that you solicited the supper dance from Kitty, nonetheless. What do you have to say for yourself, my lord? I depended on your honor as a gentleman to abide by my decree.”

Now here was a rock and a hard place to be rubbed up against. If he told the man Kitty had been lying about receiving a note from him, he’d be besmirching the word of a lady. However, if he admitted to asking the lady for the dance, he’d be defying Lord Haxby and calling his own honor into question. Ash sighed. “I apologize, my lord, for disregarding your decree. It was foolish of me, I admit, but I wished a final dance with Miss Tate, as we did not realize our last one at Lady Braeton’s ball was to have been our farewell.” Ash shot a look at Haxby to see how his explanation was being received.

He was met with a glowering scowl that told the tale.

“Perhaps I should’ve come to you instead to make my request, my lord.” Ash tried to speak jovially, in the vain hope the earl would have some vestige of a sense of humor. “But I rather thought that would not go over well either.”

“In that you assumed correctly, Ashwood.” Her brother was taking his guardianship of Kitty extremely seriously. Many men would’ve gladly looked past Ash’s reputation and focused on his title and fortune. Unfortunately for Ash, Haxby was not of a mercenary mind. “I will ask you once again to desist from paying any attention to my sister whatsoever.” Haxby puffed out his chest and fixed Ash with a glaring eye. The next words out of the man’s mouth might very well be a challenge.

“That is enough, John.” Kitty stepped forward, a vision in pink, eyes snapping with impatience. “Ash is too much a gentleman to tell you the truth, but I forced him to accept this dance with me, not the other way around.”

“What?” Her brother jerked his head about so quickly his neck popped.

“You heard me.” Kitty’s eyes flashed a warning. “I told him very loudly and publicly that I’d received a note from him, which he did not send, by the way. I made it up so I could dance with him again.” A sort of righteous indignation seemed to emanate from Kitty, a wonderful sight to behold. God, she was magnificent. “Rather than call me a liar in front of a bevy of guests, he simply acquiesced to my claim for the supper dance. Which I am about to make good on.” She smiled at Ash with so much joy in her face that his heart melted. The woman was absolutely fearless.

“Kitty, I have forbidden—”

“I am your sister, John, not your daughter. I reached my majority years ago and am no longer bound by your guardianship. If I choose to dance with Lord Ashwood, that is my choice alone.” She stared her brother in the face, without belligerence but with calm dignity. “I tried to do as you asked, John, but I simply could not do it. I am asking you now to trust that I know my own mind.” She prayed her brother would give her this one chance to speak with Ash. “If you wish to turn me from the house for defying you, that is your right. But I will dance with him, brother.” Her countenance relaxed and her tone softened until it was almost playful. “Besides, what can the gentleman do to me in the middle of a ballroom floor with the wide world, including you, watching his every move?”

“It is one dance, John.” Lady Haxby, ever Kitty’s champion, provided a blessed voice of reason. “She needs to speak with him.”

Lord Haxby pursed his lips, looking from his wife to his sister, then nodded curtly. “Very well. Once dance only, Kitty.” He shot a piercing glare at Ash. “And we leave before the supper.”

“As you say, John.” Kitty smothered a grin and took Ash’s arm in an instant. “Quickly, before he changes his mind,” she said in a loud stage whisper.

“I am yours to command, my dear.” Ash patted her arm and heaved a sigh. God knew he’d had enough of Haxby’s company for the moment. Instead, he turned his attention to savoring this dance with Kitty.

The music began, a contredanse, which would give very little time for them to converse. But it would have to be enough. They lined up with the other couples facing one another, Ash bowed as Kitty curtsied then they all took hands in a circle.

“You were rather fierce with your brother just now, Kitty. Should I fear for my life if I displease you again?”

“Nonsense, Ash.” They wound in and out of the couples. “John simply cannot continue to think he rules me in everything, especially in something as simple as choosing a partner for a dance. He has never done so before.”

“Ah, but now you have found someone who genuinely interests you, a person he does not trust in the least.” Ash glanced over at Lord Haxby to find him staring at them as though he would shoot daggers from his eyes if he could. “I actually understand his position. If I had a sister, I cannot think I would allow her to associate with a man such as me.” Haxby’s question to him during their interview had haunted him the past week. “To think of it that way changes one’s perspective.”

“Again, I say nonsense. John simply doesn’t know you.

He caught her hand for a turn and gazed earnestly into her eyes. “He knows my reputation too well.”

“Ash!”

They joined hands with their second couple and circled around then took hands and turned again.

“It’s true, Kitty. You said as much yourself. The truth of the matter is that I am a rake. This very moment I have nothing so much on my mind as to find a way to kiss you again.” That was only partly the truth. His desire to marry her and have all of her still raged as unchecked as it had since first he saw her.