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Marina could not see who was speaking, and Octavia seemed oblivious to the unkind remarks.

Am I imagining it?

Marina’s eyes darted this way and that, trying to figure out who was behind the comments. All the while, embarrassed warmth rose up from deep within her, prickling up her neck and into her face.

Just then, a hand pressed lightly against her back. Twisting around in surprise at the sudden touch, she found herself looking up into her husband’s beautiful green eyes, her face flushing with double the heat as he took her hand in his and brought it to his lips.

“Look at me,” he told her with a smile. “Just concentrate on me.”

She nodded in a daze.

“We are going to dance,” he said. “You are going to keep your eyes on me, and you are not going to think about the rest of the ball. There is no one else here.”

She drew in an unsteady breath, aware of Octavia watching with a warm smile upon her face.

“There are too many people,” she whispered to her husband, her heart beating too quickly again. This time, at least, she knew it was racing out of fear.

Anthony shook his head and brought her hand to his lips once more. “It is just you and me.”

“What if I trip?”

“You cannot if you just keep watching me,” he told her with a smile, before weaving her arm through his.

Staying so close to her side that his leg kept brushing against hers, he guided her through the throngs of revelers to the large dance floor that stood at the far end of the vast terrace, where a beautiful willow draped itself across one corner.

“It is just us,” Anthony insisted, as the music for the last set faded to a close, and led her into position.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Anger thrummed in Anthony’s nerves as he bowed, his instincts yearning to find the bitter women who kept making nasty remarks about his wife. He had heard the vicious whispers floating around, had witnessed the cold, judgmental stares, but he had enough sense to know that berating all those unpleasant people in public would not win Marina’s favor.

How dare they treat her like this.

He understood that it was just jealousy, but he wondered if Marina did. Did she know that she was the most beautiful woman in attendance tonight? Did she know that the moment she had come down the stairs at the townhouse, dressed in that gown, he had already been certain that she would be?

Using his anger, Anthony swept forward, taking hold of Marina’s hand so they could waltz for the first time. An intimate dance that still shocked the older members of the ton, though not Harriet. If she had been there, she would have been watching wistfully, no doubt wishing she was some forty years younger.

“I apologize if I break your toes,” Marina whispered, her eyes panicked.

“I will not feel it,” Anthony promised, as he held her tighter, hoping to make her feel more secure as they rose and fell to the rhythm of the music.

She remained true to his earlier command, her gaze never leaving his as they moved around the dance floor, turning in slow circles that transformed into a promenade, then back again.

“You know you must not listen to jealous remarks,” he said, inwardly wincing as she did indeed tread on his toes. “It is bitterness. It is envy. No one who is happy whispers unkindly about other people. You ought to pity them and pay them no heed.”

Her brow furrowed. “How can it be jealousy when it is nothing new? No one was jealous of me before.”

“I can promise you they were,” he replied, as he leaned in close to her ear and murmured, “How could they not be, when you are as beautiful as you are?”

A soft gasp escaped her lips and when he pulled back, her eyes were narrowed in sudden anger.

“Do not lie to me, Anthony. I do not need placating with falsehoods,” she said sternly. “I know I am not beautiful. I have never wanted to be a great beauty, and my scars have ensured that I never will be. As long as my mind is rich with thought, I am content.”

Anthony suffered through another crunch of his toes that may or may not have been deliberate.

“I am not lying,” he told her. “I do not flatter to deceive. I do not say things that I do not mean.”

Her frown softened for just a moment, before she hardened her glare once more.