looking for a way to get close to Lord Westchester.’
Sam opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by Aunt Tabitha’s raised hand. He shot Fitzgerald a distrusting look.
‘Now, none of that,’ the older woman said. ‘I’m sure I don’t need to know why you need to gain an audience with the Earl, but that pretty young thing over there, the one in the blue dress, she is your ticket in.’
‘A relation of the Earl?’ Sam asked, his senses suddenly heightened.
‘His daughter. I’m sure a catch like that will have a full dance card already. But George tells me you’re a resourceful man. I’d wager my pearls you can find a way to steal her away from one of these bores for a dance or two.’
‘Lady Winston, you’re a gem,’ Sam said, stooping down and kissing her on the cheek.
Straightening up, he took a moment to square his shoulders, stiffen his spine and focus in on his prey. He rather thought this was how a general would feel when sighting his enemy on the battlefield.
He strode across the ballroom, ignoring the curious stares that followed him. Everyone wanted to know the truth behind the three mysterious gentlemen who had appeared in society as if by magic, but he would not be stopped by even the most persistent of enquirers.
The Earl’s daughter stood in the middle of an eager gaggle of men of varying ages, all of whom seemed desperate to see to her every need, even those she didn’t know she had. Sam paused for a moment, listening to the men clamour for her attention, and the young woman’s polite but uninterested replies.
‘Perhaps another glass of lemonade, Lady Georgina?’ a boy who couldn’t have been more than twenty suggested.
‘I’m perfectly fine, thank you, Mr Forrester.’
‘Would you care for some fresh air, Lady Georgina?’ another young man suggested.
‘I think our dance will be starting soon,’ a slightly older man said, eyeing the younger bucks with distaste.
The popular Lady Georgina smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, and Sam knew instantly that she wouldn’t object to being taken away from her many admirers.
‘Excuse me,’ he said, his voice deep and low, clearing a space through the crowd that surrounded her. ‘Your mother asked me to find you. She has an urgent matter to discuss.’
Lady Georgina’s eyes snapped up and she regarded him with a half-smile on her face for a few seconds. She knew he was lying, knew it was a ruse to get her to himself for a little while, and for a moment he wondered if she was going to call his bluff. As her eyes met his Sam felt a frisson of excitement and a sudden burst of attraction. She was pretty, with thick, dark hair and deep green eyes set in a heart-shaped face with smooth, creamy skin, but it wasn’t until she looked at him that Sam understood the gaggle of suitors surrounding her. There was life in her eyes and Sam felt the pull, the unconscious urge to rush in and join her in whatever adventure she suggested.
‘Oh, I do hope it’s nothing serious,’ she said, raising a dainty hand to her mouth and trying to effect a worried expression.
‘Don’t overdo it,’ Sam murmured in her ear. He’d managed to manoeuvre most of the admirers out of the way and place himself firmly by her side. ‘Just a family matter,’ Sam said brightly. ‘I’m sure you’ll be back to...everyone very shortly.’
She placed the dainty hand in the crook of his arm and together they took a step forward. Through the thin material of her dress Sam could feel the heat of her skin and for an instant he wondered what it might feel like under his lips. Quickly he dismissed the thought. He’d only just met the woman and, more importantly, she was a means to get closer to his objective, not a suitable companion for a dalliance.
‘I say, shouldn’t I accompany you, Lady Georgina?’ a man of about Sam’s age said, his brow furrowed with suspicion. ‘Rather than this...stranger.’
‘What makes you think I’m a stranger?’ Sam asked, enjoying himself for the first time this evening.
‘Surely you don’t want to be going off with him,’ another man prompted. ‘You must have heard the rumours?’
‘Gentlemen, my mother has asked for me and Mr...’
‘Robertson,’ Sam supplied helpfully.
‘Mr Robertson has been kind enough to deliver her message and escort me to her. I’m sure I will be back shortly.’
Without a backwards glance Sam led Lady Georgina through the crowds, noting the curious looks from the assembled guests.
‘What’s your plan now, Mr Robertson?’ Georgina murmured in his ear.
‘Perhaps we could find somewhere a little more private,’ he suggested. Images of a deserted room, darkened except for the light of a few candles and Lady Georgina seductively draped across the arm of a chair popped into his mind. That wasn’t what he’d meant, but it was appealing all the same.
‘With the entire ballroom watching us? I have my reputation to think about.’ Sam wasn’t sure if he imagined the moment of hesitation, the slight blush to her cheeks as if she’d been imagining the same as him.
‘They do seem unnaturally interested in our every movement,’ Sam said, feeling at least twenty pairs of eyes on him at that very moment.
‘I think people are worried the big bad stranger might take advantage of innocent little me.’
‘Unlikely,’ he said, realising that he meant it. Lady Georgina might be the pampered daughter of an earl, used to having her every need seen to by a bevy of servants, but she was no shy and retiring innocent. She’d known he was lying about the message from her mother from the very instant the words had left his mouth, yet here she was on his arm, enjoying the break from the mundane for a few moments, those exotic eyes looking up at him with anticipation.
‘Perhaps the terrace?’ Lady Georgina suggested. ‘There will be plenty of couples taking the air, but it may be a little quieter.’
Sam led her on another loop of the ballroom and out on to the terrace. She was right, of course, there were couples dotted along the stone balustrade and strolling backwards and forward taking the air, but there were fewer eyes on them here. He realised suddenly how out of his depth he was in this world. It had never even crossed his mind that there would be a terrace for couples of withdraw to. The whole scene, the whole evening, was completely foreign to him. He felt more at home on horseback, galloping through the Australian countryside on a mission to find out why a remote well had dried up or scouting for valuable land for crops.
‘You’re quite the talk of the ballroom,’ Lady Georgina said as they paused at one end of the terrace.
‘All good things, I’m sure,’ Sam murmured.
She laughed and immediately Sam knew it wasn’t the laugh she reserved for her suitors. This was Lady Georgina’s true laugh. It lit up her face from her eyes to that perfectly pointed chin.
‘If all the rumours are to be believed, you’re a pirate, one of those ruthless corsairs based off the coast of Africa. You’re an ex-convict from the wilds of Australia. And you’re a French
