style="font-size:15px;"> They arrived at the assembly rooms soon after, and once they’d proceeded through the reception line and her aunt had introduced her to several matrons whose approval was essential to her acceptance in Harrogate society, they walked on to the ballroom. As Lady Alice had hoped, they discovered all Gwen’s potential suitors already present.
The gentlemen soon spotted them. After greetings all around, Mr. Masterson bowed to Gwennor’s aunt.
“May I solicit your niece’s hand for the first waltz?”
“Miss Southford has just agreed to sit out the waltz and dance the next set with me,” Colonel Howard said.
“You do not think the waltz inappropriate, surely?” Mr. Masterson appealed to Lady Alice.
“Certainly not! Indeed, ’tis my hope—oh, but of course, Colonel Howard did—” her aunt stuttered.
“Good,” Mr. Masterson inserted with a grin. “To accommodate the colonel, I promise to return the lady before the next set begins.” After a quick bow to her aunt, he took her arm and urged her onto the floor.
“Are you kidnapping me?” Gwennor protested, laughing.
“Nothing so violent. But there didn’t seem a tactful way to suggest that though Colonel Howard may not feel up to a waltz, I am quite capable.”
His delicacy in preserving the colonel’s pride further impressed Gwen. “That was most kind.”
Mr. Masterson’s smile deepened and his green-eyed gaze fixed on her with notable warmth. “Besides, I’ve dreamed all week of waltzing with you in my arms.”
Mercifully, the music began, since Gwen was too flustered to reply. Acutely aware of his hands at her waist and shoulder, she let him sweep her into the dance.
Her enthusiasm at the prospect of dancing soon soothed her agitation, and she gave herself up to the delight of swirling with the music.
As they came to a halt at the end of the dance, their position and proximity inevitably called up memories of an even closer embrace that had progressed to a much less proper activity…one in which she’d also participated with great enthusiasm. Her face heated guiltily.
She half stumbled in her eagerness to quit the dance floor, as if by leaving the spot that had invoked them she might banish the disturbing recollections.
“Miss Southford, are you quite all right? You seem fatigued,” Colonel Howard said as they returned. He cast Mr. Masterson an aggrieved glance.
“’Twas a bit warm,” she replied, seizing that excuse to explain her overheated cheeks.
“Let me get you a glass of wine,” Mr. Masterson said.
“Colonel, if you do not mind, could we postpone our dance? I believe I would like a glass.”
While the men squabbled over who would bring wine and who the lobster patties and tea cakes, Gwennor took the colonel’s arm, glad for the respite.
The interlude in the refreshment room did much to restore her calm. She was able to dance several sets, and even welcome engaging in a second waltz with Mr. Masterson. He really was a very pleasant gentleman, she concluded as she listened to him expound on his plans for enlarging the horse-breeding operations at his estate.
Horse breeding. Parry would love that.
Dreamily contemplating her brother passing his days crossing bloodlines to produce steeds of particular colors or attributes, at the termination of the waltz she followed Mr. Masterson off the dance floor. And nearly ran into him when her escort suddenly stopped.
“At last!” he exclaimed. “Miss Southford, you must allow me to retain you a few more moments. My good friend Gilen has just arrived and I wish to introduce you.”
Gwennor murmured her assent, smiling a little to think how delighted Aunt Alice was going to be if this friend turned out to be another eligible gentleman. Curious, as Mr. Masterson led her forward, she scanned the people crowding the room beyond the dance floor, but out of the press of guests she could not discern which particular gentleman he seemed to be seeking.
As it happened, the man they approached had his back to them. Mr. Masterson reached out to touch his shoulder.
“Gilen! I was beginning to think you’d not attend after all! Miss Southford, allow me to present my dear friend, Viscount St. Abrams.”
The tall blond man turned. “Ah, Miss Southford—how delightful to meet you at last.”
Those dark blue eyes. That chiseled jaw. Gwennor’s knees nearly buckled as she sank into a curtsey with more speed than grace. When Lord St. Abrams reached to grasp her suddenly nerveless fingers for the obligatory salute, a wave of dizziness swept her. For one awful moment she thought she might faint.
About to bow over her hand was the taunting, tempting stranger she’d kissed at the gypsy camp.
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