for you. I could not live without the colours of my paints.’
‘I am sorry I have missed out on the beauty as well.’
When the music ended, they stopped, but didn’t immediately separate. He imagined her in a portrait. On his wall. To gaze at. He swallowed. His conversational skills had evaporated.
‘Would you like a stroll in the gardens?’ he asked.
She studied him. ‘You don’t like art?’
He firmed his lips. ‘Not usually.’
‘Oh…’ She peered beyond his shoulder. ‘If you will pardon me, your brother is beckoning me.’
Neither spoke as they went in opposite directions.
Emilie walked away from the couples, feeling she’d just stumbled, instead of dancing. And she was certain she’d not missed the steps.
Mr Westbrook strolled her way and she asked him if he liked watercolours, and he regaled her with a day his father had hosted the caricaturist Gillray, years before, and Mr Westbrook continued on, discussing prints he’d seen, and agreed that he, too, dabbled with paints. The talk of tints and hues should have been more interesting. But it wasn’t really.
Then he led her into the swarm of dancing people and she beamed in all the right places and feigned all the fascination she could and hid her relief as the music ended.
When she reached her mother at the refreshment table, she peeked at Lord Grayson. He was observing Lady Elliot and her two daughters.
Then, another man approached the group. The man glared at Grayson, which was wise of him, and offered his arm to the younger Miss Elliot. She accepted the invitation and they sauntered away.
Then Grayson turned, an indulgent smile on his lips. He gave Emilie the barest glance before he turned to the elder daughter, spoke and she tucked her hand under his arm and let him lead her to the Roger de Coverly.
Emilie tapped with her fingertips against the side of her lemonade glass, watching Lord Grayson with Miss Elliot—the woman dancing was obviously revelling in the experience of being so close to him.
Grayson spoke to his partner when they met. He moved as if he had wings on his boots. The woman floated along, too.
He gazed at the woman as if he’d never had such a captivating audience.
When he changed position, Emilie knew he’d perceived she was observing him.
He spoke again to the woman and indicated the doorway.
That wasn’t appropriate. He would likely take that woman to the gardens as he had suggested to Emilie. True, the garden had many guests conversing in it, but a later meeting could be planned.
That unrepentant rake. That scoundrel. He was aware she watched.
Well, if he wished her to be aware, then she would give him a taste of his own medicine. Emilie turned to her mother.
‘Did you notice how Lady Elliot appears pained?’
Her mother’s brows furrowed and she inspected Lady Elliot, her grey hair swirled at the edges of a feathered band. ‘No,’ her mother said at Emilie’s side. ‘I perceive nothing out of the ordinary about her.’
‘I should ask her to take a turn around the gardens,’ Emilie said. ‘For her—for my health. If I say it is for my health, that might make her feel better and not make her ashamed of her weakness.’
‘That is so unlike you.’
‘It is the society, Mama. It makes me feel…um, not like an artist so much, but more like a…’ She paused, listening to the nonsense she spouted, but it had truth in it. ‘I feel…womanly.’
Her mother groaned. ‘If I had known that getting you to a gathering such as this would change you, I would have made sure to have done it years ago.’
All her mother would have had to do was guarantee some interesting artists would be there and Emilie would have jumped at the chance.
She meandered to the mother of the woman Lord Grayson had danced with. She was engrossed in conversation with a dowager. Chaperonage fell to the wayside when a mother’s daughter was close to a potential peer and a longed-for son-in-law.
‘Lady Elliot,’ she whispered, touching the woman’s arm and interrupting the discussion. ‘Could you please join me in the gardens? I may have had more wine than I should have. I had two glasses, but perhaps more.’
The woman raised her eyebrows. ‘The wine is delicious, but a lady must always pace herself.’
Emilie touched her gloved hand to her forehead. ‘I agree. But sometimes a faster pace gets the better of me.’
The older woman patted her hand, spoke briefly to her companions and took Emilie’s arm as they strolled to the cooler air.
Emilie saw the darkest edge and aimed for it, leaving the strains of music behind.
‘If you’d stay with me for a moment longer…’ She kept Lady Elliot at her side. ‘I am feeling better, but…’
‘Dear…’ Lady Elliot patted Emilie’s glove ‘…do be careful of the drink. It doesn’t always improve a woman’s complexion. A little does add a rosy glow, but take a lot and the headache isn’t worth it. You’ll be ghastly the following day.’
‘Well,’ Emilie admitted, brushing away a wisp of hair that had loosened from her bun, ‘now and then, I do forget about my appearance.’
‘You must never do that.’ Lady Elliot sputtered. ‘A woman’s decorum and fashion should always be of utmost importance in her mind. My Cecilia Ann has been schooled in that. Proper manners and a good wardrobe can take a woman far.’
Emilie frowned. She wouldn’t make it far then.
They found a bench in the darkness. ‘It is a lovely evening,’ Lady Elliot said, ‘except for Mrs Hodges’s dress. The colours would favour Mr Hodges better.’
‘Um…’ Emilie said, imagining a painting of Mr Hodges. ‘It would not work with his complexion. He would fade away into nothing.’
They discussed the varieties of colour in the ballroom, then feminine laughter and one rich baritone interrupted their chat. The laughter and the baritone were obviously moving towards Emilie and Lady Elliot.
The woman beside Emilie stilled.
Lord Grayson and his dancing partner were nearly directly in front of them when the two standing saw the two sitting. Even the air stopped.
The young woman spoke, voice high. ‘Mother?’
Lady Elliot moved to her feet. She took her daughter’s arm. ‘You promised the next reel to Sir Calvin.’ She took her daughter’s arm. ‘Cecilia. Inside. Right now. Immediately. I cannot fathom how you got confused. That
