Arabella tensed from head to toe. “Mama, would you walk outside with me? I am in need of some fresh air.”
“In a moment, Darling. There are some elegant dancers this evening, and I would watch them a while longer.” Her mother sighed wistfully. “Why do you never dance this gracefully?”
Destined to remain in her seat until her mother decided otherwise, Arabella silently fumed. Even without setting foot on the dancing floor, she was deemed ungainly and unremarkable. Even in the gaudiest gown here, she paled in comparison to other young ladies. Even after accepting marriage without argument, she was not worthy of a kind word.
And if that man was what she was expected to marry, this betrothal was far worse than she had anticipated.
Chapter Four
Tearing into half a loaf of bread that had been surreptitiously delivered from the kitchens by a concerned footman, Henry chewed angrily as he paced back and forth along the porticoed terrace at the front of the manor. Tucked away in the shadows at the far right side, he and Seth went unnoticed by latecomers.
“I ought to challenge the cretin!” Henry muttered between mouthfuls. “All and sundry think him a paragon of virtue and chivalry, but they have not seen him in the gentlemen’s clubs. He is a lout and an antagonist. Why, do you remember when he stuck out his foot to trip up Lord Fotheringay?”
Seth hesitated. “I do not, but I believe you.” He sighed and sat down between two pillars, eyeing the lintel overhead to make sure no pigeons were roosting. “Nevertheless, you should have bitten your tongue, Dear Haskett. My sister did not need to see that. I imagine she is nervous enough about the betrothal, without thinking you are a coarsely-mannered wretch.Iknow you are not, but that is by the by.”
“I know.” Henry shook his head. “I will make amends. I might not like the arrangement, but I cannot change it.”
Seth lifted his head. “Nor can she.”
“No… no, you are quite right.” A touch of guilt prickled through Henry’s chest. The brandy and champagne, along with a resentment toward this betrothal, had made him somewhat selfish in his perspective. He had thought only of himself, and how it affected him, without giving a moment’s contemplation toward Arabella.
She must be desperate to break this engagement, after seeing that.
He wondered if it might work in his favor, separating the pair before they had the chance to meet at any altar. If she refused enough, or even fled to escape the marriage, she would bear the blame of the broken engagement, and he would be free to continue as he had been doing. The thought pleased him, but it turned grim a few seconds later.
She would be ruined. I might not care for the arrangement, but I would not want to be the cause of something like that.
“I doubt she will care for these, now.” Henry took out the ribbons he had purchased from the haberdashery, on their carriage journey from London to the Earl’s manor.
Seth smiled. “The least you can do is try. Perhaps she will surprise you.”
Henry had bought them as a sort of playful jest, to belatedly apologize for all the ribbons he had stolen from her hair when they were children. Despite Seth’s encouragement, Henry had a feeling the gift would only remind Arabella of the boy he had been. Right now, the man was not much better.
He had just devoured the last of the bread, to sober him somewhat, when he caught sight of two figures walking in the ornamental gardens to the side of the house. He recognized the purple monstrosity, even in the gathering dark of night, but forced himself to look past the puffy skirts and busy pattern to the face they belonged to.
Tall, but not too tall, with a graceful walk that made her gown look less cumbersome than it should have done, she certainly caught the eye now she was apart from the other ladies in the ballroom. A visibly slender silhouette could be guessed at, beneath the mountains of fabric, for if she had been larger, the gown would have made her look very matronly indeed.
Her face, lit by gracious moonlight, had strength to it. “A handsome woman,” his mother would have said. She had a defined jaw that tapered to a subtle chin, with full lips above that were not bitten or rouged red. Her nose was high and noble, while plump cheeks softened any severity in her cheekbones or in the straight angle of her proud nose. Atop her head, coils of shiny, light brown hair had been wrangled into a braided bun, dotted with seed pearls and miniature wildflowers, while two curled strands framed her face.
You would stand out more without the bright fabrics.
He chased the thought away, for it had come to him unbidden. Still, as he watched her walk and talk with her mother, the moonlight seemingly following the younger woman, he could not prevent images from infiltrating his mind, of Arabella in a more sedate palette of colors. A pale lavender gown of fine muslin would have made her radiant, especially with those wildflowers and pearls in her hair.
“Haskett?” Seth’s voice drew him away from his observations.
“Hmm?”
Seth chuckled. “You did not hear a word I said, did you?”
“I am afraid not, my good man.”
Seth gestured to the manor entrance. “I asked if you are ready to return to the fray.”
“In a moment,” Henry replied, for while Arabella was out here, he had no reason to venture back into that circus. Indeed, he would have departed the entire ball already, if he could shoo away his parents’ voices in his head.
“It is your duty to do us proud, Darling,” his mother said.
“You know what is expected of you, Son. Do not disappoint us, or there shall be consequences,” his father urged, more sternly.
