“Fool!” her mother hissed. “Don’t you see that every moment Esther spends with the Duke is a step toward destroyingyourfuture? It might be different if you yourself were being courted by someone suitable. But not a single gentleman has shown so much as a scrap of interest in you!” She shook her head.
“It’s only the second ball, mother,” Eugenia said. “There’s still time for me to find someone.”
“How I dreaded your first Season,” her mother said, clearly not listening to a word Eugenia had to offer. “I knew that it would be terrible. I knew you and I would be humiliated. And yet I allowed myself to believe that somehow we might find ourselves in a favorable position. I actually let myself think that some gentlemen might look past the surface and see what I see when I look at you.”
“What do you see when you look at me?” Eugenia asked. Could her mother possibly be about to pay her a compliment?
“I always believed you would make a good wife,” her mother said. “You’re not beautiful, but you’re willing and obedient, and those are irreplaceable qualities in a lady. That’s what I counted on. That’s what I hoped a gentleman would see in you. But you’ve decided not to put those qualities on display. Or rather, you’ve chosen to reserve the best parts of yourself for yourcousin!”
She spat the final word as if it was poison. Eugenia actually found herself compelled to take a step backward.
“I thought your loyalty was to me,” her mother went on. “I thought it would one day be to your husband. But you’ve failed me. You’ve shown me that you care more for Esther’s prospects than your own. I never believed you could disappoint me more fully, Eugenia, but you have.”
Trembling, Eugenia took another step backward, unable to bear her mother’s cruel words.
“Lady Eugenia?”
She turned at the sound of the familiar voice and found herself looking up into the eyes of Lord Lockwood.
“My Lord,” she managed, hating the way her voice shook.
Lord Lockwood frowned. “Are you well?”
She recovered herself. “Quite well,” she said. “I believe you had asked me for a dance.”
“I had,” Lord Lockwood recalled. “I didn’t dare to hope that I might be able to claim it right now.”
“As it happens, I am free at the moment,” Eugenia said. She held out her arm for him to take.
“Eugenia!” Her mother’s face was clouded with anger. “May I ask what you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to dance, Mother,” Eugenia said, doing her best to make her voice sound innocent. “You wanted me to. You said so. You said I oughtn’t to stand here by the wall while everyone else was dancing.”
“Yes—but—you know very well what—”
“What is it, Mother?” Eugenia asked sweetly.
Her mother fumed. Eugenia knew that she didn’t dare say what she was really thinking. She couldn’t object to Eugenia’s dancing with a Baron when the Baron was standing right there. She wouldn’t want to risk injuring his pride. Especially since Lord Lockwood was such a close friend of the Duke’s.
“Perhaps someone will ask you to dance as well, Mother,” Eugenia said, keeping her voice utterly sincere. “Then you might join us on the floor. Wouldn’t that be lovely? I’d hate to see you left to stand and watch all evening.”
She would have loved to stay and watch her mother’s face turn red, but Lord Lockwood was waiting. She allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor.
“What was that all about?” he asked as the music swelled around them.
“Oh, nothing,” Eugenia said airily. “My mother wishes to see me dance. I’m just so glad she’s having the pleasure.”
Chapter 23
“Your parents have invited me to have dinner with your family three days from now,” Hugh said.
He had brought Esther outside to look at Lord Kensington’s gardens, but his eyes kept returning to her face instead. She was heartbreakingly lovely. And the moonlight on her pale skin only served to make her more beautiful.
I’ve never felt like this before.
Had he not known the cause of his symptoms, he would have assumed that he was ill. His breathing was short and shallow, and his hands trembled. He wanted to still them by resting them on her shoulders, her waist. He wanted to take her hand in his.
You mustn’t do anything improper. You mustn’t do anything to destroy this. It’s going so well thus far.
