She sighed. “He wants to be knighted at the very least. We must do as he wishes or hurt his chances.”
He smirked. “Youwish to marry as soon as possible. I can tell, and it’s no wonder. You can’t wait to get into my be—”
“Don’t you dare! And I do not.”
“My beneficial graces. That’s all I was going to say.” He pulled her body closer with the turn of a dance step.
“I do not believe you.Beneficial graces.Makes no sense.”
“Does too. And you should. Believe me, that is.” He stared so intently into her eyes and had since they’d begun their dance, never once flinging the net of his gaze wide, never once winking at another woman. It was enough to make her think he did care. Dangerous territory, that.
She watched their waltzing feet.
“Buck up, old sport. Let’s have a spot of fun.”
She lifted a wary gaze to him. “What, exactly, does fun mean to you? We can’t do anything that even hints of misbehavior.”
He grinned. “My idea of fun is much more harmless than yours, I’m sure.”
“Not true!”
“Weren’t you playing a game of dares with Lady Jane and my sister-in-law last season?”
She opened her mouth, closed it, and looked away. “Harmless stuff.”
“Then how about a dare now?”
Her gaze flicked toward the girls standing, clearly bored, along the wall. Lady Abigail actually slumped against a column, the corners of her mouth downturned, her transformation forgotten in Lillian’s sudden engagement.
“I cannot,” Lillian said. “If I wish to have any influence over them at all, I must behave. If I wish their families to let me befriend them, I must do more than behave.”
His hand squeezed hers. “I understand. I promise you to do my best to repair my own reputation, so it does not impact you. But… can’t we misbehave, just a little, where no one can see?”
She tapped his arm and lifted her chin. “Behave, Lord Devon.”
He sighed. “Back to formalities.”
Yes, back to formalities. She put more distance between their twirling bodies, the proper amount of distance.
An unsatisfying amount of distance. Somehow, saying goodbye to Lord Littleton felt more freeing than she’d expected it to feel. She’d thought to be a puddle of tears, devastated at the loss of her dream. Yet, it felt inexplicably right to step away from him and into Lord Devon’s arms, even though he held her too close for propriety and looked at her with a little too much heat in his eyes.
That heat… it made her feel seen in a way she hadn’t before. Not even in her most congenial moments with Lord Littleton, not even when every eye in a ballroom fell on her at once. Even then she’d felt she might blink out of existence like a flickering candle. All it took was one wrong move, one misplaced breath. And no one would notice.
With Devon… she swallowed. “If I suddenly blinked out of existence, what would you do?”
“Odd question. I suppose I’d find out where you’d gone and bring you back.”
Her chest exploded with light. She wanted to hug him. She would not stop existing with him. Because even if her body went pale and faded out of existence, he’d still somehow see her.
What a change from the day she’d written the letter. How had it happened? Why?
She didn’t particularly care about those answers because she wanted to dance a jig in the middle of their waltz.
“Lord Devon?”
“Hm?” The corners of his eyes crinkled delightfully when he smiled.
“What kind of misbehavior are you talking about?”
