He tried to tell himself none of it would matter as long as he found his wife soon. They would manage to convince the people otherwise, somehow.
And as he sidestepped the guests and servers, he desperately hoped what he’d heard wouldn’t reach the ears of his wife.
ChapterFourteen
“Would you do me the honor of dancing with me?” Nancy heard Richard’s voice call behind her.
She had found her mother and sisters shortly after leaving Lord Whitwood, quickly starting up a conversation with them to keep her mind from wandering back to her husband and the mysterious woman he had been speaking to.
However, no matter how hard she had tried, she just could not get the picture of them out of her mind.
She couldn’t deny how much she wanted to be his focus for once, for them to stop their dance of awkwardness and sincerely give their marriage a chance.
Nancy longed to go back to that night at his study, missing the sincerity in his voice as he had spoken to her, how intense his gaze had been when it had fixed on her as though there was nothing more important in the world to him right there and then except for her.
And just as panic had begun to overtake her senses, an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her flush against a sturdy chest.
She had been so stunned by the sudden appearance of her husband that she had missed his question completely.
“Nancy?” He raised an eyebrow in concern.
“I—yes?” She blinked, heat filling her cheeks rapidly.
“I asked if you would like to dance with me.”
Her heart skipped a beat, and she smiled a little bit, replying shyly, “It would be my pleasure.”
Richard nodded politely to her family, mumbling, “Pardon me,” as he led her away from them and towards the dance floor.
She could feel multiple eyes on them as they stood in position and swallowed with difficulty, willing herself to ignore everyone else and focus on her husband before her. After all, she had wanted this all evening, and it would be a shame to let the attention of their guests ruin it.
Nothing mattered more than her and Richard at that moment.
They moved instinctively to the music, flowing together seamlessly to her relief because she felt so nervous—she feared she might trip and embarrass them both.
“I… I’d hoped to dance with you once before the night was over,” she softly said to him in a burst of confidence.
Richard’s eyes met hers briefly, and he muttered, “Well, we are dancing now.”
His tone had a strange edge to it, but she ignored it, thinking that perhaps he hadn’t known what to say in response to her words which had come out of the blue.
“Yes, but… it seemed your attention had been captured by another earlier. So, I thought… forget it,” she mumbled, lowering her eyes in embarrassment.
“You thought what? What do you mean?” Richard frowned in confusion.
“The lady you were speaking with earlier. You were laughing, and I’d barely even seen you all night, yet there you were, flirting with someone else.”
Nancy had hoped he would deny it, that he would put up a fight against that train of thought. Instead, he chuckled.
“Nancy,” he whispered with a teasing smirk, “Are you jealous?”
She blushed and shook her head, gasping when he pulled her closer, their noses brushing slightly as he repeated the question with a soft and stern tone.
“Are you jealous, wife?”
“Y-You are being ridiculous,” she managed to mumble.
“But you do not deny it,” he pointed out, his eyes flicking down to her lips.
