With another brief smile, she watched him as he turned, moving away from her quickly. The reason for his departure soon became clear, as a familiar voice reached her ears.
“You have spoken to him then.”
Lord Sherbourne moved towards her, and Cassandra’s heart leaped.
“Yes, I have. He has stepped away, telling me that I will be inundated with gentlemen wishing to dance with me.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes but Lord Sherbourne only smiled.
“In that regard I believe he is quite correct.” Lord Sherbourne took her hand from the moment he looked into her face. His voice was suddenly lower, suddenly softer, and a frisson of excitement ran through Cassandra’s frame. “You do know how highly I think of you, Cassandra.”
Cassandra did not miss the familiar way that he spoke her name. The touch of his hand on hers made everything within her turn to light. She did not want to look away from him, could not bring herself to turn even a little away. Instead, her heart demanded that she move closer, although they were in full view of everyone else in the ballroom.
“I feel much the same, Lord Sherbourne.” Her throat constricted for a moment. “When this is at an end, there is more I desire to share with you.” Her voice softened as she lowered it to a mere whisper, wanting no one else to hear her words but him. “I have not told you everything which is in my heart.”
A gentle fire lit his eyes as he smiled.
“I believe you and I find ourselves in much the same position, then.” His fingers pressed hers once more, before he moved back, making a space between them that she wished was not there. “Now, might I have your dance card? If you should like to dance with me, that is.”
“I should be very glad to.”
Quickly handing her dance card to him, she watched as he wrote his name first in one place and then another. The smile which lit his features seemed to be filled with mirth over something she did not yet understand.
“He will forgive me, I hope.”
“What have you done?” Taking her dance card back, Cassandra studied it for a moment, only for her eyes to flare and a tinkling laugh to break. Lord Sherbourne had written his name over the top of Lord Alderton’s, meaning thathewas the one she would stand up with for the waltz. Lifting her eyes, Cassandra made to reach for him, only to pull her hand back, worried that someone would notice her response. “It seems as though Lord Alderton is never to have his waltz.” So saying with a great pretense of sadness, she shook her head. “Not that I should mind. I had no intention of standing up with him anyway.”
Lord Sherbourne grinned.
“All the same, I am glad to have taken it from him, just to be sure that it is secured.”
It seemed that he was bold where she was not, for his hand reached out and his fingers brushed her cheek. His touch was there for just a moment and then gone the next, making her heart burn with such a fury, she had to catch her breath.
“Good heavens, Lord Sherbourne, do you have intentions of giving our plan away before it is time?”
Before either Cassandra or Lord Sherbourne could react, Lady Yardley came to stand directly between them, her hand reaching up to push Lord Sherbourne’s hand away from Cassandra’s cheek.
“There will be time for such things later, but the moment is almost upon us. Are you quite prepared??”
Her eyes swiveled to Cassandra, who nodded.
“Yes. You have received the publication?”
While Lady Yardley smiled, there was no light to her eyes but an expression of seriousness lingered.
“Yes, I have. Your friends each have a copy.”
Cassandra swallowed, the edge of nervousness tickling in her throat. There was a good deal at stake, and she had to play this out well. Thankfully, there was no concern that her reputation would be damaged – and even if there had been, Cassandra was sure that she had Lord Sherbourne’s affection. No one else’s consideration of her seemed to matter.
“Go to Lord Alderton,” Lady Yardley instructed. “Your friends will be watching, ready to step nearer to Lord Alderton when required – just as you yourself suggested.”
“Thank you.” There was a hint of anxiousness about what she was to do, but with it came the confidence that, as she did so, the truth about Lord Alderton and what it was, precisely, that he wanted from her would be revealed. “I am prepared.” Smiling first at her cousin, she then looked to Lord Sherbourne, reaching out one hand to him. “Will you wish me good luck?”
Lord Sherbourne grasped her hand, bending over it as he spoke.
“I do not think you have any requirement for luck,” he told her, his eyes once more fixing on hers. “You will do marvelously well, Lady Cassandra, as you do all things – and I am very much looking forward to dancing the waltz with you, knowing that you are free of Lord Alderton for good.”
“And that the other young ladies of London will be aware of the need to avoid him also.” Lady Yardley glanced around the room. “This is done not only for your sake, Cassandra, but also so that Lord Alderton’s true character might be shown to theton. Then, I assure you that anything written in ‘The London Ledger’ will not be rumor, but the truth, and he will have nothing to say for that.”
