“Lord Yeatman.” The warmth in her voice was evident even to her, but Emma did not care. The relief of being in his company again filled her as she handed him her dance card. “Yes, of course.”
“The waltz is still free, I see.” Lord Yeatman glanced at her and then signed his name there. “And mayhap the cotillion also?”
Martha coughed quietly, catching Emma’s attention as Lord Yeatman wrote his name for the second dance.
“Twodances, Lord Yeatman?” she asked, as Emma blushed quickly. “My, my. That is… interesting.”
“Is it?” Lord Yeatman sounded rather nonchalant, not responding any further to Martha’s remark. “Lord Wellbridge, good evening.”
“Good evening, Lord Yeatman. We find ourselves in company again, I see.”
“We certainly do.”
Lord Yeatman smiled broadly, though Emma clasped her hands in front of her and squeezed them tightly together, aware of the tension rippling through her. Surely her mother would be glad that Lord Yeatman was offering her such attention? Withtwogentlemen seeking to dance with her, then surely her mother might consider her to be a little less a wallflower now, surely?
“Ah, Miss Fairley, Lady Follet!”
Emma turned, seeing two gentlemen and a lady approaching, all of whom steadfastly ignored Emma and did not so much as glance at her. The happiness which she had felt quickly began to fade and she took a step back.
“Should you like to take a turn about the room? Or might I accompany you to find your friends?”
Emma smiled briefly, taking Lord Yeatman’s arm, and glancing again at her mother and sister, though neither of them were looking in Emma’s direction.How quickly I am forgotten.
“Lord Wellbridge wishes to dance with you also, then?”
Emma looked up at Lord Yeatman, catching the way that his smile took a moment to spread across his face.
“Yes, he does,” she said, slowly, “though that means very little. He is interested in my sister’s company, as you might very well have been able to surmise, given the time you came to call, and I am sure that he only offered to dance with me as a kindness.”
“I see.” Lord Yeatman’s smile quickly flattened. “He is interested in your sister, you say?”
“Yes, I think so,” Emma replied. “He has often been in her company both in this Season and in the last.”
“But they are not courting as yet?”
Emma’s lips pursed.
“No, not as yet,” she admitted, a slight frown pulling at her forehead. “Lord Wellbridge certainly appears to be interested in her company, for he is always coming to speak with her or dance with her, and he has come to call on her on multiple occasions, but as yet, he has not asked to court her. I am sure that must be something of a trial to my sister, though she has not spoken to me of it.” Seeing the quick look that he shot her, Emma gave him a small shrug. “We are not particularly close as sisters.”
“I can imagine it must be difficult for you, when your sister is favored by your parents,” he said softly. “Though I am glad that another gentleman has sought you out for a dance… though I am delighted that he did not take the waltz!”
Emma laughed at this and then, seeing her friends, turned towards them. Even though she was sure that her mother and sister would have something to say about her dancing with LordWellbridge, Emma chose to set that to one side and, for the moment, enjoy everything that this ball had to offer her.
“This dance is going very well, isit not?”
Lord Yeatman grinned at her as Emma laughed softly, glad that the nervousness that had flooded her as she had stepped out to dance was quickly fading.
“Yes, I suppose it is.”
“And you have not fallen or slipped,” he told her, as the dance continued on, his words ebbing and then strengthening as they stepped away and then came back together again. “Thankfully, neither have I!”
“I do not think that you would have any difficulties in that regard,” Emma told him, though Lord Yeatman chuckled and rolled his eyes.
“You would be surprised to hear of my foolishness, I am sure,” he answered, making her smile. “I have stood on many a toe beforehand, though thankfully, I am a little more careful these days.”
“I am glad to hear it.”
Hearing the music begin to slow, Emma concentrated on her last few steps, a little anxious that she might still do something that would cause her embarrassment in the last few moments. The music came to an end without incident, however, and Emma blew out a breath of relief as she curtsied towards Lord Yeatman. He bowed to her and then turned to speak to the gentleman to his right, who had said something to catch Lord Yeatman’s attention.
