Neither appeared to be in attendance this evening and that was just…wrong.
He ignored the urge to rub the ache in his chest every time she dipped her gaze and replied demurely to his grandfather’s inquisition.
It was disarming to see her like this. Like she was cowed or meek. He narrowed his gaze, willing her to look up from her blasted soup and meet his eyes for once.
But she didn’t look up.
And he no doubt looked like a fool, staring at her so.
It was a blessed relief when the meal finally came to an end and the company present retired to the drawing room.
His mother, thankfully, kept Jane’s mother occupied, listening politely to the older woman’s gossip.
He’d never liked Jane’s mother, though not for the same reasons his mother couldn’t stand her. Her gossiping and snobbery could be explained away by the fact that she hadn’t been raised to be a lady, and seemed to forever be trying too hard.
So no, that he could excuse, even if her presence wasn’t exactly welcome. But it was the way she treated Jane that irked him.
Even when they were children he’d flinched at the other woman’s tone. The way she’d always made Jane out to be too ugly, too awkward, too wild, too…
Too everything.
He watched Jane as she stood between her father and his grandfather, her head bowed and her tone so sweet and soft, he couldn’t make out what she was saying.
This was the young lady her mother wanted her to be.
But it wasn’t who she was.
Luke was moving toward her before he’d even thought it through. Only hours before, when she had yet to arrive on their doorstep, he’d told himself he’d take this slow.
As far as his grandfather was concerned, her being here and his mother’s hints that he had ideas of courting her were enough.
For now, at least, the thought that Luke might be seriously considering a match with the well-connected and wealthy earl’s family was enough to keep his grandfather from forcing some match he did not want.
But as Luke excused himself from his mother’s conversation and strode toward Jane, his earlier vow to keep a polite but distant sort of interest in Jane was replaced by a rather fierce need to free her from this…this…
Whatever this was.
He stopped beside her, ignoring her father and even his grandfather’s arched brows of surprise at his sudden interruption of their conversation. He kept his gaze firmly fixed on Jane as he spoke. “May I escort you for a turn about the room?”
Jane didn’t look up. The only indication she gave that she understood he was talking toher,and not, in fact, asking to stroll arm in arm with her father, was the flush he saw creep up her neck.
He blinked in surprise at that blush. Was she truly so shy around him?
His heart did an odd little jump at the thought, and this urge he had to save her from her parents and even his own grandfather made his voice sterner than intended when he said, “Come, Lady Jane. I won’t keep you long.”
She peeked up at him when he held out his arm and…there.
There was that spark in her eyes. The glimmer of fire that let him know she was still in there, the young lady who’d scolded him so well just the other night.
The sight of it eased some of this odd tension in his chest, even as she murmured demurely, “Yes, my lord.”
She slid her hand into the crook of his elbow, and they both ignored his grandfather’s chuckle and the whispers that came from their mothers as he led her as far away as he dared. Far enough, at least, that they could speak without being overheard.
She broke the silence first. “What are you about?”
Her voice was still so mild, it took a moment for him to register that it was simmering with anger.
“Pardon?”
