“She’s a child.”
“So I have been informed.”
The orchestra struck up a country dance, the first of the evening. Chelmsford led their niece onto the dance floor. Alice looked nothing like her mother. More than anything she appeared very young and very nervous. Carrington-Bowles words penetrated the miasma of Daedalus’s brain.
“Informed?” He turned away from the dance floor to face the other man.
“Lady Honoria has given us strict instructions.” Carrington-Bowles nodded in the lady’s direction. “We are all to dance with Lady Alice and to ensure no fortune hunters, scoundrels or other undesirables so much as beg an introduction.”
“Fortune hunters?”
“Breadmore has settled a considerable dowry on the young lady. Word has it he is anxious for her to marry so he might take a bride himself.”
“Blackguard.” Daedalus did a visual search of the ballroom and spotted his brother-in-law speaking to two well-turned-out young men he did not know.
“Word has it he has already chosen his bride.”
“Who is the unfortunate victim?”
“Miss Cordelia Perriton. She is the beauty standing next to Honoria, the lady in blue. In fact, Breadmore is speaking to her brothers now.”
The dancing feet thundered across the floor. The orchestra only added to the din. Daedalus switched his gaze from the lady in blue to her brothers and back again. His heart slammed against his ribs in time to the throbbing music. And every ounce of warmth fled his body as an icy tide swept through his veins. He took Carrington-Bowles by the elbow and began to drag him around the edges of the ballroom.
“Introduce us.”
“What? Whitcombe, what the devil are you about? Whitcombe!” Carrington-Bowles dug in his heels as they rounded the corner at the top of the ballroom, closest to the orchestra.
“The Earl of Breadmore is the last person she needs to marry. I must tell her.” He was rambling, but could not stop.
“You must? Dear God, man, what has he done to deserve such malice from you?”
“He killed my sister.” Daedalus wanted the words back at once. He’d never said such a thing before, not in the nearly sixteen years since Diana’s death. He waited, chest rising and falling in silent breaths, for the other man to speak.
“Then I’d best introduce you to Miss Perriton.” Without another word Carrington-Bowles strolled past the orchestra and Daedalus followed on his heels. Honoria spotted them and waved.
And then Miss Cordelia Perriton saw him. Her face revealed nothing. Her eyes spoke entire epistles, epistles laced with language few ladies used, no doubt. He imagined she had called him everything save a Christian in her mind by the time he and Carrington-Bowles joined their little group. What had seemed like a good idea on the other side of the ballroom suddenly struck him as…presumptuous? Dangerous? A good reason to ship him off to Bedlam?
“Whitcombe,” Captain Atherton said in greeting. “What inducement did Chelmsford use to force your attendance tonight?”
“Leo, really.” Honoria smacked her husband on the arm.
“A promise to leave me be for thenextfive years,” Daedalus said, his eyes never leaving Miss Perriton’s face.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Honoria said. “You would not miss your niece’s introduction to society. Youwilldo your duty and dance with her, of course.”
“Of course. Though I understand most of her dances have been taken throughout the evening.” He and Honoria exchanged a quick glance of understanding. “Thank you,” he mouthed.
“Miss Perriton,” Carrington-Bowles announced as the first dance ended and some of the dancers left the floor whilst others formed the next set. “Please allow me to make known to you Lord Daedalus Whitcombe. Whitcombe, may I present to you Miss Cordelia Perriton, a member of my aunt’s literary society and the newest member of our circle of friends?”
“LordWhitcombe.” she said as she offered him her hand. “The proprietor of the bookshop in Holywell Street?”
“Indeed, Miss Perriton.” He took her hand and flinched as she squeezed his fingers tightly enough to crack bone. “Have we had the privilege of your custom?” He brushed his lips across her gloved knuckles and slid his hand free, flexing his fingers against the black silk of his evening breeches.
“Perhaps. However, I send my footman to make such purchases. Perhaps you have seen him there?” The gaze she turned on him fairly smoked with pique. He had to admit the degree of arousal she provoked threatened to unman him on the spot. “My brothers would never countenance my visiting such an establishment.” She turned her head toward where the two young gentlemen still spoke with Breadmore.
“I understand.” All the while the rest of the group of friends merely watched, not unlike spectators at a shuttlecock match, with him as the shuttlecock and the lady batting him from either side.
“Good to see you out and about, Whitcombe.” Lady Camilla joined them, black ostrich fan waving like a sail in a high wind. “Chelmsford is heading this way. Might I suggest you do your duty by your niece before he arrives?” She smiled sweetly, putting him in mind of a crocodile he’d seen at the Exeter ’Change last year. He kissed the older lady’s cheek.
