“Done and done, my lady. Thank you.” He stopped in front of Miss Perriton. “Might I have the dance after this one?”
“Perhaps.”
“I will refrain from breathing until I gain your assent.” He executed a crisp, deep bow.
“Promise?” Her smile was nearly as ferocious as Lady Camilla’s.
He bit back a laugh as everyone else gasped. Threading his way through those dancers forming the next set he found Alice and made a great show of requesting her dance. Chelmsford, nearly halfway across the dance floor, frowned and retreated to the corner where the other high-in-the-instep lords milled about solving the nation’s problems, or causing them as the case might be.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked Alice as they went through the steps of the allemande.
“I am still nervous, but Grandmama says I am doing very well.” Her tentative smile, very like her mother’s, tugged at his heart.
Daedalus shot a brief look toward the wall where the chaperones were gathered. Breadmore’s mother, her face twisted into a sour grimace stared back at him.Bitch.“Of course, you are doing well, you are my niece,” he said with a grin.
She laughed, which lit up her entire face. Her youth and innocence shone like a lamp on the darkest night. “You will never guess who has asked me to teaandto join her literary society.”
“Who?”
“Lady Honoria Atherton. Can you believe it? Grandmama was reluctant to allow it, but once she received a note from Lady Honoria’s friend, Lady Camilla, she agreed I might go with my chaperone.”
“I am certain Lady Camilla’s reputation and Lady Honoria being a duke’s daughter made quite an impression on the Dowager Countess.”
“Uncle,” Alice chided. “I do wish you and Grandmama might learn to tolerate one another. Then perhaps you would visit more often.” She was quite an accomplished dancer, for which Daedalus was grateful. Her lack of artifice and rather plain looks would make her the subject of scorn amongst the Season’s crop of brides on the hunt.
“There are any number oftonladies I find barely tolerable, Alice, dear. Unfortunately, Breadmore’s mother is not one of them. You have been receiving my letters, have you not?”
“Every week. They are the very best part of…” They were separated by the dance and when they came together again she merely shook her head
“Perhaps I can arrange for us to ride together in the mornings whilst you are here in Town. Would you like that, poppet?”
Her face alit with joy. “Above all things, Uncle.”
“Consider it done.” The dance ended. Once the bows and curtsies were accomplished, he drew Alice’s arm through his and they took a turn about the outskirts of the dance floor. “I shall not keep you long as I suspect you shall have men clamoring for your dances, Lady Alice.”
She squeezed his arm. “We both know if it were not for my dowry very few eligible bachelors would even speak to me, let alone ask me to dance.”
“Alice,’ he started.
“Hush, Uncle. I already have dances promised to Mr. Carrington-Bowles, Captain Atherton, a Mister Stephen Forsythe, and several other very respectable gentlemen.”
“Which is as it should be for my lovely niece.”
“Respectablemarriedgentlemen who are friends of Lady Honoria. I have, however, had one eligible gentleman call on me twice since we arrived in Town.”
“Do tell.” Miss Perriton caught his eye from across the room.
“Viscount Ravenwood is from a very good family. His title is not a high one, but it is very old, and Papa says he is in possession of a considerable fortune.”
“How nice for Papa.” Daedalus did not even try to keep the bitter edge from his tone. “What doyouthink of this Viscount Ravenwood?”
“He is very kind, polite, and compliments me quite nicely. He has a scar on his cheek from a riding accident, but I think the scar makes him look rather dashing.”
“Rather dashing, eh?” he teased. “Alice, promise me something,” he said as they drew closer to the spot where her grandmother was seated with the other dowagers.
“Anything,” she replied.
“Pay heed to Lady Honoria. Trust her judgment in all things, above anyone’s. She is a very wise lady and will see you come to no harm. I suspect you can ask her anything, and she will answer you honestly.” He kept his tone as even and calm as possible. The noise and heat and press of the crowded ballroom had already begun to work on his sense of well-being. He had come with one commission in mind—to keep Alice safe. With Breadmore’s interest in Miss Perriton he had another commission to complete before he could make his polite, but swift withdrawal from the whirl of societal life.
