The plush ottoman was large—so large, in fact, that a woman of slender stature could have easily shared with a gentleman without discomfort.
Mamma, however, could have occupied the entire surface herself. With her plump figure and near-bursting bodice, it was a positive disgrace to expect an unwed gentleman to squeeze next to her.
Let alone lean toward him with every amusement that entered her mind.
Let alone nearly drip ratafia onto his coat with every laugh.
“Mamma, I do hate to interrupt you from such pleasant company.” She curtsied to Colonel Middleton with an apologetic look. “But I do require a private audience with you for a moment, if I may be so bold.”
“La, what a silly girl you are. Was I not telling you just the thing, Colonel dear?”
“Er—yes.” The colonel’s face burst the shade of his red uniform. “Indeed, she is most silly. But most entrancing too. A family attribute, I conclude.”
Georgina should have been surprised.
But she was not.
In the little time it had taken Georgina to gather the courage to intervene, Mamma had beguiled a man she had only just met. Perhaps made a fool of herself. Perhaps behaved unseemly.
But beguiled him nonetheless.
He was infatuated.
“What was it you wished to tell me, dear?” Mamma sipped at her goblet. “I daresay, whatever you wish to say might certainly be spoken in front of my good friend the colonel.”
Without warning, tears moistened her eyes. “Never mind, Mamma. It can wait, I am certain. Excuse me.” With pressure building in her chest, she nodded to the colonel and hurried back through the ballroom.
The orchestra burst into a reel. The formation of dancers sprang into motion, and bright lights from the chandeliers glared with harshness.
Without meaning to, she glanced at one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Rain splatters beaded the glass, blurring the distance between herself and quietness.
Truly, it would be most craven to run.
But she needed the chance to breathe.
Gathering her dress in a gloved hand, she spared one more cautious look to the crowd. No one seemed to notice. If she disappeared now, she would likely be unmissed for the time it would take her to slip out of doors.
The pressure lessened as she glided from the ornate ballroom and swept into a quiet hall. She found the front door, and as the butler had apparently been needed elsewhere in the chaos of the ball, she slipped outside without cloak or assistance.
White pillars framed the oval-shaped porch, and the melodic pitter-patter of rain soothed the last of her frayed nerves. She must not let Mamma bother her so. She must gain a stronger grip upon her emotions—all of them.
Besides, Mamma would be gone again soon enough.
She always was.
“That was quite heroic.”
Georgina jumped, whirled to the entrance door.
Alexander Oswald shut it behind him, his silk cravat frilled beneath his pointed chin. Auburn hair waved across his forehead, and his blue frock coat, gold buttons, and white pantaloons all lent his lean figure a hint of youthful superiority and power.
Power he possessed without the clothes, she imagined.
Indeed, he embodied the word—just as his home, here at Hollyvale Estate, so much embodied wealth and magnificence.
“You offer no response?”
Her mind shifted back to his statement. “I cannot imagine what you found heroic, sir.”
