Page 4 of A Spinster to Reform the Duke
It wasn’t just the dark blonde hair that was fastened in a chignon, with a few escaped curls teasing her neck. Neither was it those dark blue eyes, so bold in her face that it was hard to look at anything else. It was the words she had uttered. She had challenged him. Far from being like many of the meek ladies in the room, Lady Rebecca seemed to have a fire in her.
“You would be dancing with a woman wearing a wet gown,” she said, lifting her eyes to him again. “Can you bear that embarrassment?” She teased him with the words, prompting him to smile yet again.
“Would I ask if I could not?” He kept his hand out in such a way that he was beginning to feel something of a fool. She seemed to sigh and lowered the shawl from her shoulders.
“Very well. I suppose I must change the gossip about my name somehow.”
“Gossipers say what they like no matter what we do. Trust me in that, my lady.” He took the shawl from her and laid it down on a nearby chair, before offering his hand again. This time, she took it. Her gloved hand was warm in his as he led her toward the dance floor.
When they took up their place, waiting for the dance music to begin, he didn’t miss the way her eyes kept flicking away from him. She seemed much more focused on watching her sister and Alexander together. He was surprised how much it irked him.My dance partners usually only have eyes for me…
“Something upsets you about their dance?” he asked as he took her hand and led her into a cotillion. They circled around each other, with her eyes at last looking back at him.
“I do not know your friend, Your Grace. I will be suspicious of any man that goes near my sister.”
“Overprotectiveness?” he teased her, rather loving the way her brow wrinkled as she stared up at him.
“No, it’s called sisterly love.” She smiled with her words as they turned and walked round each other in the other direction, this time connecting opposite hands. She gave him the barest touch of her fingers, making him long to hold her entire hand, rather than having that brief teasing touch.
Her eyes drew away from him another time, returning to Alexander and Lady Eliza. That look irked Timothy so much, he was determined to capture Lady Rebecca’s attention.
“The dress is really not so bad, you know,” he said conversationally.
“You are simply trying to cover up for your friend’s error,” Lady Rebecca murmured, still not looking away from her sister. Timothy grew determined to try harder to gain her attention.
“I meant more that it flatters you despite the damage.” This time his words made her look sharply at him, her cheeks coloring. He laughed as he caught her attention. “Is it so shocking to have a gentleman admire you?”
“I would have suspected you of flirting, Your Grace, had I not known it to be an impossibility.” Her words made a new smile grow on his cheeks. This one was indulgent, truly enjoying the way she was flirting back with him.
They turned in the dance, so that Lady Rebecca had to walk into his arms, momentarily placing her hand on his shoulder as he took her waist.
“What if I was? I certainly do not see why it would be an impossibility.” He didn’t know if it was his words or the way he had held her waist that made her bite her lip, but something made her do it, spilling more color into those lips and making him flick his gaze down, imagining what it could be like to steal a kiss from this lady.
What am I thinking of? I barely know the lady.
“You forget I am a tarnished woman, Your Grace. No man would flirt with me.”
“Tarnished? No indeed. If someone’s name being uttered in the scandal sheet was true damnation, then we are all already in hell. Such small gossip is soon forgotten,” he muttered, turning her in his arms so that she was against his side, copying the position of the rest of the couples, with one of his arms around her waist and her hand in his other palm.
“Hell?” she repeated, her brow wrinkled in puzzlement. “Perhaps that is what this is.”
“You think a ball is hell?” he laughed at the idea as he led her through the dance, keeping her in this position as they exchanged places with another couple.
“I certainly do not think it heaven,” she said with a shake of her head. “I do not imagine heaven has so many people in one place making it difficult to breathe easy, nor so many people putting on an act, pretending to be someone they are not.”
Timothy couldn’t help himself. He found himself truly laughing from the gut as he circled Lady Rebecca, beginning their dance pattern again. She appeared equally startled by his laughter, raising her eyebrows as they came back to face each other.
“I amused you.”
“You did. I think it rare to meet anyone who looks at this event as I do.” He explained.
“You do?”
“Oh yes,” he nodded, circling her with her hand in his again. This time, she gave him a little more of her hand. It was still not enough, just her fingers, but it was more at least. “From now on, I shall picture all those I perceive to be putting on an act as demons, wearing masks.”
“Do you separate yourself from this picture?” Her tease made him shoot her a look. He was finding it impossible not to flirt with this woman as his next words tumbled from his lips.
“I am as great a demon as any other man here, though most ladies do not seem to mind my demonic ways.”
