Page 10 of Earl for the Summer
She gave no reply but dipped her head, as if all the pertness she’d displayed had suddenly been doused.
“That’s a shame,” Cassian said softly, truly meaning it.
He regretted anything he’d done to unsettle her, yet it couldn’t be a blunder to ask a lady to dance at a ball. And oddly, against every impulse he’d brought into this crowded ballroom—to express interest in Lady Selina and then depart as soon as possible—hewantedto dance with Miss Bridewell.
The thought of her hand in his, of her peering up at him with those sea-storm eyes, took hold like a spark in kindling.
“Windham.”
Cassian turned at the sound of his brother’s title.
“Daphne, you’ve found him.” Lady Selina approached, her silk skirts whispering across the floor, eyes bright. “Goodness, I didn’t expect to see you this evening, Lord Windham. Where have you been hiding?”
For the briefest moment, Cassian hesitated, flicking a glance toward Miss Bridewell—Daphne—who stood just to his right. He was intensely aware of her, even as he told himself to show regard to the woman he’d been sent here to falsely woo.
“I was unwell,” he told Lady Selina. “But I’ve recovered, and I find myself ready to dance.”
He offered Lady Selina the smile he imagined Julian might wear, polished and gallant. “If you have a place for me on your card, that is.”
She seemed delighted. “As it so happens, I do. The next dance.”
He offered his arm and Lady Selina took it. But as they moved toward the dance floor, he chanced one last glance back.
Miss Daphne Bridewell hadn’t looked away.
She watched them—composed, unreadable—and something in her gaze stirred a flicker of apprehension in his chest. There was a…knowing in her eyes. As if she saw past the polished smile he wore, as if she sensed that whatever part he was playing tonight wasn’t quite the truth.
He turned to face the lady in his arms.
“You look lovely,” he said, because Julian surely would’ve said so.
“Flatterer,” Selina murmured, her gloved hand resting lightly against his shoulder. “Though you do sound a touch different tonight. Your voice is rougher. Maybe it was the illness.”
Cassian gave a nervous laugh. “Illness will do that to a man.”
“I suppose it might,” she said with a tilt of her head. “Though I admit I rather like it. It’s good that you’re back.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that. Because he was not the man she thought she’d pinned her hopes on. Julian would have been thrilled to have Lady Selina in his arms. Yet he was not. It felt odd, awkward. Wrong.
Especially since his gaze kept wandering to the only lady who’d sparked a reaction in Cassian in years. She stood at the edge of the ballroom, wrapped in candlelight and watching silently.
The music began. Cassian tried to focus on the steps. Lady Selina was forgiving when he took a misstep and then corrected on the next turn.
“A bit rusty, it seems,” he murmured with a wry smile.
Lady Selina studied him as if confused by his manner. “Then you must practice more, my lord.”
Despite Julian’s claims of her shyness, she moved with quiet confidence, then she gifted him with a flirtatious smile, and his stomach churned with unease.
Perhaps she had been taken with his brother, but this fakery was treacherous.
“Will you not ask for another dance?” she asked.
“You do me an honor, but I fear I will only tread on your toes again in my present state.”
Amusement sparked in her eyes. “Before your illness, nothing would have stopped you from dancing.”
“Perhaps the illness changed me.” As one far too perceptive lady had pointed out.
