Page 36 of The Reckless Love of an Heir
Susan looked at Harry.
He held her hand and bowed over it. ‘Thank you for your pleasant company and conversation, Susan.’
‘I might say the same.’ She gave him a bright smile.
‘May I claim the first dance at your mother’s ball?’
‘Oh, do. Then I will know I shall not be left to stand awkwardly at the edge of the room at least for the first dance. I know no one in town but you, your family and Father’s and Mother’s friends.’
‘Then I promise I will shower you with introductions and ensure you are not left to stand awkwardly at the edge of the room. As you know, the Pembroke family are a horde and I know many people in town.’
‘Thank you.’ She wished to embrace him. It was so long time since she had seen Harry, she had forgotten how nice he could be. His mother and father did not live near hers, so she had not seen Harry’s family as much as Henry’s.
‘Susan.’ Henry stood beside her. He had come across the room to take his leave of her.
Harry turned to Alethea as Henry took Susan’s hand. How could his grip be so firm and yet so gentle? He bowed and lifted the back of her fingers to his lips. ‘It is a pleasure seeing you again. May I have the second dance tomorrow evening, before Harry introduces you to half of London? I am to dance the first and the supper dance with Alethea.’
Susan bobbed a very slight curtsy. ‘Why, thank you, my lord. I graciously accept.’
A smile broke his lips apart then he laughed uncertainly. ‘I shall look forward to it, Susan.’ He let her hand go and bowed again, then turned to Harry. ‘Come on.’
They strode from the room, talking to each other in low voices, the aura of virile energy surrounding them leaving the room too. Susan looked at Alethea.
‘He came, just as he promised.’ She smiled.
Yes, it seemed Henry had turned over a new leaf.
Susan and Alethea sat down again and discussed the preparations for the ball, while Susan’s heartbeat skipped in a fast rhythm. Her spirits had never been so keen for the date of a ball to come, but she refused to attribute it to Henry’s offer to dance with her; she would not accept she had become that far absorbed into the Henry Marlow Appreciation Society.
Henry flicked the straps and set his horses off into a trot. Beside him, Harry leaned back in the seat of Henry’s racing curricle and lay an arm along the seatback behind Henry.
Harry had been at Henry’s father’s house, with his parents, when Henry called there before visiting the Forths. When Henry said where he was going next, Harry had invited himself along, declaring he had not seen Lord Forth’s girls for an age. Of course that was not surprising because they had not come to London, but remained in Yorkshire as Alethea had been relying on a promise fromhim.
Henry flicked the straps again and lifted the horses’ pace into a canter along a clear stretch of the street. He could not get an image of Susan out of his head – the moment she came downstairs and he had caught her gaze. Her eyes were striking when she wore a darker blue than Alethea. The sight had struck him in the middle of his chest, not just in his gut and his groin.Damn.It was a strange feeling.
The image of her holding Harry’s hand as they talked cut into his thoughts.
When he neared a crossroads, he glanced at his cousin, as he returned the horses to a trot. ‘Do you like Susan?’
‘Of course. They are pleasant girls.’
‘No, I mean, do youlikeSusan? Is there an attraction there?’
Harry’s arm slipped free from the back of the seat and he sat forward, resting his elbows on his thighs as he stared at Henry. ‘If you are asking me, am I considering matrimony as you are, then the answer is a firm bloody, no. Of course not. What would I want with a wife? I am more than happy as I am. I would much rather be me, than you. I was merely being friendly towards Susan because I like her, nothing more. Why? You are not her brother-in-law yet.’
Henry looked at the road as they turned into a busier street. ‘It was only that you seemed overly attentive.’
‘I was flirting. Women love a chance to flirt. It is harmless and fun. I flirt with every woman. You know that of me…’
Yes, he did. But watching Harry flirt with Susan had been annoying. He had never been annoyed by Harry’s flirting before.
‘Will you be at Madam’s tonight? I have not seen you there since I came to town…’
Henry glanced over. Harry and several of his cousins consorted with the same women, at the same brothels. They had done so for years. Henry could not even remember which of them had introduced him to that set, but he had been involved in it since he attended university in Oxford. ‘I have not been going. I am no longer interested.’ There, the statement was made. It was the first time he had spoken it aloud and declared his budding responsibility to his friends.
‘Why?’ Harry asked, abruptness and doubt catching in his voice.
Henry glanced across at him. ‘Is it not obvious? Alethea is in town. I am courting her. I cannot consort with whores at the same time.’
