Page 7 of One Perfect Dance
Mama looked at Elijah as if he had suddenly popped out of nowhere. “Oh, yes. Good evening, Mr. Ashby. But Regina, allow me to present Lord Arthur Versey. Lord Arthur, my daughter.” She beamed, as if Lord Arthur’s presence was all her own doing.
Regina held out her hand to the young aristocrat, and he bowed over it and mimed a kiss some inches over her glove. “Do you say that you have a dance free, Miss Kingsley,” he begged. “My friend Ashby is hoping for the opportunity to renew his acquaintance with an old friend.”
Mama interpolated a long sentence, the gist of which was that Regina’s dances were all taken but that, if she had any, Lord Arthur would be her preferred partner.
Regina waited politely for her to stop, her eyes on Elijah’s the whole time. What would he say if she told him she had saved him the next dance? What would her mother say?
Elijah spoke when Mama at last made her way to a full stop. “I am delighted to see you again, Miss Kingsley,” he said. “Thank you for inviting me tonight.”
Regina made up her mind. After all, this might be her only chance. “As it happens, Lord Arthur, Mr. Ashby is my partner for the next dance.” She took a step from her mother and slipped her free hand into Elijah’s bent elbow, smiling up at him.
Mama said, “Oh, but—”
Lord Arthur interrupted. “Lady Kingsley, would you be kind enough to present me to your husband?” He offered her his elbow, and Mama was presented with the dilemma of releasing Regina’s arm and letting her go with Elijah or insulting the younger son of a duke and neglecting her duties as a hostess.
She went off with Lord Arthur.
“Nicely accomplished, Miss Kingsley,” said Elijah. “I see you are still a minx.”
“I prefer to think of it as defending myself from my mother’s matchmaking,” Regina replied. “After all, I am only just turned seventeen. I do not need to be a bride tomorrow.” She gave a light tug on his elbow. “Come, let us walk before Mama comes back with a very good reason why we should not have our dance.”
He obliged, setting off around the ballroom at a slow stroll. “Happy birthday, Regina.”
“Happy birthday to you, too, Elijah.” He was limping. He did not use to limp when he was a boy.
“Have you injured your leg?” she asked him. Mama would say personal questions were rude, but how was one to find things out if one never asked questions?
He looked down on her with a somewhat twisted smile. “An old injury. I’m afraid I cannot accept the privilege of a dance with you, Regina. I would not wish to embarrass you on the floor. Even if my leg was whole, I have never learned these dances.” He took a breath and puffed it out again. “I expect Lord Arthur—”
Regina reacted to the regret in his eyes as the musicians took up their instruments, and the caller announced the longways dance Allemande Swiss. “Then we shall continue to walk,” she proposed. “Or perhaps find a seat. That will give us an opportunity to chat, a much better idea than dancing.”
Elijah looked around them. A number of people were watching, but Regina didn’t care. It was her ball, her birthday, and her childhood friend. But perhaps he did not feel the same? “Only if you want to,” she said.
“Oh, I want to.” His fervent tone thrilled her, as did the sincerity in his eyes. He gave a single decisive nod. “Very well, Miss Kingsley. Let us find somewhere we can sit and talk.”
It was the finest dance of the evening. The music became a background to sharing of their plans and hopes for the future.
Elijah told Regina that he was heading off overseas with Lord Arthur the very next morning. “I’m meant to be his secretary, but the man who interviewed me for the job made it clear that the duke wanted someone young enough for his son to see as a friend and ally, and level-headed enough to keep him out of trouble. He has been much protected, I gather.”
“He seems nice,” Regina offered.
“He does, doesn’t he? This afternoon was only the second time I met him. We are meant to be leaving on the next tide, which is at dawn tomorrow. We had so much to do aboard that I thought I would have to forego the ball. When I said as much to Lord Arthur, he insisted I go off and get dressed, and when I came out, he had changed into his own evening dress, and ordered a carriage for us both.”
Regina asked about their destination, and Elijah explained they were heading for Paris first, and after that, wherever Lord Arthur’s whims took them.
Regina’s surge of longing would do her no good. If she wanted to travel, she would first have to find a husband willing to take her. Single young ladies did not undertake grand tours.
When Elijah asked about her own plans, she explained she had every intention of thoroughly enjoying her Season without committing herself to a betrothal. “I am only seventeen,” she said again. “Mama thinks I should marry this year, but Papa will not make me choose a husband before I am ready. Perhaps next year, I will want to settle down. Or the year after. One day, of course, I would like a home of my own and family. But first, I intend to have fun.” It all sounded very boring and trivial compared to what Elijah was about to do.
Chapter Four
Before they leftthe Firth of Thames, Elijah concluded that the most senior of the men in Lord Arthur’s retinue intended to keep the Duke of Dellborough’s youngest child wrapped in the kind of protective custody poor Lord Arthur was attempting to escape.
Albert Smith, a middle-aged man who had previously served as under valet to the duke before accepting a job as valet to Lord Arthur, did his best to convince his master that he should go below deck and take a nostrum against sea sickness.
“Your lordship knows that you are subject to stomach upsets,” he pointed out.
Lord Arthur’s tutor, Frederick Beckham, assured all present that he well knew how delicate the young lord was, but prescribed remaining on deck. “Downstairs is close and smelly, my lord. You’ll be better up here where the air is fresh.”
