Page 35 of The Duke's Last Dance
What troubled her now was how she had felt seeing Nicolas dance with Miss Alexia. She should not have felt jealous over him dancing with another woman; she did not care what he did with his life now. So, why did it hurt to see him dance with a woman that she did not know, that she did not have any connection to?
Perhaps it was old feelings.
Chapter Fifteen
Two sets. Two sets were all he was to dance with this woman, and he was ready to take a large glass of brandy and drink the entirety of it. He did not understand it. He had danced the first set with Miss Alexia, and somehow, she managed to outdo herself. Not only did she talk about her dress – which again was a costly thing that Nicolas cared less about than the fact that he was to marry Miss Alexia if he wanted his inheritance – she managed to show that she was more self-centered and self-absorbed than he had ever believed a woman could be capable of. Another set with her would be torture.
She had confided to him that part of the reason she had picked this dress, this sapphire color, was so that she could stand out in a crowd and be the apple of all the men’s eyes. She wanted all attention on her, and if that was impossible, she would settle for having men look at her instead of the women they were dancing with as they passed by.
Nicolas managed to hold his tongue. He wanted to tell her that it was unfair of her to leverage the coloring of her dress to make other men look at her, especially as they were to be married, but he felt that she would not agree. He felt that her point was to make him jealous of the rest of the men looking at her.
As far as Nicolas was concerned, one of those men would be better suited to deal with her than he was. Yes, he would be a duke when his father passed away if he married her, but this was drudgery! He wanted to tell her about himself, but every time he opened his mouth, she found something else to talk about.
He wondered how in the world his father expected him to marry such a woman. He could not believe this was the woman his father wanted him to marry. At the very least, he could have picked someone who was not so… self-centered. Gave him at least a couple minutes to talk about himself.
Everything was about Miss Alexia when she was around, and only ever about her.
Thankfully, her wish to have all the attention and his ears meant she was not watching his eyes. Nicolas had been stealing glances at Lady Catherine across the ballroom the entire night. Her hair was done up in a fancy French style twist and a pouf of curls at the top. She wore an emerald-encrusted tiara that sparkled in the candlelight, and it matched the green ball gown she had picked to wear tonight.
He believed Lady Catherine looked much more elegant in her outfit than Miss Alexia. While Lady Catherine also had lace and bows and frills on her dress, they were more tasteful in placement. There were also far fewer adornments on Lady Catherine’s dress.
Miss Alexia’s sapphire dress was almost white because of how much lace had been added on the hem of the skirt and the bodice of the top. She was swallowed under a gaudy crown, not a dainty tiara as would have been appropriate.
The only appropriate part of her outfit, he believed, was her necklace. It was not too big for the bodice’s neckline, and it sat perfectly at her clavicle. If her dress had been less adorned and her hair only adorned with smaller pieces, he firmly believed the necklace would have given her all the attention she wanted, and in a place she would have been happy with.
“Lord Lockhart?” Her voice broke through his thoughts.
He was caught!
“Yes, Miss Alexia?” He attempted to make it appear as though he had only been looking at the dancers so that he could get them around without bumping into anyone. “I did not want to bump into anyone…”
“Oh, that is so thoughtful of you! Not wanting to get my dress wrinkled,” she said.
And they were right back to talking about Miss Alexia. Was that really the only person she would talk about?
It allowed him to return to looking at the other dancers, pretending that the only reason he was doing it was to keep her dress from getting wrinkled. However, as he continued to do so, he saw Lady Catherine, and finally got a glimpse of her dance partner.
She was dancing with the Duke of Hestina, one Lord Burton. A swell of jealousy began in his stomach. Of course, he knew that he would feel something like this when he saw who she was dancing with; this was why he had made sure to ask her father to save him two sets on her dance card. Her father had seemed quite pleased with this. He had not asked why, but Nicolas had a feeling that it had to do with the fact that he was an old friend of Lady Catherine’s, and if he wanted to dance with her, there was no ulterior motive to it.
He was glad that the earl seemed to understand that there was nothing sinister about his interest in Lady Catherine.
He had to pull his eyes away from her and Lord Burton when he turned to face a different wall. Lord Burton… he knew the man, and he was worried. He had served a year in the Navy, and that year had done more than enough to create a reputation for the man that should have worried any woman he was interested in courting.
He had quite the philandering way about him, and though Lord Lockhart could not remember all the details, he knew that the man was trouble. The man had had many an affair through the single year he had been enlisted, and he had been relieved of his duty when it all came to the surface. Even others who had reputations as philandering men knew how to keep it from becoming too much like the Duke had allowed it to become.
“Thank you for the dances, Miss Alexia,” Nicolas said as the music finally came to a close. With the end of his two sets, he walked her to the refreshments table. “I believe you could use some refreshment; you look pale.”
“Thank you for noticing, Lord Lockhart,” she said. “I believe ‘twould be best for me to sit out. You do not mind, do you? I thought not.”
He didn’t have to answer, but she had correctly assumed that he did not mind having to allow her to sit out. He approached Lady Catherine with a smile.
Lord Radcliff had been right. This would be a perfect time to dance with her.
“May I Have the next dance, Lady Catherine?” He smiled as he asked the question.
She was hiding behind a cup of something, and he swore he could hear her spitting back into the cup to answer him. While it was not the most ladylike thing a woman could ever do, he did not mind. Perhaps he had caught her off-guard.
“I am afraid my dance card is full, Lord Lockhart, and I do not know who is on the next dance.” Catherine smiled at him.
