Page 29 of The Rise of a Forsaken Lady
The beginning introductions of the waltz slithered through the air and she internally groaned. “It will come back to you,” the Lord said while holding out his hand. She took it and was whisked away to the dancefloor.
Lord Hillbrook was in sterling-while breeches, dark-grey waistcoat, and an immaculately-tied cravat. His blond hair was combed just as immaculately as his tie and his blue eyes were gentle. With his hand in hers and the other around her back to her shoulder blade, they prepared for the dance.
“I hope so,” Penelope said while trying to squash the regret in her stomach.
She spotted Mr. Moore over the Baron’s shoulder and while she danced with him, she wished deeply,Rescue me.
Chapter 11
That’s the fifth proposition,Heath groaned.
He had first been asked if he was really only a footman at the Allerton home, but now after he had brushed it off as an anomaly, he had gotten four more at the Blackwoods’.
Music had started in the room while he took his place back along the wall behind Miss Bell. He looked over to where Lady Penelope was dancing with Lord Hillbrook. She was the one lady in the room that was not overdone in dress or jewels. Her dress was simple, and her single line of pearls was enough ornamentation, Heath decided.
She is beautiful enough without them.
Lord Masseur’s balls were much more lavish with crystal sculptures and food made from French chefs, but they all boiled down to the same thing. Women needed husbands and men needed wives.
It was more civilized than the olden days when a father would force his daughter to marry anyone he chose, but the lines of society were still drawn bright and clear. A lady, though she had the freedom of choice, still had to marry a man in her class who was able to give her the pleasures she had always enjoyed. Breaking ranks and marrying out of class was social suicide.
He spotted Lord Allerton who was dancing with a lady in deep magenta. Thankfully, Lord Swanville was not there, and he sighed in relief. He shifted on his feet, while he carefully looked around the room, detailing every open window and every open door.
If someone had been able to kill Lord Shirlling on the ground floor of the Allerton manor, who knew what could happen in the midst of this ball. He was charged with protecting Lady Penelope, and that was what he was going to do.
His eyes lit upon Lady Penelope’s once more and his gut tightened. She clearly did not want to be in Lord Hillbrook’s arms, but she had vowed to do put herself back under the social lights. A spin took her eyes from his, but they never left. Whenever she came back to his line of sight, her eyes met his.
It is not proper.
But he did not move his eyes away. Perhaps she was drawing his strength or looking to him for an assurance of safety. Whatever it was, he did not know, but did not fight it either. Since she had shown him her wild side, hair a wild tangle over her back, he had felt admiration for her and when she had kept her silence about his spying, his esteem for her had grown.
The dance was coming to an end and he dared to look away. He had surveyed the room over a dozen times but what could one more hurt? The constables had gone to Lord Allerton’s home over three times, but there was not much they had done or could do. No one had seen the shooter, and there was no way to guess where the shot had come from as the two lords were in the open air.
“Mr. Moore?”
He turned to the voice and saw Miss Bell at his elbow. The petite woman was smiling as she joined him then they looked on the dance floor where Lady Penelope was curtsying.
“Yes, Miss Bell.”
“She trusts you,” the lady maid said. “In all the years I have known her, she rarely trusts. You should be honored.”
He suspected how she knew Lady Penelope had developed trust in him but asked anyway, “How do you figure that?”
“She looked at you more than she looked at Lord Hillbrook,” Miss Bell said and before Heath’s blood could run cold or drop to his feet, she said, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. You are tasked to protect her and now with all that…kerfuffle at home…you don’t need more troubles on your mind.”
“Thank you.”
Training his eyes back on the dance floor, he did not see Lady Penelope. Instantly, he was on guard. He skirted the mingling patrons and went to the nearest doorway which was to the refreshment room—she was not there. He went to the next door that led to a balcony—she was not there, thank God. He then eyed the staircase and remembered that there was a library, a solarium and a sitting room in that part of the house.
He took the stairs up and checked the library first, it was shadowed and empty. The sitting room was empty too and that left the solarium. If that was empty, he was going to call in the cavalry.
The doorway to the solarium was halfway open and to his relief, he heard Lady Penelope’s voice inside. She was not alone, and the voice of another lady was there too. He cringed at knowing that he was eavesdropping again.
“Forgive me for prying,” Lady Penelope said. “But I must be frank. I remember how you and my brother were so…wonderful together. He lost focus when your name was mentioned and when you two were in a room, your eyes would meet even halfway across it. Like lodestones. I was so sure you would get married. I must ask, and be free to call me out on me being too invasive, do you not have any feelings for my brother again?”
Heath’s eyes darted up. Instead of looking about her own marriage, she is trying to fix her brother’s.
“I do,” the lady said hesitatingly, “but there is not much I can do about it. Lord Allerton, Edward, was—is—the only one who I connected with for years, but my father drew me back from the season for a year. They changed my wardrobe and got me on slimming diet with absolutions for my skin, and with my new look they decided I needed a new suitor.”
