Page 38 of An Offer for a Spinster
“I hope to convince Lady Katherine to dance with me twice tonight. I’m not sure I can allow her to dance with any other gentlemen.”
He laughed, as if the comment was a joke. Nobody else laughed. And then they were gone, sweeping across the dance floor, quickly getting lost in the crowd.
“I do not like that man,” Amelia muttered.
Timothy let out a sigh, feeling deflated. At least she’d had the chance to leave the book with him. He had no doubt that Lord Barwood would keep all other gentlemen – himself included –away from her for the rest of the night. He turned to walk away, but found himself tugged back, hauled face to face with his aunt.
“What exactly do you think you are doing, Timothy?” she demanded.
He blinked. “I… I was going to find some refreshments.”
“And leave poor Katherine with that wretch? Did shelookhappy to be cornered by him for the rest of the evening?”
“No, but…” Timothy floundered. “What am I to do?”
“Do?Do? Timothy, I have watched you with that woman for quite some time now. I would bet my entire fortune – not that I have much – that you are in love with her.”
He flinched. “Aunt, please, don’t be so loud.”
“Are you afraid? Afraid of her finding out? Afraid of others, of that awful Lord Barwood?”
“No, no, I just…” he looked around, trying to collect his thoughts. “She is kind to me, and friendly, but it would be wrong of me to assume she has feelings for me. I’ve known her since we were young. I’m friends with William, after all.”
“That means nothing. Nothing. If you told her how you feel and she rejected you, that would be one thing, but I know quite well that is not what has happened. You, Timothy, are choosing the easy option.”
“I don’t think that’s fair, Aunt.”
Amelia took a step closer, eyes intent on his face. “I think that years of dealing with your parents have left you rather passive. Nobody will hand you things in life, Timothy. You must work for them. You must fight for them. Isn’t that woman worth fighting for? Isn’t she worth risking a little embarrassment more?”
The answer, popping into Timothy’s head from nowhere, was a resoundingyes.
“I don’t know what to do,” he murmured. The music had begun, and the dancing started.
“You can begin by asking her to dance,” Amelia said firmly. “Once this first set is over. Get past Lord Barwood andaskher. Now go, my boy. Go!”
Chapter Twelve
If the rest of the night was going to pass like this, Katherine was going to die of boredom.
She’d danced with Lord Barwood, and of course couldn’t dance with him again so soon. She’d assumed that he would be obliged to leave her alone in the meantime, but she was heartily wrong about that.
Hustling her away from the dance floor as soon as the set was concluded, he’d gotten her a seat in the corner, and stood over her like a jailer.
A few other gentlemen eyed her, half-determined to go over and ask her to dance, but a steely glare from Lord Barwood warned them off. A few of her friends made as if to come and join her, but Lord Barwood and the Duchess – who’d settled herself behind Katherine immediately, as if it were all planned – would instantly begin talking, turning their backs, and making it clear that the friends were not wanted here.
Elizabeth, of course, would never have fallen for such weak tricks, but Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen. Politeness did not allow Katherine to get up and stride away, and so she was trapped.
“I wonder, Lord Barwood,” Katherine said, desperately, “could you fetch me some lemonade?”
Once he was gone, she could make her excuses and scurry away, in pretense of finding him, then disappear into the crowd.
“You don’t need any more lemonade, Katherine,” the Duchess responded crisply, and that was that. “Why don’t you tell Lord Barwood about that delightful sampler you finished today?”
Katherine’s heart sank. So this was it, then? She was going to spend the entire ball talking about samplers and water colours,while Lord Barwood chuckled at the vanity of women and the pointlessness of their activities?
It wasn’t even a very good sampler.
“Oh, Mama, I…” she trailed off, seeing a familiar figure elbow his way through the crowd.
