Page 35 of What's an Earl Gotta Do?
And when he asked her to marry him tonight, she was going to say yes.
He spotted Anne in the foyer and hastened to her side.
“Good evening, Anne,” he said, raising her hand to his lips.
“Good evening, Michael.”
“May I have the first dance?”
“Oh, dear.” She retrieved a dance card from her reticule. “I already promised it to someone.”
Michael was alarmed to see that her dance card was completely full. “Don’t worry,” Anne said, “I already put you down for two. See?”
He was somewhat mollified to see that the supper dance and the final dance of the evening were his. Still, that left four dances before he would have any meaningful time with her.
“Wait a minute,” Michael said, pulling the dance card from Anne’s grasp. “You’re not dancing the first with Alexander Fitzroy, are you?”
“Indeed, I am.”
“He almost knocked you over!”
Anne shook her head. “That was an accident.”
“And Augustus Mapplethorpe.”
“What’s wrong with Augustus Mapplethorpe?”
Michael stared at her incredulously. “Does his breath still smell of pickled cod?”
“Um… well…” She cleared her throat. “I’m sure it will hardly be noticeable.”
Michael rolled his eyes. “I’m sure it won’t. And then it’s Gladstone. You don’t want to dance with him, either.”
“Am I truly dancing with Lord Gladstone?” Anne asked, snatching her dance card back. “And Lord Scudamore,” she whispered, then fell silent, staring blankly across the ballroom.
“I know Gladstone from school. He’s as dumb as a box of rocks. And his estate is on the brink of insolvency.”
Anne was gazing across the foyer, lost in thought. “So it is.”
“Scudamore’s estate is bankrupt, too,” Michael noted.
This seemed to snap Anne from her trance. “It was four years ago when you left, but it’s not anymore. He’s performed quite the feat turning it around.”
“Has he, now? You should still avoid him. When we were at Eton, he was one of those fellows who delighted in torturing the younger boys. Not me,” Michael added as Anne’s eyes crinkled with concern. “I was under your brothers’ protection. But he once tied Clotworthy Elphinstone to a tree deep in the woods and left him out there overnight. The squirrels got to him. Have you never wondered why he only has the one eyebrow?”
Anne was busy scanning the crowd. “Help me, Michael. You have the superior vantage point. I need to find my mother, and… I don’t suppose you know Mr. Samuel Branton?”
“I do not. But Anne—”
“He’s a Black gentleman, a bit taller than me, with close-cropped hair and impeccable tailoring.”
Did she really think he, of all people, would recognize impeccable tailoring? “Anne! Did you hear anything I just said about Scudamore?”
She spared him a brief glance. “Of course I heard you. And yes, that does sound despicable. But isn’t that sort of thing fairly common at Eton?”
“Not to the extent Scudamore took it. He used to whip any boy who didn’t perform the task he assigned them ‘correctly,’ and I mean hard enough to leave welts. Those who didn’t have someone to look out for them used to spend all day outside, just to avoid him. If it was a downpour, they would huddle under a bridge rather than risk encountering him in Long Chamber.”
She squeezed his forearm, craning her neck, and nodded toward the doors. “Is that Mama who just came in? With the scarlet ostrich feather?”
