Page 21 of The Uncompromising Marquess
“Florence, wait a moment.” Helena put up one hand, palm out to her. “What if this is not as terrible as you might think? What if Lord Applegate, in expressing his understanding of your present situation and mayhap, in understanding your nervousness more than you might think, has an interest in your company also?”
Florence blinked, then snorted at the ridiculousness of it all. “I hardly think so, Helena.”
“Whyever not?”
“Because he is a gentleman with scrupulously high standards, as he himself admitted to me. I am a young lady who puts my feet in the wrong place, stumbles this way and that, can hardly hold her head up in conversation, and ran away from him in the middle of our waltz together! It is not as if I am the pinnacle of all that is good and correct, is it?”
Helena shrugged. “That may not matter to him.”
“Of course it will.” Florence dismissed the idea without giving it even a momentary thought. “You must help me find my courage in approaching him again, Helena. I do not know what I shall do or even what I shall say! Even the thought of it is making my heart thump wildly and my stomach swirl.”
With the smile still lingering on her face, Helena sat back in her chair, tilted her head, and considered Florence. This disconcerted her a little, but she said nothing, waiting for her cousin to respond.
“You did not disagree with me when I suggested that you were drawn to Lord Applegate, Florence.”
Florence blinked.
“You said that you did not want to have such feelings, which now suggests that your heart may well have a gentle affection for Lord Applegate.”
Opening her mouth, Florence frowned and then closed it again. Shaking her head, she drew in a deep breath and then released it, trying to find a way to defend herself against what had been her own words.
“You were very angry and upset with him, I know. I was also,” Helena continued, when Florence could find nothing to say. “Could it be that his apology, his actions in taking you from Lord Sutherland and saving you from a waltz with him changed your perception of him?”
Florence licked her lips. “Perhaps. He was very open with me as to why he had lied. I appreciated the honest words and the vulnerability that he shared.”
Helena only smiled, a glint in her eye that Florence did not much like.
“But as I have said, I do notwantsuch feelings,” Florence stated, quite firmly. “I do not think anything will come of it and – ”
“You do not think, but you may well be wrong,” Helena countered, interrupting her. “In coming to you as he did and saving you from Lord Sutherland, he too might be experiencing the very same confusion that you do at present.”
The suggestion was well meant, Florence knew, but it sent her into a state of panic. Her hands twisted together, fingerslocking tight as she shut her eyes and tried to calm her racing pulse.
“I will be alongside you at the ball, I promise you that,” Helena said softly. “You need not be afraid, Florence.”
Opening her eyes, Florence looked back at her cousin. “I shall certainly need you,” she said, a trifle hoarsely. “My mother will, no doubt, have other gentlemen to introduce me to, and Lord Applegate’s presence will throw me quite off balance, I am sure!”
“Or it could all go very well indeed,” Helena suggested, clearly trying to inject hope into Florence’s heart, despite the fact that she herself felt very little. “Mayhap it will be the most wonderful Christmas ball you have ever experienced!”
“Might you join me, Florence?”
Florence, who had been doing her best to hide in the shadows of Lord Donnelly’s drawing room, was forced to step forward and come alongside her mother.
“There, now.” Her mother slipped her arm through Florence’s and gripped her arm tightly, as if to suggest she feared that Florence might disappear from alongside her without warning. “Come with me.”
It was not as if Florence herself had any choice. Following after her mother, she was pulled forward to the center of the room and, much to her concern, a group of gentlemen who were all standing, talking together. One of them stepped back just a little, and Florence caught sight of an older lady standing with them, an older lady that Florence’s mother began to make towards.
“I do not know any of these gentlemen, Mother,” Florence hissed, her heart beginning to quicken. “Please, do not – ”
“Ah, Lady Abernyte! Good evening to you.” Ignoring Florence, Lady Grangemouth reached out one hand towards the lady in the group. “Here, now, you see? I have brought my daughter to be introduced to you.”
Lady Abernyte did not appear to be in the least bit interested in Florence, given the cursory glance she threw at her, followed by a small sniff.
“Lady Grangemouth, is it not?”
Florence turned her head, just as a gentleman caught her eye. The smile that spread across his face was not a pleasant one, and when he winked at her boldly, Florence shuddered inwardly, pulling her eyes away. Surely her mother would not think that a scoundrel or a gentleman with questionable morals would do for her?
“Yes, it is.” Her mother bobbed a quick curtsy. “Lord Cheswick, is it not? Your father was well acquainted with my husband. I am sorry for the loss you endured with his passing.”
