Page 78 of An Unlikely Debutante

Alex shrugged once again. He was much more comfortable with their scrutiny than she was, much more accustomed to it. ‘They are curious as to who you are and why Georgina and I have sponsored you.’

‘Do you think they’ll work out the truth?’

‘Never. Most will speculate you’re some distant relative or friend of the family.’

Just as they completed a full lap of the ballroom Lina felt Alex stiffen beside her. She glanced up to see Victoria and a tall, slender man walking towards them. As the couple spotted Alex and Lina, they also paused, but after a moment’s hesitation Alex gently pulled Lina towards them.

‘Lady Winchester... Lord Winchester...’ Alex said, inclining his head in greeting.

Lina scrutinised the man standing before her. This was Alex’s closest friend—or at least once had been. The man who had eloped with Victoria. He looked nervous, as if worried what might be the result of their meeting, but Lina felt Alex relax beside her and knew nothing scandalous was about to occur.

‘It’s been too long, Winchester,’ Alex said, addressing his old friend as he would have years ago. ‘May I introduce Miss Lock, a friend.’

‘A pleasure, Miss Lock. You’re looking well, Whitemore.’

‘The country air agrees with me. I’ve barely been in town these last couple of years.’

‘Whitemore...’ Winchester began to say.

Alex shook his head and clapped the other man on the shoulder. ‘Life is too short, Winchester. No point in bringing up the past.’

‘You always were a good man.’

Whilst the two men talked in half sentences and unspoken understandings, Lina had been watching Victoria out of the corner of her eye. The other woman had pouted as Alex approached, the pout turning to a frown as he cheerfully acknowledged her and then moved on. Now she was biting her lip as if confused about the direction of the conversation.

‘We should go hunting together one day soon,’ Alex said. ‘Remember that time you almost shot a villager?’

Winchester grinned. ‘Bloody well thought I’d killed him for a minute.’

Alex turned to Lina. ‘He had to pay the man compensation for the shock. The old gent did pop up out of nowhere, though.’

‘Whitemore was laughing all the way home, didn’t let me forget it the whole week of the hunt.’

‘I see Lady Porter,’ Victoria said, her voice tight and clipped. ‘Come, dear, we must go and enquire as to her health.’

For a moment Lina thought Winchester might protest, but a piercing look from his wife had him saying a reluctant farewell before being dragged away across the ballroom.

‘You handled that rather well,’ Lina murmured as they continued their stroll, passing by the row of floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out on to a candlelit terrace.

‘I did, didn’t I?’

‘That’s the first time you’ve seen him since he and Victoria eloped, isn’t it?’

‘It is.’

‘Yet you managed to laugh and joke with him. Magnanimously forgive him.’

‘I must be over Victoria and what they did to me,’ Alex said simply.

‘That’s amazing, Alex,’ Lina said, unsure why he wasn’t more excited by this newfound freedom.

‘I think I have you to thank.’

‘I haven’t done anything.’

‘You’ve made me step out into the world again and in doing so I’ve found the damage Victoria and Winchester did to me wasn’t as permanent as I’d thought.’

Although Lina didn’t feel as though she’d done anything to help Alex heal, she supposed he had been forced to interact with more people than horses these last few weeks. Soon perhaps he would be able to start thinking of love again. Lina knew it wouldn’t be her he declared his love for; over time she would grow to accept her feelings for him were deeper than his for her. Despite that, she wanted him to be happy, wanted him to find love and to settle with a woman who would give him the life he deserved.