“Are you enjoying your first ball, Miss Watson?” he asked politely.
“It is not quite my first. I was at Sarah’s wedding ball at The Castle, but it is my first London ball,” she said with a smile. “And yes, I am enjoying it immensely. I just wish my sisters were here to enjoy it with me. Sarah has promised to bring Ruthie out next year, so I should have company then.”
Hereward reappeared with the promised glasses of punch for the ladies, which they drank thirstily while Emrys scanned the room for the missing Lady Ava. He spotted her just leaving the ballroom for the gardens on the arm of... he thought Lannister.Damn it! If Robert catches her with him, there will be hell to pay!
“Excuse me a moment, I just have to retrieve Ava,” he murmured and plunged off across the ballroom toward the French windows that led onto the garden terrace.
He reached the steps leading down into the gardens, looking around for his quarry and seeing no sign of her.Damn and blast! Where is the little wretch?He did not relish getting into fisticuffs with Lannister, either. It occurred to him that it would have been more proper for Hereward to be doing this—he was her brother, after all.
“Where is she?” asked a low rumbly voice in his ear. He turned and glanced up at the young giant.Speak of the devil!
“I’m not sure. I saw her come out this way with Lannister, but now I can’t see them. Your mother and Robert are out here, too. If he should see her with Lannister, Robert will have an apoplexy!”
“You’re not wrong,” Hereward frowned. “The sooner that girl is married off the better! We can then let her husband worry about her! She is giving Mama more grey hairs daily!”
“Well, yes, but you don’t want her married off to Lannister, do you? He hasn’t a feather to fly with, to say nothing of his dissolute behavior. He makes Kenrick look like a saint!”
“True. We’d best find them. Divide and conquer—you go that way, I’ll go this, and we’ll meet in the middle. Try not to get into a fight with Lannister, and if you see Robert...” He flinched, trailing off.
“Yes, I know—lie through my teeth!” Emrys grinned and plunged off to his right. By the time he’d done a full circuit and got back to the starting point, he found Hereward coming up the steps with a disgruntled Ava on his arm. She was a little flushed and a shade disheveled, and he marveled that he was able to detect the difference. Six months ago, he would never have noticed. More recent events had sharpened his powers of observation.
Robert and the dowager appeared after that, and the group returned to Annis and Deborah. Disaster averted, Emrys bore his wife off to find the supper table. He was hungry, and there was no law against him eating at a ball at least.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Returning home toCavendish Square and going up to check on the children, they found Mrs. Green in her chair with Charlie in her lap.
“What is wrong?” asked Emrys sharply but keeping his voice low. His heart was hammering fast.
Mrs. Green patted the sleeping child and spoke softly over her head. “She had a nightmare, poor lamb, and wouldn’t settle.”
“What was it about? Did she say?” He had the occasional nightmare himself, and they were horrible. It would be terrifying for a little girl.
“Hard to tell—something about a monster and her mother, but it was garbled. She asked for you, my lord. It took me quite a while to quiet her.”
Emrys heart clenched, and he held out his arms for Charlie. “I’ll take her,” he said, his voice thick. Annis, beside him, touched his arm in sympathy. He could feel her silent support without even looking at her.
He gathered Charlie in his arms, getting a nose full of her natural scent and the honeysuckle soap her hair had been washed with.
She moved in his arms. “Papa?”
“Yes, sweetheart, I’m here.”
“Oh, Papa!” she flung her small arms round his neck and clung to him. “I had a bad dream and was frightened!”
“I know, darling, but it’s all right. Nothing can hurt you, I promise.”
“You weren’t here,” she said, blinking at him.
“I know, my precious. I’m sorry.”
“How can you know I’m safe if you’re not here?” Her big blue eyes looked glassy in the candlelight; her soft lower lip pushed out in distress.
“Because I wouldn’t leave you if it weren’t safe,” he said quickly, his heart thudding.
“The monster got Mama! How can you know it won’t get me, too?” Charlie frowned, one hand clutching a curl and twisting it nervously.
“Oh, my love!” he said his voice cracking. He squeezed her tight and pressed kisses against her curls. “There’s no monster, darling. Mama was in an accident. Sometimes things like that happen if—if people aren’t very careful, but I won’t let that happen to you.”
