Lady Randall glanced up as he approached, and her eyes narrowed.
Nathan didn’t give her an opportunity to speak. He made only the most cursory of bows and turned to Pippa right away.
“Miss Randall, if you aren’t engaged for the next dance, I wonder, would you care to dance with me?”
There. It was out. It was said. She could demur if she wished.
To his amazement, Pippa’s eyes brightened.
“Why, yes,” she said at once, before Lady Randall could speak. “I would like that very much, Lord Whitmore.”
Nathan allowed himself a breath of relief, and extended his hand. He could feel the glares of both Lady Randall and Lady Barwick boring into the side of his face.
Lord Barwick, however, appeared too drunk to care, or even notice.
The next set was beginning, so Nathan led her to the dance floor at once. It was, he noticed with a twinge of nerves, a waltz.
They took up their positions, facing each other, almost as close as they had been on the balcony the previous night. Pippa was looking up at him, her expression wistful, and he found his breath catching in his throat. He could not look away.
“Don’t worry,” Nathan said, voice low. “I won’t step on your poor feet.”
She bit back a smile. “That is a relief. They’re horribly bruised.”
“You ought not to have had to dance with him while he was in that state.”
She shrugged. “Mama wanted me to do so.”
The music began, and they started to dance.
“First of all,” Nathan said, before he could lose his nerve, “I must apologise for what happened last night. It was most improper of me. I could have seriously compromised you, and it was an ungentlemanly thing to do. I beg your forgiveness.”
She worried her lower lip, still looking up at him.
“Mama said that if you truly cared for me, you would not have done it,” she said, so quietly that he had to lean his head forward to hear.
“Lady Randall is both right and wrong,” he managed. “True, a gentleman would not have put you in such a position, and it is unforgivable. However, she is wrong to say that I do not care about you. May I be frank, Miss Randall?”
“A little frankness is refreshing, I think.”
“I have tried to do things the proper way,” he burst out, aware that their dancing was a little too slow and absent-minded to keep up with the rest. He didn’t much care. “I have tried, and it was a disaster. I know that I ought to speak to your mother, and then let her speak to you, and do things in the slow, dull way that those in Society usually do. But the truth is, Miss Randall – Pippa – I care for you. I believe I am falling in love with you.”
He heard her hitch in a breath, but she did not interrupt, and so he continued.
“I know I should not say it. I know I should do things carefully, theproperway. I have heard that you are betrothed or about to be betrothed to Lord Barwick, and if that is the case, I would not wish to make you uncomfortable. I will be silent on this subject at once, if you wish it.”
There was a brief pause, during which Nathan’s heart hammered against his chest relentlessly.
“I do not wish it,” she breathed at last. “And I am not betrothed to him.”
He let out a sigh. “Then, Pippa, I would like to court you. I wish to do things properly, in the eyes of Society and your family. I would like my intentions to be known, to you and to others. I wish to do thingsproperly, and that means publicly. How do you feel about my offer? If you do not feel the same…”
“I do feel the same,” she said in a rush, and Nathan missed a step, staggering.
Certainly, a courting couple were never meant to be so blunt, certainly not in rushed whispers on a dance floor, of all things. But Pippa’s gaze had never left his face, and there was nothing but hope and happiness in her eyes.
She cares for me,Nathan realised, in a dizzying rush.My feelings are requited.
“Then I will speak to Lady Randall and you, tomorrow,” he said, grinning giddily. “I will inform your mother of my intentions, and I shall speak to William or Katherine, if you wish it. If… If Lady Randall refuses to give her consent, then I shall threaten to tell her that I almost kissed you on the balcony, and then she’llhaveto agree.”
