Chapter twenty-seven
Eternity would not suffice.
It had been a hellish torment, standing beside her in the seclusion of a stand of trees in the growing dusk. Even after a long day of confusion, exertion, and such reversals of circumstance as would send any lady to her retiring room after ten minutes, she still smelled like a spray of lavender after a spring rain.
And that flirtatious manner she had adopted, so sensually enticing and yet so becomingly offensive to her maidenly sensibilities! A dignified Venus, a virtuous seductress…a man was more likely to find a unicorn. He would be a liar and a blackguard to persuade himself that his imagination had not instantly leapt to fancy how she might conduct herself in the privacy of her bedroom with a husband she desired.
It was devilishly unfair.
At last, he could bear the waiting no longer, and if he were honest, he was less impatient to be off than he was violently beset by improper urges. Hewouldbehave the gentleman! It could not be so very much longer now. A crossing on the barge, a bumpy ride to Cheapside where his head would be cleared as he clung to the back of the coach—he could not endure riding inside with her!—and then they would be in her family’s home, and he would be safe.
With this laudable goal in mind, he gently took her elbow and guided her back to the main path. “We will skirt the edge of the Grove, walking just under the trees, but not near the supper boxes.”
“Near the orchestra? Will there not be a great many people?”
“All the better for us to disappear among them. Half of them will already be intoxicated on the rack punch, and the other half well on their way to that same fate.”
In a matter of moments, they had crossed the centre of the Gardens. Here, all faces were bathed in the brilliant glow of a thousand coloured lanterns, and lavishly dressed guests preened and displayed costumes which had been specifically chosen for such lighting. Elizabeth had seemed to tighten her shoulders together in a conscious gesture of inadequacy, for she wore only her morning walking dress. If only she could see that even in her simple muslin, she was a vast deal more handsome than those promenading peacocks!
Apparently, his gaze had once more been consumed by her form, for he was late in looking ahead of them. “William,” she nudged him, “is that not one more?”
He looked where she had noted and groaned. Indeed, Paulson was standing stupidly there by the orchestra. Apparently, Johnson had overlooked him, and he was waiting on some order that was not likely to come.
Darcy checked himself—Paulson was one of the grooms from the stables, but he had no way of knowing if he might have been trusted to carry a message from Wilson, or had been recruited to join the company sent by his aunt. He decided not to risk it. Were it only himself, he would flee from none of them, but for Miss Elizabeth’s sake… no, her safety and reputation were paramount.
“Let us walk around the outer edges,” he suggested. “Over there, behind the supper boxes and toward the Cascade. There is hardly anyone between those trees and almost no lanterns, either. We can cross behind the boxes.”
It was some difficult work to make their way to the desired path, for everyone before them was caught in the throes of a lively dance. A raucous jig of some sort; perfectly distasteful in better circles, although the Vauxhall musicians were known to playalmost any sort of music on any occasion, and never were they reprimanded for any of it.
To his immense relief, the music soon ended, and the crowd before them quieted just long enough for them to make their way through. Just as she had caught up with him and he had gestured for her to go on, another melody began to play, and the crowd was instantly swept up again.
Elizabeth stopped, then turned to gape at the crowd. “Is that a waltz they are playing? How perfectly scandalous! And how is it that so many know the steps?” She turned to him, her eyes wide and helpless with astonishment.
“Many young ladies of thetonlearn it from their dance masters. As for the others, I can only conjecture that it is not a difficult dance to learn if one but watches it performed for a moment.”
“Would you approve of your sister learning it?”
“She has already done so,” he admitted.
“I am all astonishment!” she laughed. “You continue to surprise me, William. I would have thought you too fierce a guardian to permit something so shocking.”
“She may tour the Continent one day, and I felt it a necessary part of her preparation—though only after she and her master agreed to my conditions.”
“And those are? Pray, tell me what would set a guardian’s mind at ease over such a scandalous dance?”
Darcy grinned. The little Pharisee, what he would give to be the man to introduce her to all the seductive delights she had been taught to view askance! “That she only practices the steps with one is a trusted member of the family. Moreover, I insisted that she only dance with a male, not a female cousin or her companion.”
“Not a female?” She shook her head. “Why ever not? I would have thought you would find that the safest alternative.”
He smiled again, and caution gave way to longing. He leaned down to her ear and spoke softly, “That is because there is only oneway to do it properly. May I show you? Only for a brief moment, here in the dark of the trees before we go?”
She looked carefully at his hand, then gave her own. “What is one more scandal to a day which has been rife with them?”
“What is it, indeed?”
He took her parasol from her hand and hooked it over a nearby tree limb. After he had shown her the most socially accepted posture, lightly holding one another’s elbows, he stepped toward her. “Fall back, and allow me to guide you,” he coached her. “Now, come to me… and back.”
She proved a remarkable study. Whether it was her own natural talent or some kinship which allowed her to read his intentions, her body moved gracefully with his own, and they flowed easily about the edge of their private little ballroom. She was avoiding his eyes at first, looking down at their feet and nibbling her lip as if she feared the heavens would strike her down. But she was smiling.
