Graham followed her gaze and his jaw tightened. “So I see.”
Lady Annabella was clearly in her element. Dressed in a voluminous ruffled pink gown which in Graham’s opinion made her look like a fondant cake, she was gliding around the room on Lord Ashford’s arm. They were flanked by a few of LadyAnnabella’s close friends, all fashionable and all suitably inferior in looks compared to her.
Lady Annabella craned her neck, carefully making eye contact with first Ursula and then Graham. She inclined her head in a very gracious nod, hardly able to keep the smile from her face. Lord Ashford did not look at either of them.
The two passed by, disappearing into the crowd. Graham barely had time to glare in their direction before Ursula tugged at his sleeve. He glanced down at her and was horrified to see an anguished expression on her face.
“Please, let us depart” she whispered. “Please? I can feign a headache.”
“Ursula, we cannot leave,” he whispered back. “That would look worse than if we had not arrived at all.”
"I fear I cannot endure this much longer," she whispered, her mouth turning down at the corners. "Their stares are most unsettling."
He stared at her for a long moment, chewing his lower lip.
“Ursula, were you… were youfondof Lord Ashford? I know you were commonly thought to be his first choice of bride. Are you disappointed not to have wedded him?”
She rolled her eyes, some of her anxiousness fading away.
“Oh, good gracious, Graham. No, I was not fond of him. That is, I didn’tdislikehim, and I was prepared to wed him as itwould have been a good match, but that is all. I just… I just feel discomfited being stared at so intensely.
“I would have thought the Diamond of the Season was used to being stared at.”
No sooner had he mouthed those words than he deeply regretted and wished he could have bitten his tongue clean off. The look of anguish on Ursula’s face felt more painful than a knife being driven into his heart.
He turned and faced her with a confident smile.
“Here,” he said, taking her arm and steering her towards the dance floor. “The dancing is beginning. How about we waltz, Lady Sinclair? As the latest wedded woman here, I believe perhaps it is your prerogative to open the ball.”
She blinked at him for a moment, then broke into a faint smile.
“Very well.”
“Keep your head up,” he instructed, “and don’t show any fear. You’re Lady Sinclair, viscountess, and you outrank most of the people there. If they are glaring at you, it is because it has only just dawned on them.”
She smiled again, a wider and more heartfelt one this time. “Upon my word, I daresay you are entirely in the right.”
Taking her hand, he led her into the center of the ballroom. Other couples were already taking their places, and there was abeat of hesitation before they realized that they were expected to make way. Eventually they did so, not without lacking any form of good grace.
It hardly mattered. Graham turned to face Ursula, smiling down at her. She smiled back at him, nerves fluttering in her face. He placed his hand on her waist, feeling the warmth of her skin. He recalled how she’d stood in front of him in the library, peering down at him with that singular, fond expression on her face. He could still feel her fingers on his cheeks, and the taste of her lips on his.
“Ready?” he breathed.
She never once glanced away from his face. There was an intentness there, a hunger which he could not quite decipher. Her chest heaved beneath her necklace, and he suddenly longed to lean down and press a kiss to the curve of her collarbone.
He did no such thing, naturally. There was one breathless second in which they were the only two people in the entire world, and then the music began with a raucous crash, and it was time to dance.
***
Jonathan watched Graham and his new wife dance around the ballroom with the other couples, laughing with glee. He sipped his champagne complacently, shaking his head.
It seems that he has become quite smitten with her,Jonathan thought. I am truly delighted some love will doubtlessly improve Graham’s spirits.
Of course, there was the worry about his past history. The Sinclairs were not a family gifted with happy matrimonies, and then there was that Jane business… Jonathan shook his head, finishing his drink. He would speak to Graham about it later. For now, there was food, drink, and dancing to enjoy.
Not that Jonathan was dancing himself. He did not generally care for dancing, and nor was he good at it. Generally, his partners were selected out of politeness – his hosts’ daughters, or a friend’s sister, and so on. Ladies who were happy enough to have a dance, glad not to be sitting down sadly, but who didn’t want to worry about their partner displaying amorous intentions.
Alas, that is my very character, Jonathan reflected with a sigh. The one who shows no predisposition towards courtship.
