“No. I’ve paid a guard to keep an eye on him because I fear danger might still be about. It bothers me that we still do not know what happened.”
“Indeed, I’ve been worried about his safety. It is some consolation that he is guarded.”
The string quartet set up near the dance floor struck up the opening notes of a country dance. Adele tried not to look too wistful.
“May I have this dance, my lady,” asked Lark.
“Yes,” she said and let herself be escorted to the floor.
She did not think Lark was interested in her in a romantic or matrimonial way. He seemed to have his own interests. She at least recalled the simple steps of the dance while facing Lark and wondering at his motives here. He could have been dancing with her as cover for something, or to be nice to her, or just for the pleasure of dancing.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Lark exactly. He had only ever been honest with her. It was more that she knew he had his own agenda. He followed the steps of the dance with practiced ease, but his attention was clearly elsewhere. He looked Adele over, as if he were evaluating her dancing abilities, but then his gaze would shift elsewhere in the room. Sometimes he looked at the other dancers, sometimes he looked across the room. Adele couldn’t begin to guess what he was thinking.
Not that her attention was fully on the dance. She tried not to think about Hugh, but it was like she could feel his presence in the room, even when her back was to him.
When the country dance ended, she curtsied to Lark again and he shot her a smile she did not know how to interpret. When the quartet began to play a waltz, Adele decided she’d go get one of the little cakes from the refreshment table, mostly just for something to do. A woman snared Lark’s arm and pulled him to the side for a conversation, leaving Adele quite alone again.
But when she turned to head that way, she found her way blocked by a broad chest. She gasped when she looked up and saw Hugh gazing back at her.
“I claim this waltz,” Hugh said, his voice not leaving room for argument.
Adele was so baffled by this that she couldn’t do much more than stammer, “Surely every woman in the room has you on their dance cards.”
“No.” He held out his hand for her.
Dazed, Adele took it.
*
It wasn’t somuch that Hugh was jealous because he’d recognized what Lark was trying to do. And it wasn’t like there was much intimacy in something as perfunctory and chaste as an English country dance. And yet something about seeing Adele take steps with Lark had pulled Hugh across the room.
And now he had her. She felt good in his arms, like she fit there, like she belonged there. Being in her presence soothed something in Hugh. He was reminded quite suddenly that the last time she’d been in his arms, they’d been making love.
She looked spectacular tonight. The yellow of her gown made her skin look bright and warm. Her hair had been curled and pinned upon her head in a way that made Hugh’s fingers itch to pull out the pins and run his fingers through it. The onlyother adornment was a delicate silver locket at her neck. She was dressed far more plainly than most of the other women in the room, and yet Hugh thought her the most beautiful.
Something in Hugh wanted to drape her with fine jewels and fabrics. The gown she wore now had a sheen to it, and he guessed it was probably the finest one she owned. But she should have diamonds and emeralds and sapphires and fine gowns and hats and hairpins as befitting a duchess.
She should behisduchess, he realized. He didn’t mind how plain she was; she had a fine beauty that anyone in the room could see, diamonds or not. He wanted to give her the world, because she deserved it. She had such a good heart. She spent her life taking care of others, and now he wanted to take care of her.
“I’ve missed you,” said Hugh, leaning close to her.
She sighed and he felt her chest move against his. “Are you certain this is smart?”
“Yes. If I could, I’d dance every waltz with you, just as the prince did with Cinderella. Do you not want to dance with me?”
“Of course I do. I just worry that people will think—”
“It doesn’t signify.”
“Surely enough of your memory has returned by now to know that’s not true.”
Hugh was reluctant to admit he understood, primarily because he thought that, if he wanted to be with this woman, he should be able to be with her. If he wanted her as his wife, why shouldn’t he choose her?
A lot of his memory had returned, but not all of it. In the week since he’d been home, things came back to him in dribbles. He knew enough to recognize most people and handle his business affairs, but there were some things that were still behind the curtain. He often found himself in the position of needing to answer a question and picturing the answer clearlywithout being able to attach a name or a word to it. He found that experience frustrating and worried those things would remain hidden from him until given the opportunity to ambush, but on the other hand, he felt like he had a new lease on life. His mother kept commenting that things he would have objected to before his head injury were things he was willing to let go now, like she’d detected a change in his personality. He couldn’t say whether her assessment was accurate, but he cared less as each day went by. He wasn’t certain that his priorities before the head injury had been correct.
The dance ended. Hugh bowed and kissed Adele’s hand.
They weren’t two steps from the dance floor when a group of overdone women approached him. He recognized one of them as Eugenia Sackville, who clutched his arm. Adele turned and walked away. Hugh’s heart sank.
