He cocked a brow, let his gaze travel leisurely to her mouth and linger. “And if I don’t?” He wasn’t serious. But he wanted to see what she’d do.
“I wouldn’t want to make a spectacle. So maybe I’d purse my lips. And then when you got close, I’d...” She arched up, snapping her teeth.
“Christ.” He startled, settling her back on her feet. “You’re a wild animal.”
“Don’t test me.”
Henry had left from his club and her parents had departed separately, no doubt to avoid having to talk to him. En route, he squared off with her.
“I want to ask some questions.”
“Very well.” She sniffed. “Go.”
“Do I need to bow? Henry discussed bowing, but I wasn’t really listening.”
“Yesssss...” she said slowly. “But only sometimes, and when in doubt? Make it small. You aren’t a metronome.”
“What else should I know?”
“I enjoy dancing. Wewillbe dancing. If you don’t know the steps, I’ll tell you what to do. I can take the lead.”
“This I believe. But—”
“But nothing,” she continued with a wry smile. “Tonight, you will dance, make little bows, nibble delicious food, and make small talk.”
“How small?”
“About things of teeny-tiny significance. The ballroom’s flower arrangements. The crispness of the biscuits. The temperature in the room. Nothing at all. Mouths moving, pushing air. You will chuckle at every word I say and keep fetching me drinks. That’s enough that my friends will be wildly jealous of my very handsome, witty, and wonderful husband, and ensure no one will engage in malicious gossip.”
“Your friends will be there?”
“More like acquaintances. Georgie and Jane are true friends—people I can go to and be honest and myself and they will answer me in turn. The friends here are city friends. We have a laugh butdon’t have a great deal in common. I worry sometimes that they are forced to pay social calls because of my family.”
“Why is that?”
“Oh, my stepfather has investments, of course. He is a true gentleman. However, he has a small business everyone intensely cares about, and that is the paper, theEvening Ledger.”
“I saw him reading that when we met.”
“It has the most prosaic content (shipping and trade, legal notices), the useful (news and events), and the popular (society gossip).
“Mr.Alby has no doubt already printed a joyful announcement on our marriage. If I had to make a wager, I’d say it went out today to spin my failure into a success.”
“I’m a failure?” That was a new one.
“You’re not part of the ton. So some people find it odd and unpleasant when a surprise tumbles in, much like a body down the stairs.”
“Are you saying I was an unpleasant surprise?”
She yelped as he flicked the underside of her chin gently with his thumb.
“The paper. Do you ever write for it?”
The smile left her face. “I used to ask. A few times I begged, I’m not proud. But no, Mr.Alby was adamant that I not write. He said a husband wouldn’t want a wife who thought she was too clever. I disobeyed, naturally.”
He nodded solemnly. “Obviously.”
“When I was twenty, I drafted up a short satire. Nothing earth-shattering. It was called ‘The Grand Society of Peculiar Pretensions.’”
