“He does not,” Georgiana said, uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation.
It was their turn once again and the lord led her out on the floor. “Never mind me, Miss Wilcox. I do sometimes go twisting and turning through rabbit’s warrens in my research—perhaps it is nothing, only a coincidence or aberration. Perhaps the regent will prove me wrong, after all.”
Georgiana wished that was the case, but who really knew? The regent was known to be excessive in everything. She just hoped that was not a harbinger of some malady to come.
The dance ended and Georgiana was not sorry for it. She really would prefer not to engage in discussions of royal madness.
A succession of other gentlemen, most of them very forgettable, took the next dances. They were, perhaps, only particularly forgettable because Georgiana could not help thinking of the supper to come. She could not help thinking of Lord Langley.
*
Jasper cursed himself.He’d gone back and forth over the idea of taking Miss Wilcox’s supper and then determined he would not. He was not in the habit of fooling himself and he knew he had been doing just that over the past few days.
While he did notthinkMiss Wilcox had been sent to spy in the house, he had in no way proved it as fact. However, because of his own personal inclinations, he had persuaded himself that he had somehow proved it. A careful reckoning earlier in the day had presented him with that unfortunate conclusion.
He’d decided that he must step back and bide his time, whatever his personal feelings might be. He’d gone so far as to inform his mother that he would not escort them in the carriage but would take his horse instead.
It had been such a firm resolution! It had been grounded in facts and sense. And yet, as soon as he’d seen her, he’d marched over to the old cabal of his mother’s friends and insisted on putting himself down for her supper.
And what reasons he gave! She was not to have extended conversation with anybody who had not been thoroughly vetted? It was absurd. She might have conversation with anybody she liked and of course everybody attending Lady Featherstone’s ball was perfectly respectable.
They were all to worry overgraspingindividuals? Grasping of what? The two thousand pounds of dowry his father had laid out? A truly grasping gentleman had need of rescuing his estates and two thousand would not turn his head.
Upon hearing the scheme, his mother had almost hesitated in the matter, and would have, had not Lady Easton ridiculously commended him for his support of their society.
Support, indeed. He was weak, that was all that it was. He was becoming irrational. It was his job to protect the king from ruthless reports and he was still in the midst of trying to capture the culprits. The primary culprit might even be the Stuart. It was no time to allow his personal feelings to sway his opinions. He ought to only follow facts, and there were not enough facts to follow at the moment.
Then, he had been so distracted by the whole matter that he’d not spied Lady Annabelle stealthily making her way to his side. He had been determined to avoid her this evening, making like a fox into the brush if she were in the vicinity. He had no patience for whatever she had to say to him, particularly not after he’d seen her on the street and she’d rushed to tell him of Miss Wilcox’s fall in the park—a story she had no doubt advertised far and wide.
By the time he’d spotted her it had been too late. He knew he would have to offer a dance and he knew she would accept. A gentleman did not have much choice in such matters when a lady was determined. It had been an added irritation that the only dance left open was her first. Certainly, she had held it open. Certainly, she wished him taking her first would say something to the company present.
Though she was exceedingly short, he at that moment did rather feel like a fox looking for escape from a ruthless hunter. A pale and irritating ruthless hunter.
The ball had begun, and with it had come Lady Annabelle’s usual chatter. He answered her almost mechanically, saying the things that were expected of him. The London air having done something to her hair again was of no surprise, nor was his denial that it could be so. The color of her dress, which was a pale yellow, was claimed to do nothing for her complexion. Jasper dearly wished to tell her that she was right, but only said something nonsensical about the shade being cheerful.
After she had thoroughly examined her person, found it wanting, and then was assured why she was wrong in every instance, Lady Annabelle said, “I do hope Miss Wilcox has recovered from her tumble in the park.”
“It was nothing,” Jasper said curtly.
“It did not seem as nothing, Lord Langley,” Lady Annabelle said, gazing up with her insipid pale eyes. “It seemed almost as if the lady were not familiar with the operation of mounting a horse.”
Jasper did not answer and hoped she would go back to examining her own person and leave Miss Wilcox out of it.
“Well,” Lady Annabelle said, “I suppose when one has been locked away in some little backwater in the countryside…one cannot wonder…I did hear, I think, that her grandfather on her mother’s side was in trade…I suppose some things cannot be taught…”
The music had blessedly come to an end. Unfortunately, Jasper’s patience had come to an end with it. He really could not control himself longer. “Apparently, Lady Annabelle,” he said, “manners and good grace are also things that cannot be taught to everyone. Not even, on occasion, to a marquess’ daughter,” he said stiffly. He bowed and left her standing alone.
He should not have said it, though it had felt rather glorious. In one moment, he had conveyed to Lady Annabelle everything he thought of her. It may have been ungentlemanly, but then she had been exceedingly unladylike in her talk about Miss Wilcox. Further, he was confident that Lady Annabelle would have no further use for him afterthatconversation. His mother would be disappointed, but that was unavoidable and would have happened sooner or later.
He had a sudden vision of his fishing expedition the summer before off the coast of Ramsgate. He’d reeled in a cod and found it riddled with sea lampreys. Their horrifying round mouths full of teeth had attached themselves to the poor fish and were draining it of its life-giving fluids.
That was precisely what he thought of Lady Annabelle—a vampiric lamprey that he’d finally shaken loose and watched drift to the sea floor.
*
Georgiana had excusedherself to the retiring room before being led into supper. Her dance with Lord Langley had felt fraught with tension, though neither said anything about it.
In fact, neither said much at all. It was their eyes that had talked. Every time their eyes met they conversed. She was attracted to him, he was attracted to her. At least it seemed so. Itfeltso. She’d worked not to feel anything, but she’d not at all succeeded.
