Lady Marchfield sniffed.
Lady Westmoreland brought Valor’s card to her and then listed for Lord Tramondeley who he was to escort through the dances. Valor glanced at her card and was gratified to see that Lord Tramondeley was marked down for the opening set.
The orchestra, which had been tuning for some time, suddenly stopped. Lady Salisbury would open the ball and she gave the signal that the dancing was set to begin. The first was to be a cotillion and she called the changes and the figure.
Valor was very afraid Lord Tramondeley would not be able to keep track of it all.
“Tramondeley! Count!”
Valor turned to find Lady Letitia bounding toward them. She did not wish to think unkind thoughts, but the lady was very loud and dressed in such a manner that would make Madame LaFray frown. She wore a salmon-colored taffeta with large ruffles on the sleeves and a complicated swirling decoration of silver embroidery at the hem. She looked a bit like a cake.
“Tramondeley,” Lady Letitia said, waving round a like-colored silk fan, “I will seeyouat supper. Lady Valor, how do you do? Count? Are we ready?”
“Ah, yes,” the count said. “I escort Lady Letitia for the opening of the ball.” He held his arm out and led the lady away.
“My God, she’s loud,” the duke said.
Lord Tramondeley laughed and led Valor to their places.
Thinking to put him at ease as they joined a square of three other couples, she said softly, “I will remind you of the steps as we get to them, Lord Tramondeley.”
“I thank you, but I believe I understand them.”
Valor was surprised by that. How could he? She’d seen how little he knew when she was at his house. She hoped the claim was not some sort of misplaced manly pride. One could say one was confident, but the dance would soon start and the truth would be there for all to see.
The music struck up. After the requisite bow and curtsy, Lord Tramondeley led her through the steps. Much to her surprise, he executed them perfectly and with an ease that suggested he was well-practiced.
Seeming to note her confusion, he bent his head and whispered, “I hired a dancing master who has been with me night and day. It was exhausting, but I would hardly allow myself to arrive here in the shape you last saw me.”
Valor laughed, as it occurred to her that the hackney she’d seen arriving for two days in a row had been the dancing master. That gentlemanhadbeen there for strangely extended periods. She could not say so, of course, else she admit to peering at his house from her window.
“I admire your preparation, Lord Tramondeley,” Valor said. “I am not sure another gentleman would have done the same.”
“Then that other gentleman would be rather foolish,” he said. “I’ve never had so many matrons staring at me in my life. They are even overhead in the gallery, peering down like hawks on the lookout for a mouse.”
Valor nodded. “You are a duke’s heir, they will be interested in you.”
“Why? It is not as if I am a prospect for any of them.”
“My sister Serenity would say they are queen bees. They like to have their hand in everything even if it has little to do with them.”
“Cornwall is a much simpler place.”
“As are the Dales. How strange that you will inherit the place and yet have never seen it.”
Lord Tramondeley led her through the figure and they returned to their place. “I’ve never been that far north so do not have the first idea. In any case, the duke seems a hale and hearty individual, so I do not think the question of inheritance will come up any time soon and I am only the presumptive. He could remarry tomorrow and produce a son and then I am out.”
Valor laughed at the idea. “I think it highly unlikely that my father will wed again. If he would do it, I suspect he would have done it long ago.”
Lord Tramondeley shrugged by way of reply and Valor got the idea he did not particularly care one way or the other.
“Perhaps it was unfair that he did not take you in,” Valor said. “Then you would have grown up there and it would be your natural home.”
“Which makes me think he might remarry at some point. Deuced awkward to have to push out the presumptive to make room for an heir apparent.”
Their turn came round again and the lord led her forward. It was really extraordinary how skilled he’d gotten. Nobody would ever know that just days ago he’d known next to nothing.
When they returned to their place, Valor said, “I suppose you would like to get back to Cornwall…back to taking your boat out at night.”
