“I have not seen her in a very long time.”
“You wouldn’t have,” Nathaniel said. “She has been away in Scotland for almost a year, ever since that humiliating situation with her fiancé.”
He narrowed his eyes. He had heard something about this from Arabella, back before Arabella’s own life had taken an unexpected and shocking turn.
“Did he not leave her for a woman of more elevated standing?”
“He did. And mere days before the wedding, too. Terrible. She took herself off to Scotland and has only just returned. I amsurprised that you did not know, since I believe Arabella and she are close. At least, that is what Helena said.”
Helena, Gideon’s wife, was one of Lady Clara’s best friends—her other best friend besides Arabella. His cousin, Arabella, and Helena had never been terribly close due to a slight difference in age and upbringing, but he had heard of Helena by way of Arabella. It was an intricate web.
“Perhaps you ought to dance with her,” Nathaniel suggested. “I am sure she would be grateful.”
“No,” Julian said but without taking his eyes off the young woman. Just then he saw Helena stop mid-dance and rush away, leaving a rather perplexed Gideon to stand alone on the dance floor.
She rushed to Lady Clara and pulled her into a tight embrace.
From the dance floor, Gideon attempted to make his way to solid ground, navigating between dancing couples while the two young women embraced and walked out of the frame.
Lady Clara Hampshire.
He hadn’t thought of her in so long, and yet now that he had seen her once more, he had a difficult time taking his eyes off her.
CHAPTER 2
“Clara!” The voice came from somewhere up ahead, and before she could make out who the voice belonged to, a pair of arms wrapped around her neck, pulling her in.
It was the vanilla and orange perfume that told her who was hugging her. Her dearest friend, Helena Hartwell. Or the Duchess of Blackwaith as she was now.
“My goodness,” Helena said. “I did not know you had already returned.”
“I returned just a little while ago. I had only enough time to go home and change before I came here. My mother insisted I must.”
“Did she? That seems rather cruel to make you come to a ball before you even have a chance to properly acclimate.”
Clara smiled. “I see you have already forgotten what my mother is like. She would have had me returned from Scotland six months ago to rejoin the marriage mart if she’d had her way.”
Helena shook her head. “That is utterly unreasonable, and I told her so when she brought it up at dinner a few months ago.”
Clara smiled. That was why Helena was one of her best friends. She was always there for her. Always supporting her no matter what. Clara had missed her, and Arabella Ashland, her other dearest friend. It had been so long since she had seen either of her friends, and it felt so good to be near Helena again, even though Clara hated being at this ball. She could feel the way people were staring at her. It was uncomfortable.
Clara had never minded being the center of attention before, but she had to admit, it was most uncomfortable now. She knew perfectly well what everybody was thinking. The ditched fiancée, practically abandoned at the altar.
“Clara,” Helena said, “what is on your mind? I can see your thoughts wandering as you stand before me.”
“You know me too well,” she said. “It is true. I am not entirely comfortable being here. In fact, not comfortable at all. I know exactly what all these people are thinking about me.”
Helena took her by the arm, and the two of them walked a few steps further into the ballroom before stopping in an alcove.
“Do not regard it. It does not matter what these people are thinking. You are Clara Hampshire. You are a force to be reckoned with. You always have been.”
“Benjamin did not think so. Not in the end.”
“Benjamin was a fool. Besides, I venture to say that this whole disaster was not entirely of his making. You know what his parents are like. When the opportunity arose to marry their son to a cousin of the Prince Regent, of course, they were going to cast you aside. He was merely a baronet after all.”
“Yes, I do understand that, but I thought he truly loved me. I thought that he would fight for me, but he didn’t. He came undone so quickly. Do you know that his mother told me that I was not sophisticated enough, and he sat there and said nothing?
“Later, when I asked him if that was what he thought also, he said that he had always found my unconventional ways charming, but that it was true they were not entirely ladylike behavior. He even spoke of my time with Gideon as though there was something shameful in it when all we did was comfort each other after—” She waved her hand.
