The dance ended, and he bowed.
Viola sighed. “I beg your pardon, Mr Mainwaring. But I am quite thirsty. Might we go to the refreshment room?”
Georgiana was out of sight. So was Lily. Surely, she need not be chaperoned by anyone to the refreshment room?
“Naturally. Immediately.” He went ahead, leading her through the crowd, and then she promptly lost him. The quadrille had ended, and couples were now forming a new formation for a country dance, and there was a general sort of confusion, so that she did not know where the entrance to the refreshment room was.
How vexatious. Her eyes swept the room.
“Fancy running into you here,” a baritone voice said behind her, making her jump.
She whirled around and gasped.
There stood a man she would not have wanted to meet under any circumstances.
“Lockwood,” she gasped.
Chapter Seven
He looked good.He really did.
Certainly, she’d seen him dressed in evening dress occasionally. But with a pink waistcoat and a tulip in the top buttonhole?
Her eyebrow rose. “You look like a ridiculous tulip.”
“Thank you, my girl, I shall take that as a compliment. And you look—” his eyes swept over her, “unexpectedly fetching. My compliments.”
Viola rolled her eyes.
“We shouldn’t talk to each other here. If someone sees us,” she muttered, glancing to the left and right. That someone, in particular, being Georgiana and Lily. It would be unthinkable for them to be seen together.
“In that case, let’s talk outside. Follow me. And don’t you dare run away.” He went ahead, leading her out of the room, into the corridor, and into a side corridor that seemed to be reserved for servants.
“We can talk here unobserved.”
Viola crossed her arms defensively. “I never expected to see you here.”
“No? Neither did I, to be honest. But it is well-met. Because I am still waiting for your answer. You never replied to my last letter. I await your explanation.”
“That was because there was nothing to reply,” Viola muttered. She wished she could flee. If she tore the door open and raced down the corridor… As if sensing that, Lockwood blocked the way.
Detestable man!
“No, you preferred to run away, coward that you are. But time is running out, Viola. How much more time do you need? I can’t wait much longer.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “A year.”
“Impossible.”
“No. You don’t understand. I can’t do it in less.”
“Balderdash.” He pulled a frustrated hand through his thick, blond hair, ruining the perfect roll he had over his forehead. “You can, and you did. You once took three months to finish it. Three months!”
“Yes, but that was then, and this is now. I need more time.”
He shook his head. “This is very serious. The contract has been signed. All you need to do is deliver. Do you understand the gravity of the situation?”
There it was again, that gut-punching feeling of panic that she’d been trying to run away from.
