Page 21 of After the Spy Seduces

Three Nights Later

Diana glanced around the crowded ballroom at Idlewild from behind her glass as she lifted it to her lips…and splashed champagne up her nose.

Rubbing at her nose to brush the bubbles away, she rolled her eyes at herself.What an utter ninny!

But that’s what she deserved, she supposed, for not paying closer attention to what she was doing tonight. How could she, given the necessity to split her attention? Half of it focused on discouraging Major Paxton’s attentions, the other half on keeping an eye on every guest announced upon arrival, to quickly discern how much they might know about the events of the last few weeks before Garrett went missing.

The former was easier than the latter. She was no longer under any duty as hostess to entertain the major, now that she’d danced an obligatory waltz with him to appease the general and could therefore ignore him for the rest of the party. It also helped that she had surrounded herself for most of the evening with groups of friends to serve as defensive lines to keep the enemy from advancing unseen.

Surreptitiously learning about Garrett, however, was proving much more difficult.

If Carlisle was correct and Garrett hadn’t been kidnapped, then he was simply missing. So she’d been eavesdropping all night on various conversations held by anyone who seemed as if they might mention her brother. She’d occasionally even boldly asked outright if they’d recently seen him, using his absence tonight as a way to broach the topic without raising suspicions and catch word of his whereabouts.Anyword. But so far…nothing. She knew as little now about what had happened to him as she had a fortnight ago. All she had to show for her efforts was mounting frustration and distraction.

Given that, she set down her champagne flute before she accidentally drowned herself.

“There you are!” Her friend Julia Warner sidled up to her. “Grand party, Diana.” A sly smile brightened her face. “And what a coincidence that all the most eligible gentlemen in England are here.”

Of course they were, she thought with a grimace. Because the general had ensured it.

She slid her gaze around the crowded ballroom. The party was supposed to have been in honor of the army regiments who had recently engaged in fighting with Burma to protect British interests in northern India, to show them that the full confidence of the empire was behind them. Which meant that Idlewild was filled with handsome young officers in their uniforms, several gentlemen who worked for the War Office or the Court of St James’s, and a smattering of MPs and peers. Everyone was here to show their patriotism and unreserved support for England’s soldiers.

And to be given a subtle reminder by the general that his unmarried daughter still needed a husband.

Even though she was only in her third London season, at twenty-three, she wasn’t exactly young anymore. Certainly a good deal of the gossip that was going on behind flitting fans this evening involved talk of how she was already on the shelf.

She drew a deep breath and remembered the mantra her mother had repeated in times of tension to keep from being overwhelmed. “One disaster at a time,” she murmured and searched the crowd once more, wondering if anyone else would be able to give her information about Garrett.

“Pardon?”

She forced a smile and pretended to repeat, slightly louder, “Everyone seems to be having a good time.”

“Very much so. Lots of partners, for once. And speaking of dance partners—”

“I didn’t know we were.”

“I’ve just taken a turn about the room.” Julia gestured in a circle with her fan and added conspiratorially, “Major Paxton is nowhere to be seen.”

Thanks goodness. One less worry tonight. Now she could focus her attention on—

Christopher Carlisle.Her heart stuttered as she spied him across the room.

On second thought… She snatched up her glass of champagne and took a long swallow.

Her eyes narrowed on him over the rim of her flute as she held it to her lips. What the devil washedoing here?

Yet there he stood, uninvited and unannounced, having somehow slipped unnoticed into the party and looking for all the world as if he belonged here, right down to the shine of the silver buttons on his dark blue brocade waistcoat.

But of course he would. And oddly enough, striking her not as a gentleman in his evening finery that was surely crafted by the best Bond Street tailors, not as the brother of an earl, but as a chameleon who blended into his surroundings.

Was that why she hadn’t noticed him at the tavern, until he’d been lying on top of her? Was that how he’d managed to so seamlessly fit into the party tonight? Because he purposefully made himself blend into the crowd? Even now, his dark blond hair was mussed just enough to give him the same rakish and slightly dangerous look as the officers around him. The rascal even had the cheek to wear a ruby pin in his cravat, that small flash of red at his neck as powerful as the full red uniforms of the soldiers scattered throughout the room.

Yet despite that inexplicable way he had of blending into the crowd, he was clearly the most dashing man in the room. There was no hiding that. Even now half the women present had their eyes on him. For heaven’s sakes, Lady Sussex was practically drooling.

Julia craned her neck to see who had snagged Diana’s attention. Her flitting fan stopped mid-flutter. “Isn’t that—”

“Yes.”

“The cousin of the man who—”