Page 57 of His Bluestocking Bride

That comment took her by surprise. “But he does so well here.”

“He wears a very fine mask,” Lucas answered, but then said no more as their turn came to join hands in the reel. The movement of the dance separated them for a short time, but when they came together again, at rest while another couple promenaded, Ellen took up the subject once more.

“What makes you think Marcus doesn’t enjoy the season?” Although she had caught Marcus out in preferring the quiet places of London, he had never said that he disliked the whirl of society.

“He’s told me,” Lucas answered simply, shrugging very slightly to keep a proper dancing form. “I have known him all my life and he is happiest when he is not on display. I’m afraid being the second son of an earl, and now the younger brother of one, does not give much pleasure.”

The dance caught them up again, Ellen joining hands with another man and stepping as lightly as she could, given the new thoughts in her head.

Marcus doesn’t like it any better than I do. Ellen wanted to laugh. It made perfect sense, putting together all the pieces of his personality she understood. When she had first heard rumors of his flirtatious behavior, years ago, she had at first been surprised. He had always been quietly playful, the summers she spent time with him. Ready to tease and laugh, but never one to put himself forward. She thought he must’ve changed. But he hadn’t.

Marcus wore the mask and played a part, as he had told her before they wed. He knew what society expected and wanted from him and that is what he gave it. He protected his brother, he did nothing to sully his family’s reputation, and he did his mother’s bidding. None of this was wrong, of course, but Ellen realized it was not necessarily a life he wanted to live.

At Orchard Hill, at home, he spoke with sincerity and without flattery. Here in London it seemed every word that slipped from him was cloaked in a double meaning, or else meant to stroke the vanity of his listeners. He understood society well enough to play the role it had given him, but that did not mean he liked it.

Then what are we doing here? she asked herself, looking down the row of dancers.

Lucas returned to stand before her and when their eyes met, she watched his expression change from cheerful to curious. “Something has changed since I saw you last, sister, and that was but moments ago.”

Ellen forced a smile and put her thoughts away. She would examine them more closely at another time. “I missed you, brother,” she said, then tried his trick of dropping a quick wink.

The earl’s lips twitched upward, the closest thing to a smile she’d seen on his face. “Very good, Ellen. You will learn to play the game too.”

She nodded at what he must’ve intended to be a compliment, but Ellen didn’t think this was a game she’d ever enjoy playing.

When the dance ended, Lucas took her arm again and led her through the crowds. Ellen caught sight of Marcus’s coppery hair first, sadly devoid of its curls since he’d had it cut again, and then saw Collin’s taller head.

“Marianne,” she exclaimed when they were steps apart. “I’m so glad you’ve come.” She released Lucas’s arm and went to embrace her friend, despite being in a crowded ballroom of onlookers.

“And I’m glad to see you here, my dear. Looking so elegant, too.” Marianne laughed and set Ellen at arm’s length, looking her up and down. “It seems that marriage suits you, as I knew it would.” The twinkle in her eye, playful as it was, caused Ellen to blush without knowing why.

“Thank you.” She leaned closer and whispered in Marianne’s ear. “How are you feeling?”

Marianne colored slightly. “Very well, at present. Collin takes good care of me.”

Marcus met Ellen’s eyes at that moment, his smile warmer and more genuine than she’d seen since their first night in town, in the privacy of the library. The memory of that night, and waking the next morning in his arms, still flooded her with a pleasurable warmth she tried not to dwell upon. Did he think of it too?

Her husband moved to her side while Lucas and Collin began a conversation on Parliament. Marcus stood close enough to lean down and speak in her ear. “Did you enjoy your dance with Lucas?”

“Very much. He is a delightful brother.” She tipped her head to the side enough to meet his eyes. “Have you danced yet?”

“The only woman I wish to dance with was occupied, first with my mother and then my brother.” He bent even closer, his lips almost against her ear. “And for some reason, society frowns upon a man dancing with his wife.”

A shiver played up and down Ellen’s spine, though it had nothing to do with the room temperature. Her husband’s nearness would continue to affect her, it would seem. She smiled and lowered her eyes.

“Must you always do what society wishes you to do, Marcus?” she asked, her voice low. She wasn’t sure she dared look at him, or why she had made such a brazen suggestion.

But she felt his hand at her elbow, then it slid down her arm to her wrist, and his fingers caught hers in their warm grasp. “I think, in this case, I must not,” he said, his tone warm and firm.

Ellen looked up at him, her lips parting in surprise.

“Dance with me, Mrs. Calvert?” he asked, his eyes on hers, taking up her whole world.

“Yes.”

And she became aware enough of the world around them to see Lucas over his brother’s shoulder, his eyebrows raised, and Marianne to one side looking pink with pleasure.

But Marcus didn’t look back at them. He pulled her hand gently to the crook of his arm and led the way to the dance floor. Ellen’s ears picked up, as if from far away, the faint strains of a waltz.