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‘The Sultana is well, I trust?’
I managed to get a smile on my face. ‘The Sultana of Bakavasa is as well as she’s ever been.’
‘Oh, I’m so glad to hear that, my dear. I had to admit, I was slightly worried.’
‘Worried?’
‘Yes, I…’ Lady Samantha glanced aside, looking almost too guilty for such a sweet soul. ‘I understood that you had to go greet your mother’s old friend, of course, and I would never have asked you to do differently, but…I really hoped that you wouldn’t be long. I’m so glad you managed to return in time for the Christmas ball.’
‘You are?’
‘Yes.’
She peeked up at me.
‘Has my son come to see you since your return?’
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room was prickling. I wet my dry lips. Bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell, what to say?
‘He came to see me.’
‘I thought perhaps he might. Did he say anything?’
You mean apart from commanding me to elope with him?
‘Not much.’
That much at least was true. His mouth had been otherwise engaged most of the time.
‘Miss Linton…’ Again, Lady Samantha glanced up at me. ‘I hope I’m not being too presumptuous when I say that it would make an old woman very happy to see you dance with my son at the Christmas ball. I couldn’t wish for a better gift.’
My breath caught. Was she hinting…
No.
It couldn’t be.
But still…it sounded very much as if she was giving the two of us her blessing.
Oh Lord! How was I ever supposed to tell this sweet lady that her son had just proposed to me, and I had turned him down? I couldn’t! It was that simple. I could tell Mr Rikkard Amb
rose no without a second thought, but not his mother.
‘I’ll save a space on my dance card for him,’ I promised. Among the three dozen other empty places that will probably be there.
Abruptly, Her Ladyship looked up, and in her eyes, I saw her heart bared. A mother’s heart.
‘And in your heart, Miss Linton? Will you save a space for him there, too?’
The blood drained from my face - then rushed back in a flush of heat. What was wrong with me? I never blushed! Never!
‘W-what do you mean?’
You stuttered! You just stuttered!
She gazed up me with a sweetness that was more deadly than the coldest stare Mr Ambrose had ever given me. ‘I think you know what I mean, Miss Linton.’
Oh crap.
