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His words hit Daniel out of nowhere, and Daniel’s blue eyes slid over to the dance floor where Emily was dancing happily with Lord Caney, her brown eyes lighting up as she smiled. The young Viscount, for his part, looked absolutely smitten by her.
The Duke frowned at the sight as if he found it somehow offensive to seeherdancing closely with some other man.
Only a few moments ago, she was a veritable innocent in the art of flirtation. With just a few pointers and examples from him, it would seem that Emily Montgomery was a damnednatural.
Not even that hideous dress of hers could cover up that fact.
“You have no reason to fear on that part, my friend,” he told Benedict softly. “Your sister isnothinglike those women we consort with.”
“Well, you better hope she does not end up being one of them, Gilleton,” his friend warned him.
Daniel frowned at his friend’s words. He had merely helped Emily along in her efforts to find a suitable match.
It could not be as dire as Benedict made it out to be, could it?
CHAPTER3
“Isincerely apologize for leaving you so hastily earlier,” the Viscount told her after they bowed to each other. “I hope you do not find me overly rude or boorish.”
Emily could not believe her ears. No other man had ever asked her to dance, much more apologized for disregarding her in the middle of a ballroom.
She blinked up at him and smiled a little, “No offense taken, My Lord.”
At her words, the Viscount beamed, and she realized that he actually was rather good-looking with a tall, slender build, black hair, and dark blue eyes. She had never regarded men in such a manner, preferring to shy away in the corners of the ballroom.
Well, we cannot have any more of that now,she told herself as they whirled around in the ballroom.Unless I resign myself to the life of a spinster, I must find a suitable match, and I must find it this season, or Lady Rutbridge will consign me to a miserable existence!
“I do hope, I am not boring you with such inane conversation,” the Viscount murmured, apparently sensing that her mind was somewhere else.
Frantic to hold his attention for at least the length of the dance, Emily shook her head. “No, My Lord. I happen to find your company rather enjoyable.”
“In that case, you will not turn me away if I dared to call upon you tomorrow?”
He must be teasing me!Emily thought dismally, her eyes flying to his and searching for the hint of mockery she had grown to anticipate from all the other young men of her acquaintance. Surprisingly, she found none of it in the seriousness of his blue eyes.
She flushed under the intensity of his gaze. “As long as Lady Rutbridge will allow it.”
“Ah, but of course,” he smiled. “After all, dragons must be conquered if one wishes to win the heart of a princess.”
“Oh, but I am hardly a princess,” she murmured, feeling her cheeks heat up at the gentleness in his tone.
“Well, what are you then?” he murmured as he spun her around. “An enchantress?”
She smiled up at him, feeling a little more comfortable in his presence. “Nothing of the sort, I assure you.”
“Then, how have you bewitched me with a single look?”
“I hardly think that you are one to be so easily bewitched, My Lord.”
“In that case,” he said, bowing to her as the dance ended, “you greatly underestimate your capabilities, My Lady.”
She bowed to him, still feeling a little dazed as he escorted her back to the company of her brother and the Duke of Gilleton.
“Do not forget,” the Viscount reminded her warmly, “I shall call upon you tomorrow morning.”
Emily merely nodded before the Lord Caney excused himself from them, his gaze lingering longingly on Emily before he left.
“Well, what was that about?” Benedict breathed, directing a glare at his best friend. “What have you done?”
