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“But he might be the better choice here. You are looking for a husband this season. Perhaps it is Nicholas.”
Jenny was not convinced. “We should return to the ballroom. We can talk about this later.”
Daphne smiled. “We could use a dance or two.” She pulled Jenny with her. In her haste to enter the ballroom and find a dance partner, Daphne ran into a man and the impact sent her falling backward. Jenny took hold of her from behind to break her fall.
“I beg your pardon,” the gentleman said and Jenny realized it was Ernest Brighton, Nicholas’s cousin. “I did not see you there.”
“Oh, think nothing of it,” Daphne replied in a good-natured manner.
Ernest glanced behind him once before turning back and extending a hand to Daphne while flashing her his most brilliant smile. “Would you do me the honor of dancing with me, Miss Bexley?”
Daphne looked positively surprised by the attention he was giving her.
Jenny’s eyes narrowed as she looked at him. She knew Ernest as well as she knew Nicholas and had seen more of him than his cousin in the past years as the latter had fled England at the first opportunity after concluding his studies at Oxford. Ernest wouldneverask a lady to dance unless…
Jenny craned her neck to look into the ballroom. Daphne did the same before folding her arms across her chest and regarding Ernest with suspicion. “You are trying to avoid the lady with the triplets, are you not?”
Ernest laughed. “Miss Daphne Jane Susanna Bexley, why would I need to dance with you to avoid someone? I simply seek the pleasure of your company.” He titled his head and smiled down at her. Jenny could see him unraveling the girl’s defenses with just that smile.
Daphne gasped. “How do you know my names?”
“Oh, your name is not the only thing I know about you.” He elected to use a wink from his arsenal now. The next thing that happened left Jenny blinking in surprise. Daphne practically floated away on his arm.
He glanced over his shoulder and winked at Jenny. She laughed. She disapproved of his behavior but she liked him, nevertheless. He was her only friend besides Daphne. She entered the ballroom and headed toward the refreshment table to quench her thirst with some lemonade.
“In its blazing beauty, it sets its beholder’s fancy aflame. A fierier curtain I am yet to behold,” came a voice from behind her, stopping her in her tracks.
She knew exactly who it was without turning.
