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“Thank you for sharing such a wonderful dance with me,” he said. “I must take my leave. But I will come and find you shortly.”
Rowena nodded, feeling her cheeks flush once more.
“Of course,” she said. “I look forward to it.”
Andrew bowed politely to her mother and sister, who curtseyed in return. Then, he turned and made his way through the crowd.
He had hardly gotten out of sight before Lady Worthingwood was clutching Rowena’s hands tightly.
“Darling,” she said, her wide blue eyes filled with excitement. “The two of you were a vision. I have never seen such chemistry between a young couple.”
Nancy looked just as overjoyed. She patted her sister’s arm and smiled fondly at her.
“Indeed,” she said dreamily. “You looked like a princess, twirling around the ballroom.”
Rowena felt her blush returning, and she couldn’t help giggling.
“I certainly felt like one,” she said. “Andrew dances so well, he hides the fact that I am so rusty.”
Nancy laughed.
“Never mind dancing well,” she said. “Did you see the way he was looking at you?”
Rowena took a breath. She wanted to ask Nancy what she meant, as her fantasy had had her imagining all sorts of things that likely were not real. But if her sister had observed something she had missed, she wanted to know about it.
Before she could ask, however, the viscountess let out a loud gasp that startled both her eldest daughters.
“What is it, Mama?” Nancy asked, turning to her as though fearing for her mother’s health.
“What’s wrong, Mother?” Rowena asked.
The viscountess glanced around frantically, then leaned in close to her daughters. She took Rowena’s hand and squeezed it tightly.
“Darling,” she whispered, pointing downward, “the hem of your dress has come undone.”
Rowena followed her mother’s eyes, covering her mouth with her hand when she saw her mother was right. There was a large rip along the bottom of her dress that threatened to expand if she took even a single step more.
“How can that have happened?” She frowned, trying to think of what to do.
She didn’t want to miss out on the next dance set, in case Andrew came to ask her to dance again. However, she couldn’t risk dancing with her dress in such a condition. The one thing that would surely ruin the night would be for her dress to continue ripping and become obvious to all the guests.
“Don’t worry,” she said, patting her mother’s hand. “I shall go and fetch Sally. I will return as quickly as I can.”
Her mother and sister nodded.
“I am prepared to use an announcement as a distraction, if I must,” Nancy said. “Just in case it takes you a little while to repair your dress.”
The viscountess reached for Rowena and took a step forward.
“I will come with you,” she said. “I would be happy to help you, darling.”
Rowena shook her head, confident in Sally’s abilities.
“It won’t take long at all,” she said. “And, Mother, you stay and mingle with the guests. I will be back before you know it. But I must go, before the next set begins.”
The other two women reluctantly nodded.
“Send for us if you have any trouble,” Nancy said.
