AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 2
Listening with half an ear to the Lords monotone’s recount forming his leather making business, Esther nodded politely at intervals to show she was hearing.
Why is it that John does not have any exciting friends?
She did not want to feel bored coming to these events, but after three years of attending balls since her coming out at sixteen, Esther had come to realize that there was little change in any of the ton’s engagements. The lords were staid, and the ladies were fixed on sabotaging each other to gain the best marriage arrangement.
As a Duke’s sister, she had the litter’s pick, but all the lords were all cut from the same cloth, Esther believed. No one lord she had met had a spark of passion or spontaneity and—her deepest desire—mystery and danger. Lord Fraser certainly did not fit the criteria with his leather business and fondness for creating wooden replicas of ships.
The dance came to an end, and she curtsied with relief. Heading towards the refreshment table, Esther looked for John and found him, again, surrounded by people, women, seeking his attention, and men who were seeking what they could get from him.
Sighing in exasperation, Esther went to her second chaperone, her maid, Margaret Smith, who was seated with other mamas and chaperones. Esther counted her as her closest friend; her demurely dressed maid was speaking with another lady when Esther greeted them and took her seat.
“Is something amiss, My Lady?”
Opening her fan, Esther said, “No, no; my brother is occupied, and I am finding that the lords here are…staid choices.”
“And by staid, you mean dull and dreary,” Margaret replied.
“I wish you did not know me as much as you do,” Esther mumbled. “Is it too much to ask that a lord be handsome and interesting without him being a dandy or a fortune seeker?”
“I would not say the odds are against you, as I believe that there is someone for everyone,” Margaret replied, “You will find the perfect Lord, My Lady, I believe you will.”
Smoothing her skirts with one hand, Esther studied the room and noted a few ladies she had gone to finishing school with—sadly, even now, they still avoided her. Her eyes flickered to her brother, and her fan stalled when she saw that he was walking over with two gentlemen in tow.
The first looked like a dandy, with embroidered velvet suit and perfectly coiffed hair, and her eyes skipped over him to the second—who made her breath catch. The second was dressed in military clothes and walked with an air of power and authority.
When he neared, a closer look had her heart leaping into her throat; his dark, gleaming black hair feathered around a face that was sculpted with fierce perfection. His jaw was stiff and square, his nose was a little crooked, but his eyes, placed under the dark slashes of brows, were a startling shade of silver .She half-covered her face with her fan and tried to look away but could not.
The brass buckling shone brightly on the field of a dark blue coat, and the pristine white of his breeches hugged his muscular thighs. His silver-blue waistcoat was shot through with silver threads to match his coat’s buttons and his white linen-cravat - tied with such precision - set off his naturally dark colouring to perfection.
“Esther and Miss Smith,” John said, “May I introduce Lord Camden and Captain Arthur Morgan of the Royal Navy.”
“Pleased to meet you—” she then spotted the Captain’s eyes and realized that they were not silver, but blue. “—both.”
“Miss Smith, is my sister’s dance card filled?” John asked Margaret while Esther turned her eyes away from the soldier’s piercing gaze.
Fishing out the card, Margaret replied, “Her card is almost filled, My Lord. Should I be making adjustments?”
Pursing his lips, John said, “Whoever is her next dance, will have to be shuffled lower, as Captain Morgan has a question for you.”
The man in question bowed, “Will do me the honour of being my partner in the next dance?”
Her face warmed, and Esther felt mortified at the look she was presenting him; it was bad enough that her hair was red, with her face mirroring it, she feared that her face was mimicking a fireworks exhibit.
“I’d love to,” Esther heard herself utter, but her voice felt foreign to her ears. Taking his hand, she nearly shivered at his firm grip, and when he swept her away to the floor, Esther found herself tongue-tied.
Under the shimmering light from the chandelier, Esther was enveloped by his eyes, an ethereal hue of silver and blue that shifted like smoke. She could only offer him a faint smile before the music to a waltz started, and he took her into his arms.
“If you don’t mind,” she asked hesitatingly, “How long were you in France?”
His lips twitched, “Why do you assume I was in France? Mayhap I was the West Indies, protecting our dear Regent’s ships from marauding pirates? Or perhaps I was in the far east, bringing spices from the unknown mythical parts of India?”
“Were you?” Her eyes grew as wide as saucers.
Without him knowing it, he had pulled her attention better than a fiddler would with a violin’s string.
His expression turned grave, and his eyes flicked dim, “Sadly, no, I was in France, My Lady, and I stayed there long enough for me to want never to see that land again. Not for anything in the world.”
