AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 20
“Mr Knight? Are you well?” Annie asked, trying to get Mr Knight’s attention again as they danced.
The assembly was proving a tiresome one, especially as Annie longed to escape with a certain gentleman that she had seen arrive some time ago. He was standing off in the shadows of the room, and though they had not spoken to each other yet, there were lingering looks between them.
Annie longed to be by Luke’s side, not Mr Knight’s, but as it was, Mr Knight had asked her to dance yet again, and she could not turn him down. As they circled each other, hand in hand with the upbeat violin music playing the tune of a well-known cotillion, she attempted to draw him into conversation, yet Mr Knight didn’t appear to have heard her at all. He was looking off somewhere in the distance.
“Mr Knight?” Annie coupled her calling of his name with a squeeze to his hand. At once, he turned his gaze back to her, seemingly alarmed.
“My apologies, Miss Storey, I found myself distracted.”
“Yes, I had noticed.” They switched places, circling each other in the opposite direction. “Forgive me, Mr Knight, for I am about to be bold. Sometimes I wonder why you ask me to dance when you so often are looking at another.” Annie nodded her head in the direction of the other end of the ballroom where Mr Knight had been staring. Once again, she spied the beautiful young woman with auburn hair that he seemed to so frequently look at.
Mr Knight blushed and returned his gaze to Annie.
“Forgive me. I mean nothing by it. I am simply reminding myself to greet an acquaintance when I look that way.”
“Yes, of course,” Annie said with a smile. Her sense of politeness would not let her push the matter anymore, but as both she and Mr Knight glanced once more in this lady’s direction, Annie felt a certainty begin to grow.
He has an affection for her, one he will not allow himself to speak of.
With him so distracted, Annie felt confident in looking where she truly wished to look. She turned her gaze across the room and sought out Luke. He was standing a little further forward out of the shadows now. The Duchess of Bannerman was at his side, clearly trying to engage him in conversation, but he didn’t seem to be taking any notice. His eyes were on Annie alone.
That fact thrilled her and reminded her of what had passed between Luke and her the day before in the garden of her house. The way Luke had spoken of a possible courtship had thrilled her beyond belief. Perhaps it was truly possible that Luke felt what she felt.
I am falling in love with him. I know it to be true!
She had never expected such a thing to happen, but now the possibility of being courted by a man that she loved, and even possibly marrying him, left her giddy. So much so that she nearly slipped in the dance and had to cling a little tighter to Mr Knight’s hand to keep herself standing.
When they reached the end of the dance, Mr Knight bowed to her, and she curtsied.
“It seems I am not the only one looking elsewhere tonight,” Mr Knight whispered as he took her arm and led her from the floor. Her body tightened at the words, wondering if he had seen exactly where she was looking.
“I was looking for my friend Miss Grove,” she explained. The words seemed to satisfy Mr Knight, who nodded as they left the dance floor. “Thank you for the dance, Mr Knight. I enjoyed it, as always. I should let you greet that acquaintance of yours now, as you so wished to do.”
“Yes, thank you.” Mr Knight bowed to her and moved away, seeming in quite a hurry.
Annie made a decision as her eyes flicked back toward Luke. It was such a busy ball that their absence for a short while would not be noticed. To have a few minutes alone with him again was too tempting to possibly resist.
When their gazes met across the room, she subtly winked at him, showing what she was thinking. He at once smiled and seemed to disentangle himself from the Duchess of Bannerman at his side.
Annie made her way to the door of the ballroom and stepped out. These corridors were particularly dark, not being so well lit by candles. It allowed her to hasten through them, unseen by guests or servants, in her hunt for an empty room.
She hovered by a parlour door and sitting room door, only to overhear voices and realise that she was far from the only one who had crept off to need an empty room that night. Eventually, she found a room that was not yet occupied. In the distant recesses of the house, she found a library. This one was grand, with the mahogany shelves so stacked with books that there didn’t seem to be a corner of shelving unadorned.
In the middle of the space was a wrought iron spiral staircase, which led to a mezzanine level to access more books on the shelves. High above this staircase, the ceiling was arched and painted with cherubim figures. Annie smiled as she observed it all, thinking it a beautiful place to meet Luke.
With so much moonlight streaming through the windows, she had no need to light a candle, so she wandered around the room, exploring the space and books that had been discarded on tables as she waited for Luke to arrive. By the window, she came across a globe set within a brass circle. Twice as wide as herself and squat in a stand, she gently traced her fingers across the globe, until her hand fell on the continent.
“This is where you wish to go, Luke,” she whispered aloud, feeling excited for him. “Would you take me with you, I wonder?”
***
Luke had waited long enough. He had parted from the Duchess of Bannerman’s eager attentions and had moved to the door, trying to follow Annie. He couldn’t wait long, out of fear that she would abandon waiting for him and return to the ball.
Luke barely stepped out of the door of the ballroom when he grew aware of someone following him. He made an appearance of holding open the door for this person to be polite, when his eyes fell on the face of this gentleman. It made Luke still, feeling suddenly cold.
“Lord Yeatman,” Mr Knight said and bowed to him in greeting as they both let the door close behind them.
