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CHAPTERFOUR
Emily watched her brother disappear with Lord Smith and the Duke of Upton, disappointment like a physical ache forming in her chest.
She appreciated his compliments so much, and his honesty, but…
She felt as though she’d waited forever to meet a man like Lord Smith. He held some key that unlocked her future, she was sure of it. But how she could she decide exactly what part he played if she couldn’t spend time with him?
But she felt as though she’d just gotten a taste of what could be and now he was slipping through her fingers.
“It’s our dance, my lady,” the Earl of Somersworth said from her right.
Drat. She’d nearly forgotten he was there.
She looked over at him, his dark blond hair and chiseled jaw making him rakishly handsome. Loads of ladies must fancy him.
But she didn’t feel anything but minor annoyance at the interruption. “It’s quite all right, my lord. You needn’t dance with me.”
“Not dance?” His brows drew together. “I am here for the sole purpose of dancing with you.” And then he gave her a deep bow.
That should have been flattering. She gave him the best smile she could, though she suspected it was weak. Because it wasn’t her he’d come for but her brother. “The next time Lord Boxby tries to make you lay favor on me, I give you my full consent to tell him to bugger off.”
Somersworth quirked a single brow and then his gaze swept down her as though he were seeing her for the first time. “You don’t wish for my attention, Emily?”
He’d never used her given name like that before. No man had, but now it had happened twice in a single evening. “Your attention is most welcome, my lord.”
She didn’t really mean that, but it was the polite thing to say. Normally, she’d be tempted to utter something foolishly close to the truth, but with sudden realization she understood why it was better not to tell him she didn’t have those sorts of feelings for him.
He didn’t really feel them for her either. He was just smarting a bit from her rejection. “But your attention because you wish to give it and my brother’s insistence that you do are very different. I’ll capture a man’s attention or I won’t, but I’ll not trick him into thinking I’m more desirable than I actually am. That doesn’t feel…right.”
Somersworth gave her a nice smile, admiration shining in his eyes. “Something has shifted in you, dear Emily, and I have a feeling that your fortunes are about to change with or without our dance.” Then he stepped even closer, holding out his hand. “But all the same, I’d like to dance with you now. Not because Boxby asked me, but because you shine brightly tonight and every man here will want you on his arm.” Then he leaned even closer with a wink. “Especially me.”
A flush of appreciation filled her cheeks. While she knew Somersworth flattered her, she appreciated the words. He was more like a brother to her than anything else, but she couldn’t deny that his praise made her shoulders a bit straighter.
And she could clearly see that others had taken notice.
Several men watched her and Somersworth’s progress to the dance floor. She felt their eyes, an intensity to their stares she’d never known before.
Somersworth stopped in an open spot taking her in his arms as the music began to swell.
His wheat-colored eyes intent upon her as he started to move.
Emily could appreciate the masculine aura that surrounded him, the power he effortlessly wielded. But she could also sense the difference between this dance and the one she’d just had with Lord Smith.
She felt none of the breathless wonder that had gripped her in Lord Smith’s arms.
“Tell me you’re not actually interested in him.” Upton’s words once again pierced into her bubble of thoughts. Had he heard them?
“Interested in whom?” she asked, looking over the crowd of dancers so as to avoid his piercing gaze.
“I know you’re thinking of Smith.”
She caught her lip, still not meeting his eyes. “I was not.”
“Yes, you were. You had this dreamy look on your face,” he said sounding a bit put out.
She finally looked at him, her own eyes shining with a question. “You don’t know me well enough to read my face.”
He shook his head. “Emily. You don’t know me well enough to read mine. But I have noticed you even when you’re not paying a bit of attention to me.”
