For the first time in days, he heard her laugh. The sound warmed his heart and made it ache at the same time. He wanted to hear her laughter for the rest of his life.
“Jennette,” he paused for courage, “I—”
“Blackburn, where the devil are you?”
“Dammit!” Matthew exclaimed. “Wait downstairs, Somerton.”
Jennette’s lips twitched. “He does seem to have the worst timing, doesn’t he?”
“Unbelievably poor timing.” With the moment to confess his love gone, he yanked his trousers up his legs and then found his linen shirt. “Damned poor.”
“And what should I do?”
“Stay here. I shall get him out of the house.” Matthew tugged on his jacket and walked to the door. Looking back, his heart ached again. She looked like a waif with her hair covering her breasts and tears still on her face. He wanted to go back and comfort her, not talk to Somerton.
Matthew cursed once more before opening the door and heading down the stairs. He searched the salon only to find the room empty.
“Where the devil are you?” Matthew complained.
“I’m in some filthy, dusty room with no light and a desk.”
Matthew walked down the hallway to the study. He hadn’t bothered to open the heavy velvet curtains this morning, so he did so now.
“Thank God. This place is a disaster,” Somerton commented.
“Why are you here?”
“I actually have something for you.” He handed Matthew a heavy invitation. “Seems we’re both moving up in the world of Society.”
Matthew stared at the invitation to a fancy-dress ball at the Marquess of Ancroft’s home tomorrow night. “Why?”
“I believe he heard how we saved Lady Jennette from a most unfortunate event.”
“Of course.” If Selby hadn’t told him, Jennette most likely had.
“Will you be attending?”
Since Ancroft was such a good friend of the Selbys, it might be a perfect time to announce an engagement. If he could only get Somerton out of the house, giving him a chance to propose to Jennette in peace.
“I believe I shall,” he replied.
Somerton poured a glass of port and leisurely sat in the cracked-leather chair. He looked as if he did not intend to leave anytime soon. “So, have you screwed up your nerve to ask her yet?”
“I haven’t seen her since the party,” Matthew lied.
“Well, I’m quite certain she will be attending Ancroft’s ball so talk to her then.”
Matthew glanced around the room and wondered what he had to offer her. Not his name, not a fortune, not even a decent home in which to live. He did have a title making her a countess but that was about all.
“Have you decided how you will tell her brother?” Somerton asked.
“No. The man threatened to go to court to have her grandmother’s will turned over if she married me.”
Somerton drained his glass and slammed it on the table. “Damn him. I will talk to him.”
“No.”
Somerton thrummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. “I know him better than you. I can convince him that you love her, not her money.”