“Ohhh. I’m afraid I missed that.”
She flashed him a rueful smile. “It took me a while to figure out what ‘D’ stood for. When it hit me, I felt like a dunce. Perhaps I should have signed my note ‘D’ as well, for dunce.”
“Or ‘Diana.’ If anyone ever saw the note, they would assume you were writing to yourself.”
Her smile warmed him.
“Were you able to understand the floor plan?” he asked.
“I didn’t have time to study it.” She shook her head. “Leave it to you to include a floor plan.”
“What do you expect from an engineer? I request floor plans routinely. Besides which, I wasn’t familiar with the building, so I needed one.”
“Well, I’ll try to look it over before ten.”
“Better yet, do you know where the ladies’ retiring room is?”
“If you’re looking for privacy,” she whispered, “that is not the place to get it.”
He rolled his eyes. “I realize that. But there’s a stairwell right past the ladies’ retiring room door. If you pass up the retiring room around ten o’clock and go to the stairwell, I’ll meet you inside and take you to where we’re going. Just make sure not to be seen by anyone.”
“I shall do my best.”
At that moment, Lord Foxstead approached. She moved aside, apparently assuming that the earl wanted to talk to Geoffrey. But the rascal stopped in front of her and bowed. “Lady Diana, will you give me the pleasure of dancing with you?”
She shot Geoffrey a veiled look. “I . . . I would be honored, sir. Thank you.”
Geoffrey glowered at Foxstead, which did nothing but make the chap smirk. They went off together, leaving Geoffrey to seethe. He wasn’t angry with Diana—he’d learned through the course of Rosy’s instruction that only very special situations allowed a woman to refuse to dance with a man. Hell, even if she could refuse Foxstead, Geoffrey understood why she might not. From what he’d seen, Diana and her sisters got few opportunities to dance.
No, it was Foxstead whose neck he wanted to wring. The man had picked Diana just to annoy Geoffrey, because Foxstead assumed he was jealous.
Geoffrey wasn’t jealous. Not one whit.
Keep repeating it to yourself, and it might become true.
He scowled. Why would he be jealous of Foxstead? In less than two hours, Geoffrey hopefully would be the one holding Diana, kissing Diana . . . giving Diana the pleasure she obviously craved and deserved. The pleasure she would have gained if her father hadn’t driven her mother to leave and thus ruined Diana’s chance at a more conventional life.
That was what Geoffrey had come to believe had happened. The veiled—and not so veiled—comments of Diana and her sisters had implied as much. But there was no reason Diana should have to spend the rest of her life as some chaste acolyte of high society. He meant to make certain she didn’t. He might not be in a position to marry her himself at present, but he damned well wanted her to experience what marriage could be like, so that if Geoffrey did become free, or a man like Foxstead offered . . .
No, not Foxstead. The man couldn’t be trusted to be faithful to her, and neither could the likes of Lord Winston, the only other bachelor he knew in her world.
Well, that part of it she would have to decide. But now that he had the idea of marriage to her in his head, he couldn’t get it out. What if he were just to . . .
That wouldn’t work. He needed to do as he’d originally planned. The rest he’d have to leave up to her.
* * *
To Diana’s surprise, Foxstead wasn’t the only gentleman to ask her to dance. Two others followed him. Perhaps her performance with the earl had reminded them she’d been known for her dancing before the Incident had brought her and Verity’s romantic lives to a screeching halt. The men were both polite, so she felt certain they weren’t merely angling to gain something sordid from her.
Only Geoffrey is doing that.
Was he? She didn’t think so. Geoffrey wasn’t like any of them. Or at least she hoped he wasn’t. But it was ridiculous that she was finally at Almack’s, with a perfectly lovely gentleman walking her back to Eliza, and she could only think of Geoffrey and their assignation later on. She looked at the large clock again. Ten more minutes.
“Diana?” said a low voice.
Whirling around, she broke into a grin. “Winston!”
Diana introduced her dance partner to her second cousin, and her partner considerately bowed and moved away, leaving her to speak to Winston alone. Casting a furtive glance around to make sure Geoffrey wasn’t close enough to overhear them, she smiled. “It’s so good to see you.”