Percival snorted. “What about breech chasing?”
Saintfort shrugged. “That too. Perhaps it was a fad, but from the moment I saw Cynthia, everything changed.”
He completely understood, for that’s how it had been with Lavinia.
“I’m happy for you, Saintfort.” Amusement twinkled in her eyes. “You deserve the security and peace that settling down will bring.”
“I’ll give you the same advice you gave me. Don’t cock it up, and make certain to remove all temptations in the form of your footmen.”
“I already have.” Saintfort grinned.
“Good,” Percival said as the string quartet prepared to play a waltz, which was the next set. Then he only had eyes for Lavinia, the woman who’d brought him back from the brink, prevented him from making an arse of himself. He held out a hand. “Do me the honors of dancing this next set?”
“I cannot think of anything I’d like better,” she murmured as she slipped her fingers into his palm while Saintfort beamed. The damned man probably thought their union had come about due to his interference.
As soon as the first notes were struck, he set them off. “Do you still feel anxious?”
“Yes.” Some of the light in her eyes faded. “There have been copious stares since we’ve arrived, but it’s to be expected. Acceptance will take time.”
“If I could wield enough power, I’d make the lot of them take a liking to you.”
She tightened her fingers on his shoulder. “It isn’t your responsibility to order people about, Percival. Whether acceptance comes or not, I need to be strong enough to continue on my own path.”
“I never knew how amazing you were until we married.” The admission sent a wad of emotion into his throat. “I was forced to see you as a person—a woman—instead of an object of desire, instead of thinking of you merely in the physical sense.”
“Then it’s good that we did wed, for it has made you a better man, and I adore that about you.”
“Oh.” They weren’t the words he wanted to hear so desperately from her, but they would suffice in the moment. Unless she was only using him and his position to further her own. Surely, Lavinia wasn’t that kind of woman, not from everything he’d seen of her thus far. For a few seconds, the steps of the dance took her away from him, but when she returned, he took the opportunity to pull her incrementally closer. “Perhaps the duke’s threats were empty, or he decided not to bother with destroying me.”
“Men like him seldom enact their revenge immediately.” She leaned into him so that her breasts brushed his chest. “Best to live in the moment instead of worrying your life away. You’ll miss all the good otherwise.”
“How did you grow so wise?”
The sound of her throaty laughter went straight to his stones. “Life experience, Laughton. It can either make you bitter or better, but that decision rests entirely on your shoulders.”
Then he was utterly and completely lost in his wife’s arms as they traversed the floor, moving together as flowing and unerringly like water in a stream. No one else existed in the room except for them. Not since he’d married his first wife had he ever been so content with another person.
But that contentment frightened him, had the power to turn his blood cold, for he’d loved his first wife with the same passion and devotion he did with Lavinia, and when Vivian had died, he was left a broken man. If he lost Lavinia too, what would become of him as well as his daughter? Yes, everything good in life came with an equal number of risks, but was he strong enough to survive them?
“Laughton?”
“Hmm?” He shook his head to clear the increasingly maudlin thoughts and met Lavinia’s gaze. “I’m sorry. Did you ask me something?”
“No, but I was going to tell you that you’re wearing your heart upon your sleeve.”
He frowned. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, if you continue to look at me that way, everyone in the ton will soon know you’re tip over tail for your wife.” Her smile warmed him from the inside out.
“I’m not ashamed of how I feel.” His heart beat a merry tattoo behind his ribcage, for there was a certain look in her dark eyes that betrayed her own feelings. Was it possible she did indeed care about him but hadn’t yet found the words to declare it?
“No, it is not.” On the final turn in the dance, she sighed, squeezed his fingers when they came back together. “If you don’t mind finding a quiet place to talk, I believe I’m finally ready to tell you what’s been on my heart for the past few days.”
The whispered request had the power to render him speechless. The sensation of falling once more assailed him. Damn, but he was the most fortunate man in the whole of London. Lightning had struck twice when he’d never believed it was possible. “That can be arranged.”
But as soon as the waltz ended and polite clapping followed, a subtle changed within the atmosphere of the room. A distinct buzz of hushed conversation filled the air. Whispers and titters rode the currents and held disaster in the offing.
“Oh, no.” The sudden wash of tears in Lavinia’s eyes, coupled with the almost inaudible gasp of dismay in her throat betrayed the fact that something was woefully remiss.