“Mr Knight,” Luke said, bowing too. “It seems you have come to speak to me.” He gestured to how Mr Knight had stopped at his side and not made any effort to hurry off elsewhere.
“I have. Care to tell me where you are going?” Mr Knight’s firm question left Luke dumbfounded. He and Mr Knight may have been acquaintances, but they barely knew each other, and the levelled gaze of Mr Knight suggested it was a question that he asked with purpose.
“I found I was in need of some air.” Luke gestured behind him toward a door that led outside. “It is very warm in that ballroom tonight, do you not think?” He made an appearance of pulling on his cravat a little, trying to loosen it.
“Curious, because I could have sworn that you chose to leave the room merely because Miss Storey did.” Mr Knight held no embarrassment in posing the statement. He barely even blinked. It made Luke stand taller, refusing to back down.
I cannot reveal the truth! For fear it will start whispers about Annie.
“Did she leave the room? Well, perhaps she went to use the privy, Mr Knight. I have not seen her.” Luke tried to step away, heading for the door that led to the garden, but Mr Knight stepped forward again.
“I do not believe you, my lord.”
“It’s curious how your wish to nay-say me is coupled with an attempt at politeness.” Luke was rather humoured by the endeavour. “If you wish to have an argument with me, then there is no need to address me as ‘my lord.’”
Mr Knight sighed and stepped forward again, his countenance somewhat stiffer than Luke had ever observed it being before.
“I do not wish to argue, but I wish to speak plainly so that there may be no misunderstanding between us.”
“Then speak,” Luke encouraged him on.
“I could have sworn that Miss Storey looked at you as we were dancing together.”
Luke was tempted to point out that Mr Knight was hardly looking much at Miss Storey either, but to do so would be giving away the fact that he had been watching Annie as she was dancing.
“Did she? I had not noticed.” Luke shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “Perhaps she was looking for my sister? She and Jemima have seen each other quite often of late and appear to be becoming friends.”
“Yes, I suppose.” Mr Knight looked a little wrongfooted. “That could explain it.”
“Good, well, I am glad we have sorted that out. If you would excuse me, Mr Knight, I will now take that breath of fresh air.” Luke gestured toward the door behind him once again, wanting to leave. His eyes subtly flicked to the closed doors in the corridor, wondering behind which one Annie was hiding. He would have gladly run there to be with her! Yet that possibility was out of bounds now. Mr Knight would see exactly where Luke went, and Luke refused to draw Annie into such gossip.
“Yes, of course.” Mr Knight bowed to Luke again.
Luke took his leave and reached for the door, stepping out quickly.
Did he believe me?
Luke couldn’t be sure. For a second, he was certain that he had managed to persuade Mr Knight that there was nothing behind why he and Annie had left the ballroom at a similar time, yet Mr Knight’s gaze lingered on him as he stepped outside.
The rush of cold air hit Luke forcefully. The wind was so strong that he stumbled back a little, gathering himself before striding out across a garden path, needing that air.
“God damn, Mr Knight,” Luke muttered angrily as the wind whistled in his ears. “Another minute more, and I would have been with Annie.”
He was some distance away from the house when he turned back to look, so angered at what had happened that he pulled on the tendrils of his hair and kicked out at low-lying bushes. No one had followed him out. Mr Knight had not pursued him, and evidently, Annie could not see him through a window into this darkness either.
This was not the way this night was supposed to go.
Luke turned in a quick circle before he spun back to the house again, his mind made up. He couldn’t stop seeing Annie, that he knew for certain. He cared for her too much and far too deeply to even for a second consider such a possibility.
There must be a way to make this public, to introduce a formal courtship.
Yet there were obstacles, more so than Luke cared to think about. Annie’s mother, Lady Maybury, would certainly not be fond of her daughter courting a known rake, and as for Mr Knight, the man was already suspicious. He would certainly have an objection to make if he discovered a rake wanted to court the very woman he had danced with at every event of thetonfor the last few months.
“I must do something,” Luke murmured with determination, despite the worries in his mind.
***
When the door opened, Annie turned round, hurrying forward to greet the person she had been waiting for, yet her feet stumbled to a stop a second later, and she nearly tripped on the edge of a rug. The person who closed the door and strode forward was not Luke at all but Mr Knight.