A dangerous thing to admit even to oneself. Ladies like her and dukes were not friends. So what was there to feel pleasure about when he had been beastly?
His eyes were cold and unpleasantly cynical. “Is it a pleasure?”
“Perhaps only mildly pleasant,” replied Theo, with utmost candor.
He looked down at her, an odd glint in his eyes. “May I have your hand for this dance, Lady Winfern?”
Surprise almost took her breath away.Everyone knows Hartford does not dance at balls.So why was he asking? Shouldn’t the man be asking Lady Edith, the only young lady to have won his attention these past two years? Theo was torn between finding an excuse to escape his presence and a rampant curiosity about what he wanted. “I haven’t the least objection, Your Grace,” she said, startling herself.
She placed her hand atop his arm, allowing him to guide her to join the other couples. He swept her into the waltz as the sensuous strains lifted in the air. Theo felt as if she fitted in his arms perfectly. A very silly thought to have, but there it was, nonetheless. Their elbows slid along each other, she stepped to the side, and he slid his foot along the floor, pushing her back into the intricate moves. The hand she held lightly on his shoulders flexed a bit, and she swore she felt the power of his body through his jacket and her gloves.
Theo noted he stared down at her with an expression of faint bemusement.
“I received a note from my sister a couple hours ago. I have not been able to find her since. Is this a prank conceived by you and Perdie? Punishment for my interference?”
For a moment, Theo did not understand his words, caught up in the sensation of being in the duke’s arms. Many people stared at them in shock, and at the edge of the crowd, she spied Lady Edith. The girl’s eyes were wide with alarm, and her gloved fingers clenched tightly onto her fan. The duke had not danced once since the start of the season. And though it was exceedingly early yet being April, that he did so now with Theo was a very unpleasant surprise to several matrons and their wards. All the scandal sheets would mention this, and the drawing rooms tomorrow would be rife with speculation.
His fingers squeezed at her elbow, tugging her gaze to him.
“You will answer me, Lady Winfern.”
Something is wrong. There was a chill in his eyes that did not match the graceful and beautiful way he twirled her in the waltz. He had a quality about him that was intently compelling, dangerous. “A Prank?” Theo frowned. “I do not understand of what you speak, Your Grace.”
“A few hours ago, my sister pled a headache and retired to the parlor to recover. Precisely two hours later, a footman found me and delivered a note from my sister. He was instructed to give it to me at midnight and only midnight. In that letter, she claimed she needs to live a life with meaning. Which you have graciously helped her to see.”
Oh dear. “I…Your Grace, I am not certain what to say.” Silently she cheered Perdie for speaking up about her wants.
“You might tell me exactly where my sister is, or you will feel my full wrath.”
The icy promise had her stumbling in his embrace, but the duke’s skillful spin masked her tumble, twirling her to the very edge of the crowd. Despite so many eyes on them, he managed to whisk her onto the open terrace. This would result in more than a few mentions in the scandal sheets!
“Your Grace!” Theo gasped when he deftly tugged her down the small, cobbled steps and toward the beckoning darkness of the gardens.
At the almost feral glint in his eyes, she choked her protest back down and kept pace with him until they were in an area only lit by the half-moon in the star-speckled sky. “Your Grace, what is the meaning of this?” Theo demanded the minute they stopped.
“You do not seem duly alarmed by my sister’s words.”
“If you do recall, Your Grace, I did mention to you that Perdie saw my townhouse as a haven for a reason.”
“You were the one to encourage her down this path.”
Theo frowned. “I encouraged her to share her feelings with you, yes.”
“Whatever you imparted to my sister has led her to run away from her family.”
Theo felt faint. “I beg your pardon?”
“You act as if you are not behind my sister’s ruinous actions and the letter she left behind.”
“Run away? She has run away?”
“Yes!” he snapped with such vehemence, wariness rolled down her spine in a chilly wave.
This is a disaster. “The last I spoke with Perdie was a few days ago. I advised her that until she was honest with her family about the struggles she feels, it was best she took some time away from…from our gathering.”
“My sister has packed a number of her belongings and run away,” he repeated icily.
“I cannot credit it!” Theo dearly hoped it was a prank. “Are you certain, Your Grace? How long ago do you think Perdie left the ball?”