gaze to the matron once more, “if I requested a second dance with Miss Sudbury later in the evening.”
“Yes, I will allow it,” Mrs. Zebodar said.
Julia couldn’t help rolling her eyes. The woman was taking her role entirely too seriously. If they were to continue for the remainder of the Season in this arrangement, then Sarah would have to have a talk with her friend.
“Very well,” the earl said, with a nod of his head to each of them. Then he looked squarely at Julia. “I will claim you soon,” he promised.
Gracious! That made her female parts do a little dance of their own.
“I look forward to it, my lord,” she said, hoping to sound as worldly as he did.
One of his eyebrows lifted before he walked away.
“Mm-mm,” said Mrs. Zebodar. “I’d heard he was quite an out and outer, but he seems perfectly polite to me. Not to mention a rum duke.”
Julia smiled at hearing her own words repeated by a woman who was at least a decade older. And more than merely handsome, the earl had something dangerously wicked about him that Mrs. Zebodar hadn’t picked up on. Maybe that was because Marshfield hadn’t directed an ounce of his wickedness toward the chaperone.
But Julia had felt it, down to her toes.
Claimed by him indeed!
Chapter Three
“At Lady Pritchard’s ball, Lord M__ was seen dancing with the aforementioned country miss, now known to be the penniless sister of Lady W__.”
-The Morning Post
It wasn’t too long before the ballroom filled up, just like a dozen balls Jasper attended before. Or was it hundreds? He’d lost count.
Sighing, he helped himself to a glass of champagne. As he wandered the parquet floor, he spied a few women he knew, and to these he sent a polite nod. He also saw a few whom he’d bedded, and to these he swiftly turned his back and ducked in the other direction. Sometimes, the speed with which he broke off an association after swiving caused hurt feelings.
And if the girl’s mother had found out, more the worse for everyone! He’d been the source of one or two nasty scenes and wished to avoid another that night.
Besides, he didn’t want to ask anyone else to dance, regardless of what a terrible guest that made him. Lady Pritchard would certainly take him to task if she noticed him standing about while single ladies lacked partners, but that wasn’t his problem.
Jasper wanted to keep his eyes upon a certain mysterious blonde female. Moreover, he couldn’t deny he wanted to put his hands and lips on her, too, if she was willing. He couldn’t tell yet if she were a chaste and cool princum prancum or a loose blowsabella, who would give him a good roll and then smile at the end of it.
By God, he hoped she was the latter! Approaching her a mere minute before their dance so there was no time for more prattle with the dreaded chaperone — the bane of most single men’s existence — he nodded to the older woman and took his prey’s arm in his.
“Are you enjoying the evening so far, Miss Sudbury?”
“The night is young, yet, my lord.”
“True, but I can confirm the champagne is cold, and that’s a better start than at many balls.”
He turned her toward the room’s center and away from the matron’s hearing. “Although the dragon protecting you might allow you only lemonade.”
She laughed, and his rod twitched against the inside of his breeches. What a delightful sound! Moreover, she didn’t hide it behind her gloved hand.
The first dance, a cotillion, had just ended and had been performed in the elegant, slow French style. He’d noticed Miss Sudbury hadn’t danced but had watched intently. Their dance was to be a waltz, considered somewhat scandalous by some of the stiff-rumped hosts. He’d been pleased to learned Lady Pritchard would allow it. Moreover, he was determined to keep Miss Sudbury tight against him while he had her undivided attention.
“You have not lived long in London, I understand,” the earl remarked, “and this is your first Season.”
“You are wrong on both counts, sir,” she said, and nothing more.
The deuce! What a bewattling ewe!
“Why don’t you enlighten me?” he prompted before spinning her past the marble fireplace over which hung a wide mirror, bouncing light in every direction.
Jasper had danced there before. When he looked up at just the right angle, he could see down her décolletage to the pale swell of her ample bosom. Beautiful! And then they had waltzed