The Scoundrel and I - Katharine Ashe Page 0,16
lately, Anthony?” Seraphina said.
“Sennight or so ago. Invitation to Father’s birthday party. Suppose you’ve gotten it too.”
“I did.” Seraphina tilted her head. “Will you drive me?”
“Wasn’t planning on going, actually.” He glanced away, toward the door. “All sorts of business to take care of here, of course.”
“Tony.” Seraphina’s voice softened. “I cannot miss it. But I will not enjoy it if you are not there.”
His eyes turned sharply to her face for a moment. Then he nodded, once, a short conciliatory jerk of his chin. “As you wish.”
Seraphina smiled. “Shall I include your reply to the invitation in my own?”
He drew in a tight breath. “Aye.” And then: “Thank you.”
Seraphina went to him, the diaphanous drapes of her sleeves fluttering, making her progress across the foyer seem like nothing less than the flight of a magnificent bird. She grasped his arm and went onto her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. She lingered there.
“You are the bravest man I have ever known, Anthony.” It was barely a whisper, but Elle heard it, and a peculiar rush of warmth spread through her body.
Then she saw something she had never seen before, something she had never thought to see: a great big elegantly dressed gentleman scooping up a fine lady in his arms and giving her an enormous bear hug. Seraphina’s laughter bubbled over his shoulder.
As he released her and came toward the door, Elle snapped her mouth shut.
“Until tomorrow, Elle,” Seraphina said with a conspiratorial grin. “I can hardly wait.”
Chapter Five
“Please tell me why I have spent the afternoon being fitted for a ball gown,” Elle said when they were some distance away from the modiste’s house. He had asked her if she minded his riding in the carriage with her. Now she regretted allowing it. Enclosed in the tight space, even with glass windows on both sides, she felt his nearness too acutely. He was so large and handsome and smelled so deliciously good and his attention was entirely upon her.
“Told you already,” he said. “Tomorrow my uncle aims to attend Lady B’s ball, and you don’t have a ball gown.”
“Lady B?” She stared at him. “Lady Beaufetheringstone?”
“The very one.”
“But . . . But . . .” Minnie spent half of her time reading the gossip columns and the other half telling Elle, Adela, and Esme all about it. “Lady Beaufetheringstone is an important hostess.”
“She’s a darling,” he said.
“Captain—”
“Anthony,” he amended.
“I am not a member of high society. I do not belong at a high society ball.”
“You will tomorrow night. Seraphina will see to it.”
“But—”
“Come now,” he said with a half-smile. “Isn’t dressing up in a pretty gown and dancing at a ball every girl’s dream?”
“Perhaps for some,” Elle admitted. “But even so, a dream. Not reality. I know nothing about how to comport myself in a London ballroom.”
“Comport?”
“The rules of etiquette. Surely you understand.”
His black brows lifted. “Never gave it a thought.”
“You would not have, would you? You, in your uniform littered with medals, with your face and—and—and height and absolute disregard for rational sense would certainly never need to know anything about the rules of society. I have no doubt that you flash that handsome smile and say ridiculously charming things, and nobody notices that you have just broken twenty rules of etiquette and mangled the English language in the meantime.”
“You think my smile is handsome?”
“I have just insulted you and you did not even notice it.” She turned her face to the window. “I cannot believe I am here. In this carriage. I cannot believe I spent the past two hours being fitted for a ball gown that costs more than my yearly wages. And you know very well that your smile is handsome.”
“If my smile’s handsome, must be a reason for it,” he said so mildly she had to peek at him from the corner of her eye. A perfect example of the smile in question shaped his lips, and she knew he meant she was that reason.
She snapped her attention back to the window.
“Did notice the insult,” he said after a moment’s silence. “The compliment suited me better.”
She turned her face to find him regarding her with perfect equanimity. A special little bloom of pleasure inside her felt distantly familiar and so very good.
She rolled her eyes away. “You are incorrigible,” she said.
“And you’ll do fine tomorrow night. A girl like you—”
“Woman.”
“—with your snappy tongue and haughty nose—”
“Haughty nose?”
“Poking right up in the air when you’re put out, just like the titled ladies of