The Matter of a Marquess - Jess Michaels Page 0,21

out of mourning, I know. Do you have any plans?”

Aurora almost laughed. Out of one painful conversation and into another. But she forced her tone to be light. “I’m not certain. I suppose expectation will normally be for me to come back into Society and even find a new mate. Whether or not that will be possible remains to be seen.”

Adelaide arched a fine brow. “The right friends will get you far, my dear. And our Katherine seems determined you will have those. Don’t fear. Anything can be overcome.”

Aurora found her gaze sliding back toward Nicholas. Was that true? If it was, what did that mean for the two of them?

If her anxious mood was obvious, Adelaide swiftly put it at ease. She changed the subject to books and soon they were happily chatting about a topic far less full of fraught emotions. Supper flew by far faster then, and Aurora felt herself relaxing. She hadn’t been able to have many friendships as of late. And Imogen’s disappearance had put even more pressure on her. Just this moment of normalcy did help.

Finally the last plates were cleared away and Roseford got to his feet. “We’ll retire to the west parlor, where there will be music and some games.”

Aurora got to her feet. “The gentlemen won’t separate from the ladies for their port?” she asked softly.

Adelaide chuckled. “In this group? Sometimes they will, but often everyone stays together. The marriages are all so happy and the friendships so close.”

They walked out together and Adelaide continued to chatter on at her side, but now Aurora was distracted. She hadn’t realized how close the group was, but now it became clearer. All these established friendships and all these couples in her midst.

In fact, the only uncoupled attendees staying at the house were…she caught her breath…her and Nicholas.

She and Adelaide reached the parlor. Her new friend squeezed her arm and murmured something about talking later, but then she was off across the room to step into the circle of her husband’s arms. All the couples, none of whom had been seated with each other at supper, did the same. And now the mood in the room changed.

Aurora stared. Her own marriage had been unemotional. Lovell was not affectionate. He could have been parted from her for a month and he would have done nothing more than shake her hand when he returned. These people had spent no more than a few hours without being next to each other and they all looked like they were relieved to be reunited.

She sighed and crossed to the sideboard where she poured herself a glass of madeira. At least it gave her something to do with her hands, some distraction so her discomfort wasn’t clear to the room at large. But as she set the bottle down and turned toward the room again, her breath hitched.

Nicholas had all but ignored her all night. But now he was staring at her across the room, his dark gaze boring into her, through her, reading her, judging her. She was captive under the spell of it and him.

Worse when he began to move and she realized that against all odds, he was coming across the room to speak to her. And she had to prepare herself for what in the world she would say to him.

Chapter 6

Nicholas shouldn’t have made his way across the room toward Aurora, but that’s what he found his legs doing. Even after all their fine talk of forgetting the past, of pretending to be strangers at this party, he was drawn to her just as he always had been.

But if he were a stranger, if they didn’t share whatever the past was between them, and this beautiful woman was the only unattached person in the room besides himself, wouldn’t he approach her? Not to flirt. No, that would be a bad idea. Only out of politeness, since she seemed just as uncomfortable with the couples pairing off as he did.

That gave him an excuse, at any rate, as he stepped up beside her and poured himself a glass of whatever she had just taken. He didn’t even look to see what it was.

“Is it just me or did the temperature of the room just go up a few degrees?” he asked, tilting his glass toward her in mock toast.

The others had circulated away from their pairings, mingling into the room again, talking to their friends and family members, but still…the love they each shared had been