for the yellow dress, he wouldn’t have thought it could be her. Her poise was perfect. Almost too perfect. Perhaps he should tell her not to try quite so hard. Not many ladies had such an air about them. It was as if she owned the room. Her shoulders were back, her chin lifted just the right amount. It was distracting—as if she were above everyone else here. He wanted the Morgans to be curious about her but would prefer that not every man in the room be interested in her as well.
“What were you saying?” Stewart asked.
Anthony shook his head. Now he had been rude to his friend twice. “I’m sorry, it is just that Sophia has arrived, and I was distracted for a moment.”
“Who has she brought with her?”
“An old family friend.”
His friend’s eyes focused on Patience in her yellow gown. “Will you introduce me to her?”
Why had Anthony made Sophia choose such a striking dress? True, he had been excited about the prospect of the pretty maid getting to fulfill any girlish fantasies she had about attending a ball, but having to chase away other men was a complication he hadn’t foreseen.
“Of course.” Anthony forced a smile. He had the feeling he would be doing that a lot this evening. “She won’t be in town long, but it would be nice for her to know a few names while she is here.”
Just behind Sophia, the Morgans walked into the large, open ballroom. Miss Morgan met Anthony’s eyes briefly, and then she slowly, deliberately looked away. The familiar fear of her losing interest entered his heart, but he brushed it aside. This was their plan. And the plan was to further their relationship. Not to mention that she was the one who had thought of the idea. Their last conversation was the closest Miss Morgan had ever come to admitting that she, too, wanted to marry him and was willing to work for it. Anthony tried to stuff down the uneasiness in his stomach.
Sophia caught his eye and reached for Patience’s arm, directing her toward him. Patience turned her head gracefully in that manner he needed to tell her to stop, and then her broad mouth formed a perfect crescent as their eyes met. That smile, so unaffected and unpracticed, could be the downfall of any number of men. Even he felt drawn to it; no woman had ever smiled at him like that before. Of course, he had provided her with an opportunity to dance for an evening instead of work. The smile didn’t necessarily have anything to do with him as a person. She mostly likely smiled at everyone as if seeing them brought sunshine into her heart.
Stewart leaned in toward him, and Anthony knew, he simply knew, another question about Patience was forming on his friend’s lips.
“Where is she from?” Stewart’s eyes hadn’t left Patience.
Anthony should have picked a different maid. A homely, ungraceful one.
“Who?” Anthony asked. It was a stupid thing to ask. Of course he was referring to Patience. But Anthony didn’t have an answer for it. What if Sophia had coached her to say she was from Derbyshire and he said Cambridgeshire? They really should have gotten more of her supposed background sorted out before coming. He trusted Sophia’s coaching, but he should have gone over it with them as well. He hadn’t wanted to spend too much time with Patience, especially not in his own home. He had never been beholden to a servant before, and he didn’t like what that did to his feelings of order. It felt off. But he shouldn’t have let his personal feelings interfere with their plans. The only thing they had decided together was that Patience would be called Mary Smith. She wouldn’t be easy to find with a name like that. There would be dozens in every county. “Oh, Miss Smith. I will let her speak for herself. She and my sister are headed this way.”
What had Sophia been able to instruct her on in the past few hours? The room felt stifling. Couples were already starting to pair off in preparation for the first dance of the evening—the waltz. Had Sophia had time to practice the waltz with Patience? Or the polka? The polka would most certainly be on the program. London couldn’t get enough of it. Something about Patience’s poise made him take a deep breath and calm himself. Not every lady would be perfect at those dances, and he would be