the queen herself.
“Y-y-yes,” Lord Compton stuttered. “I n-n-noticed you from ac-c-cross the—” He let out a frustrated breath, lowering his head.
“You must excuse my friend,” Lionel cut in. “He has an unfortunate speech impediment. That is why he abhors crowds and generally doesn’t attend balls or any sort of event where he would be called upon to speak. He’s such a homebody, in spite of being heir to an earldom with a considerable income, aren’t you Victor.”
Lord Compton looked mortified, but Lady Agnes inched closer to him, actually smiling for a change. “I don’t care much for crowds either. And I detest balls.” She glanced over her shoulder at her mother.
“W-w-would you care to adjourn t-t-to one of the p-p-parlors?” Lord Compton asked.
Lady Agnes beamed with relief. She checked with her mother again.
“As long as the parlor in question is well-chaperoned,” Lady Hamilton said, her eyes narrowed slightly…at Lionel. The woman might have been a harpy, but she wasn’t stupid.
“Thank you, Mama,” Lady Agnes said, slipping her gloved hand into Lord Compton’s arm when he offered it.
“Well done, Lionel,” Phin murmured.
Lionel glanced his way as if he’d heard. He flashed Phin a smug smile, then bowed slightly, as though finishing a particularly riveting monologue on the stage. Phin assumed the introduction of Lady Agnes and Lord Compton was the entire reason Lionel had inconvenienced Lenore and Lady O’Shea, and had dragged half of London out of their homes on a blustery October evening. But as mad as the plot was, it filled Phin with relief. If the mad scheme to find a suitable husband for Lady Agnes worked, perhaps Lady Hamilton would give up her pursuit of Phin, and perhaps his conscience could ease up a little.
Hard on the heels of that thought, every conversation in the ballroom flashed to excited murmuring, and tension filled the air. Phin turned, along with everyone else, toward the doorway, completely unsurprised to find that Lenore had arrived. She held Freddy’s arm and Reese flanked her other side, but as encouraging as the show of unwavering support was, Phin knew he was the one who should be standing by Lenore’s side.
He started across the room, dodging around guests who burst into tight whispers as gossip filled the air. Someone must have signaled for the orchestra to play, but even their lilting hint that the guests should start dancing did nothing to calm the excitement.
“I heard she’s married to a cowboy from the Wild West,” someone hissed as Phin marched past.
“No, she’s married to one of those industrialists, a steel tycoon,” someone else said.
“I heard she’s married to a nobody and that she fled to England to escape things that are too horrible to mention,” a red-faced matron said, fanning herself furiously.
Phin scowled and picked up his pace, more determined to stand by Lenore than ever.
“How bad is it?” Lenore asked as soon as he reached her side. She was clever enough to know everyone would be talking about her.
“It’s what you would have expected,” Phin said, not bothering with greetings.
“That bad?” Lenore grimaced.
“Oh, look. I see Henrietta and Fergus. Let’s see what they have to say about things.” Freddy glanced across Lenore to Reese, then grinned at Phin. He and Reese moved away from Lenore, leaving Phin to claim their place as her protector.
It was a statement that wasn’t lost on Phin, and as he offered Lenore his arm to show her around the room, a whole new flurry of gossip started up.
“I was wondering how you boys were going to manage the hand-off,” Lenore laughed, shaking her head.
“You thought there would be a hand-off?” Phin’s brow rose. He suddenly felt far happier than he should have with dozens of whispers giving birth to a bevy of rumors around him.
“Of course,” Lenore shrugged. “Why settle for one scandal when you can have two, or three or eight or who knows how many? Freddy was bound to throw me over eventually, since we had no intention of marrying in the first place.”
“So why not toss another suitor into the mix?” Phin asked, keeping his voice low enough so that only she could hear it.
She sent him a smile that would have been scintillating and clever under any other circumstances. “I see you know the way of these things.”
“I do,” he answered.
They were bantering, teasing each other. It could have been charming and arousing. They could have baited each other, working each other into levels of desire that would have made it obscene for them to