Storm and Silence (Storm and Silence #1) - Robert Thier Page 0,44

nice-looking I had met recently and was determined not to think of again tonight.

Darn! I had done it again! But how was I supposed to think about not thinking about him without thinking about him?

‘…and this lovely lady?’ The voice directly in front of me pulled me from my thoughts. Sir Philip was standing before me, smiling his uncertain smile.

I opened my mouth to speak. ‘I am-’

‘That is my niece Lillian, Sir Philip,’ my aunt interrupted me hastily and gave me her best don’t-you-say-another-word-if-you-want-to-live-stare. Bugger! I had forgotten again. Introduction. You couldn’t just speak to someone you didn’t know, you had to be introduced first.

‘Delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Linton.’ Sir Philip bowed, took my fingers and before I could do anything to prevent it, planted a soft, moist kiss on the back of my hand.

Eww!

I tried to wipe my hand unobtrusively on my dress while Sir Philip went on to Ella.

‘And who is this lovely lady?’ he asked. It seemed to be his standard sentence when seeing any previously unknown female. But then, as he took in Ella’s delicate face, demure smile and fair skin, his behaviour abruptly deviated from the norm and his face was suffused by a deep blush.

‘My niece Ella, Sir Phillip,’ said my aunt, while Anne and Maria were competing in an ocular archery match, shooting venomous glances at Ella.

He took her hand, too, and placed a kiss on in. ‘Delighted to make your acquaintance,’ he said, and it sounded like this time he really meant it. His eyes, as he looked at Ella, appeared slightly misty as if someone had hit him on the head with a wooden club. Why was he staring at her like that?

Oh no… not that. Not he of all people…

Ella, much too intimidated by the fact that she was being spoken to by a member of the male population to actually say anything in reply, just curtsied in silence, looking up at the knight as if he were a lion that might eat her any minute. She didn’t notice his dreamy gaze. But I had. Oh yes, I had.

Sir Philip bowed to and greeted the rest of us. As soon as he was finished with Gertrude, though, he returned to stand beside my aunt, which coincidentally was also next to where Ella was standing. Anne and Maria, who, for two pretty young ladies, remarkably resembled gorgons[19] at that moment, moved closer.

‘It will still be some time till the dancing begins,’ said Sir Philip, speaking to my aunt, though he was looking at Ella out of the corner of his eye. ‘Would you like me to introduce you to a few people?’

He could not have pleased my aunt more if he had asked whether he should gift her with the largest diamond in his jewel collection. To be introduced into the highest of London’s high society, and by a member of the nobility no less, and with all her six expensive, unwanted and unmarried nieces in tow to show off to the rich bachelors of the metropole - it was every one of her dreams come true at once.

She concealed her rapture well, however, and simply curtsied, saying: ‘It would be my pleasure, Sir Philip.’

‘Excellent! Then follow me, please.’

Accompanied by a swarm of servants, which I soon gave up trying to number, we were led across the ballroom to a large group of people talking and laughing in quiet tones. They were rich, stinking rich, every single one of them. I immediately disliked them. They apparently, on beholding the makeshift ball gowns of my sisters and me, shared that feeling. Wilkins didn’t seem to notice how they looked at us with their aristocratic nostrils instead of their eyes. He rushed forward and launched into a veritable storm of introductions. It wasn’t long till I had forgotten half the names he had mentioned. There were some dukes and duchesses, various lords, and finally an untold number of misters and madams. None of them particularly aroused my interest, except for an older woman whom Wilkins introduced as Lady Metcalf. I tried to remember where I had heard the name before - then I had it!

‘We have a mutual acquaintance, your Ladyship,’ I said, curtsying.

‘Do we really?’ She stared at me with her nostrils like all the other ones - only in her case the nostrils were particularly impressive: large, weathered and with little hairs sticking out at the bottom that vibrated whenever she sniffed in disdain. As she did now.

‘Yes, we