Storm and Silence (Storm and Silence #1) - Robert Thier Page 0,47

Well, if there was such a rule, it was complete bollocks.[20] I should have the right to choose not to dance with whomever I bloody well pleased!

Through a gap in the potted plants I could see Colonel Remington joining a few of his military friends - mostly younger officers. He was gesticulating quite energetically. No doubt he was conveying something he considered to be of some importance.

One of the young men laughed. ‘Maybe she just didn’t like the looks of you,’ he teased the elder gentleman.

My mouth dropped open. They were talking about me. Me! Well, at least that would ensure that I wouldn’t be bothered with any more invitations to dance this night. My lapse in courtesy would spread across the room like wildfire, and surely all those chauvinists would be revolted and shocked to the core. None of the men would even bother to give me a second glance after that.

‘I must have a look at that wench,’ the young officer continued with a wink, and my mouth dropped open a little farther. ‘Was she pretty?’

I couldn’t hear the Colonel’s more muted reply to this, but the young officer laughed again. ‘Come on, old boy, she must have been! And known it, too - quite a conceited little madam, to turn down an officer like that.’

He winked at the other young men around him and strode off. I could hardly believe that he was going to do what I thought he was going to do.

Nevertheless, when the dance had ended and the next one was approaching, I saw him striding towards me with a gait so pompous you could have identified him as a young military officer even if he had been missing his uniform, medals and underpants. He was accompanied by one of his friends who had already been introduced to me.

Both of them examined me not unlike one would examine a piece of meat on a butcher’s counter. I ignored them with magnificent composure and took another piece of solid chocolate from the plate beside me.

‘Miss Linton?’ Mr Familiar Soldier made an extravagant bow, and Mr Unfamiliar Soldier followed suit.

‘I don't know whether you remember me? I’m Major Rushworth. Sir Philip introduced us.’

I did not deign to reply immediately - after all, it was considered impolite to talk with your mouth full, wasn’t it? Instead, I finished my chocolate, and then plastered a smile on my face.

‘Sir Philip introduced me to a great many people,’ I replied sweetly. ‘Most of whom my unreliable memory has already unintroduced again. You, I’m afraid, are among them.’

It was half true. I had actually forgotten him. Nevertheless, my memory was usually very good - yet only for things I wanted to remember.

Major Rushworth blushed slightly but didn’t let that deter him.

‘Well, may I be permitted to introduce you to a friend of mine? To this gentleman, here, Lieutenant Ellingham.’

My eyes narrowed. I didn’t know much about etiquette, but I did know that the inferior person was always introduced to the superior. By deciding to introduce me to his friend and not the other way around, he had put me on a level below him. And that was something, considering the complacent smile on the lieutenant’s face, which I did not appreciate at all.

‘No, you may not,’ I told him. ‘But you may introduce him to me, if you like.’

‘Err…’

Apparently, at first the major didn’t quite know what to say to that. He gazed at me for a moment, then collected himself again, cleared his throat and went on: ‘Err… very well. Miss Linton, may I be allowed to introduce my friend Lieutenant Ellingham to your notice?’

‘Yes, you may.’ The smile on my face was widened a bit and I nodded graciously. ‘Delighted to make your acquaintance, Lieutenant Ellingham,’ I lied.

‘As am I,’ said the young man, whose arrogant smile had not in the least been reduced in radiance by my rebuff.

‘Well, I’ll leave you to it then,’ the Major said, throwing me another odd glance and then disappearing with an eye roll at his friend. I saw the message ‘It’s your funeral’ clearly in those eyes.

And he was right. It was.

Lieutenant Ellingham seated himself beside me. Taking the bull by the horns, I turned to him. Best to get this over with.

‘Well, what should we talk about, Lieutenant? The weather would be a good subject of discussion, if we were not inside and it was night.’

‘How about the society?’ he asked, gesturing towards the people dancing everywhere in the grand