“Aurelia?”
She looked up as Rosalie entered the room. Her sister-in-law sank down on the couch beside her and covered her hand with her own. “Are you well? You left the dance floor rather suddenly.”
She nodded. “I’m fine.”
“You were dancing with Camden.” Rosalie searched her face, apparently waiting for her to contribute something on that topic.
Aurelia winced. “Yes, well, he asked me—” She stopped with a deep, bracing breath. He hadn’t precisely asked her. He simply snatched her up and hauled her onto the dance floor—and that was only so that she couldn’t dance with Buckston. She winced at that reminder. The man lived to thwart her. There could be no other reason for his behavior.
“You parted his company rather hurriedly. Did he say something to offend you?” Rosalie’s reddish brows furrowed tightly. “Did you two have another quarrel?”
She shook her head, although she supposed they had quarreled. When did they not? “He took exception with Mr. Mackenzie.” Familiar anger nipped at her as she replayed his words in her mind. “He thinks he’s unsuitable.”
Rosalie leaned back and lifted both eyebrows. “Indeed?” A beat of silence followed as she studied Aurelia’s face. “Interesting . . .”
“How is that interesting?” She knotted her hands in her lap.
“Well, that he should care is interesting. Is it not?”
She snorted. “I’m certain it’s pure contrariness. Or some misguided sense of brotherly obligation.”
Rosalie tossed her head back and laughed loudly.
Aurelia frowned at her and sent a self-conscious glance to the other two ladies, who were now openly staring.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Forgive me, Aurelia.” Rosalie forced down her laughter, dabbing at her eyes. Inhaling a sobering breath, she leveled a steady gaze on Aurelia. “That man is not like a brother to you.”
A flash of him closing in and pressing against her made her flush and shift her weight on the couch. There had been nothing brotherly about him in that moment, true. “Perhaps,” she allowed, and then shrugged.
“Not in the least.” Rosalie nodded decisively.
“My brother is far kinder,” she agreed. “As is Dec.” There was by far too much hostility between Max and her. Although sabotaging her attempts to make a match seemed malicious even for him. Why should he care what she did with her life?
Rosalie reached up and smoothed the tension lines in Aurelia’s forehead with gentle fingertips. “Come now. Don’t scowl so. You look ravishing this evening. I’m sure all the lads are missing you. Let’s go back out there, so that you can dance with them.”
Rolling her eyes, she permitted Rosalie to lead her from the room, not bothering to contradict her. They wove through the crowded ballroom once again. Aurelia kept an eye out for Buckston, fully intending to honor her promise to dance with him.
“Ah, look. Speak of the devil. It’s Camden.”
Even as a part of her willed herself not to look, she felt herself turning. Felt her gaze tracking across the crowded room until she spotted him.
He moved with purposeful strides across the ballroom, weaving between dancing couples. She and Rosalie weren’t the only ones watching him. He cut a fine figure. People stared after him. Women and men alike. He was that handsome, that tall and virile in his dark evening attire. The consummate rake, he was a rare sight in ballrooms of the ton.
At that thought, she angled her head. Why was he here? Polite Society functions were not his forte. Aside from her family’s gatherings, he eschewed the balls and routs that occupied so many of her nights. Places such as these, events such as this, they were not for him. Sodom was for him.