‘I beg your pardon, madam.’
He spoke slowly but did not drawl, his voice deep and rich and it wrapped around Eloise like a warm cloak, sending a tiny frisson of excitement running down her spine. Really, she must pull herself together!
‘Pray think nothing of it, sir…’
‘But I must, Lady Allyngham.’
She had been enjoying the sound of his voice, running over her like honey, but at the use of her name she gave a little start.
‘You know who I am?’
He gave her a slow smile. Eloise wondered if she had taken too much wine, for all at once she felt a little dizzy.
‘You were described to me as the most beautiful woman in the room.’
She had thought herself immune to flattery, but she was inordinately pleased by his words. She did not know whether to be glad or sorry when she felt Alex’s hand under her elbow.
‘Shall we get on, my lady?’
‘Yes,’ she said, her eyes still fixed upon the smiling stranger. ‘Yes, I suppose we must.’
Really, she felt quite light-headed. Just how many glasses of wine had she taken?
The stranger was standing aside. The candlelight gleamed on his black hair and one glossy raven’s lock fell forwards as he bowed to her. Eloise quelled an impulse to reach out and smooth it back from his temple.
Alex firmly propelled her through the doorway and across the hall to the supper room.
‘Who is he?’ she hissed, glancing back over her shoulder. The stranger was still watching her, a dark, unfathomable look in his eyes.
‘I have no idea,’ said Alex, guiding her to a table. ‘But you should be careful, Elle. I saw the way he looked at you. It was pure, predatory lust.’
She sighed. ‘That is true of so many men.’
‘Which is why I am here,’ replied Alex. ‘To protect you.’
She reached for his hand.
‘Dear Alex. Do you never tire of looking after me?’
‘It is what Tony would have wished,’ he said simply, adding with a rueful grin, ‘besides, if you had not dragged me to London, I should be alone in Norfolk, pining away.’
‘And that would never do.’ She smiled and squeezed his hand. ‘Thank you, my friend.’
When supper was over, Eloise sent Alex away.
‘Try if you can to discover if Lord Berrow plans to attend,’ she begged him. ‘If he does not, then we need not stay much beyond midnight. Although I think you must do the pretty and dance with some of the other ladies in the room.’
‘I must?’
His pained look drew a laugh from her.
‘Yes, you must, Alex. You cannot sit in my pocket all night. Several of the young ladies are already looking daggers at me for keeping you by my side for half the evening. You need not be anxious about me; I have seen several acquaintances I wish to talk to.’
When he had gone, Eloise moved around the room, bestowing her smiles freely but never stopping, nor would she promise to dance with any of the gentlemen who begged for that honour. Her eyes constantly ranged over the room, but it was not an acquaintance she was seeking. It was a dark-haired stranger she had seen but once.
Suddenly he was beside her.
‘Will you dance, my lady?’
She hesitated.
‘Sir, we have not been introduced.’
‘Does that matter?’
A little bubble of laughter welled up. All at once she felt quite reckless. She held out her hand.
‘No, it does not matter one jot.’
He led her to join the set that was forming.
‘I thought you would never escape your guard dog.’
‘Mr Mortimer is my very good friend. He defends me from unwelcome attentions.’
‘Oh? Am I to understand, then, that my attentions are not unwelcome?’
Eloise hesitated. This encounter was moving a little too fast and for once she was not in control. She said cautiously, ‘I think you would be presumptuous to infer so much.’
His smile grew and he leaned a little closer.
‘Yet you refused to stand up with the last four gentlemen who solicited your hand.’
‘Ah, but I have danced with them all before. I like the novelty of a new partner.’ She smiled as the dance parted them, pleased to see the gleam of interest in his eyes.
‘And does my dancing please you, my lady?’ he asked as soon as they joined hands again.
‘For the moment,’ she responded airily.
‘I agree,’ he said, his eyes glinting. ‘I can think of much more pleasant things to do for the remainder of the evening.’
She blushed hotly and was relieved that they parted again and she was not obliged to answer.
Eloise began to wonder if she had been wise to dance with this stranger: she was disturbed by his effect upon her. Goodness, he had only to smile and she found herself behaving like a giddy schoolgirl! She must end this now, before the intoxication became too great. When the music drew to a close she gave a little curtsy and stepped away. Her partner followed.
‘I know I have not been in town for a while,’ he said, ‘but it is still customary to stand up for two dances, I believe.’
She put up her chin.
‘I will not pander to your vanity, sir. One dance is sufficient for you, until we have been introduced.’
She flicked open her fan and with a little smile she walked away from him.
Alex was waiting for her.
‘Our host tells me Lord Berrow has sent his apologies for tonight. He is gone out of town. However, Parham expects to see him at the Renwicks’ soirée tomorrow.’
‘How very tiresome,’ said Eloise. ‘If we had known we need not have come.’ She tucked her hand in his arm. ‘Let us go now.’
‘Are you sure? You will disappoint any number of gentlemen if you leave now: they all hope to stand up with you at least once.’
Eloise shrugged. If she could not dance with her dark stranger she did not want to dance with anyone.
‘There will be other nights.’
She concentrated on disposing her diaphanous stole across her shoulders rather than meet Alex’s intent gaze.
‘What has occurred, Elle? I mislike that glitter in your eyes. Did your last partner say anything to upset you?’
She dismissed his concern with a wave of one gloved hand.
‘No, no, nothing like that. He was a diversion, nothing more.’
‘He was very taken with you.’
‘Did you think so?’ she asked him, a little too eagerly.
Alex frowned.
‘Does it matter to you that he should?’
Eloise looked away,
‘No, of course not. But it is very flattering.’ She tried for a lighter note. ‘He was very amusing.’
Alex looked back across the room to where the tall stranger was standing against the wall, watching them.
‘I think,’ he said slowly, ‘that he could be very dangerous.’
‘Hell and damnation!’
Jack watched Lady Allyngham walk away on Mortimer’s arm.
It would not have taken much to have Parham present him to the lady. That had been his design when he had first arrived, but the sight of Eloise Allyngham had wiped all intentions, good or bad, from his mind.
He had carried Allyngham’s locket with him for the past year and was well acquainted with the tiny portrait inside, but he had been taken aback when he saw the lady herself. The painting only hinted at the glorious abundance of guinea-gold curls that framed her face. It had not prepared him for her dazzling smile, nor the look of humour and intelligence he observed in her deep blue eyes.
He had intended to find the lady, to hand over the bequests and retire gracefully, but then Lady Allyngham had collided with him and when she had turned her laughing face to his, every sensible thought had flown out of his head. He had prowled the room until she returned from the supper room and by then his host was nowhere to be seen, so Jack seized the moment and asked her to dance. He should have told her why he was there, but he could not resist the temptation to flirt with her, to bring that delicious flush to her cheeks and to see the elusive dimple peeping beside her generous mouth.
He pulled himself together. It had been a very pleasant interlude but he had a duty to perform. He sought out his hostess.
‘Lady Allyngham?’ She looked a little bemused when he made his request. ‘My dear Major, I would happily introduce you to her, if it were in my power, but she is gone.’
‘Gone!’
‘Why, yes, she took her leave of me a few minutes ago. Mr Mortimer was escorting her back to Dover Street.’ She gave him a knowing smile. ‘He is a very attentive escort.’
Disappointment seared through Jack. He tried to convince himself that it was because he wanted to hand over Tony’s ring and locket and get out of London, but he knew in his heart that it was because he wanted to see Eloise Allyngham again.
Jack took his leave and made his way to St James’s Street, where he was admitted into an imposing white stone building by a liveried servant. White’s was very busy and he paused for a while to watch a lively game of Hazard, refusing more than one invitation to join in. Later he wandered through to the card room where he soon spotted a number of familiar faces, some of whom he had seen in Lady Parham’s ballroom earlier that evening. A group of gentlemen were engaged in a game of bassett. One looked up and waved to him.
‘Had enough of the dancing, Clifton?’
Jack smiled. ‘Something like that, Renwick.’
He looked at the little group: Charles Renwick was an old friend and he recognised another, slightly older man, Edward Graham, who had been a friend of his father, but the others were strangers to him—with one exception, the dealer, a stocky man with a heavily pock-marked face and pomaded hair. Sir Ronald Deforge. A tremor of revulsion ran through Jack. At that moment the dealer looked up at him from beneath his heavy-lidded eyes. Jack saw the recognition in his glance and observed the contemptuous curl of the man’s thick lips. As he hesitated a gentleman with a florid face and bushy red side-whiskers shifted his chair to make room for him.