"Er, no. Perfect." He scarcely knew where to look with the tops of her creamy orbs peeping out at him so invitingly. Tonight was going to be torture. "Surely you will need a shawl?" he suggested, trying to swallow past the lump in his throat.
"I have it here," she said. "Can you help me?"
His hands trembled visibly as he wrapped the thin sapphire tulle around her. If anything it enhanced rather than concealed.
As soon as he got to Lady Pemberton's he went into the refreshment room and gulped down a cup of punch.
"It's like, that is it?" Thomas Eltham said with a laugh as he came up behind him.
"You wouldn't believe the day and evening I've had."
"Your ward leading you a merry dance?"
"No, Rosalie Crane Stanton, actually."
Thomas's face closed up. "She's gone beyond the bounds of common sense. I can only begin to guess what she's done."
"I doubt it." Blake told him succinctly.
The Duke's eyes grew wider and wider. At the end of the narrative, he said, "Egad, this is worse than anything I could have imagined. Rest assured that I will deny any gossip that comes my way."
"Thank you. I really do appreciate your friendship. And Philip's," he added, seeing him trying to keep Arabella entertained without making it too obvious that he was holding the other swains at bay.
But he never touched her, and never seemed to flirt or say anything she objected to. He would be a good match for her, he had to admit.
His friend spoke, almost as if he could read his thoughts. "Philip is a good man on the whole, but he has a checkered past, even worse than your family scandal in many senses. He's had a hard life. I can't blame him for any of his choices in the past. I do blame him a bit for being a rake now, though.
"Philip is not for Arabella. Not for any woman at present. He is a very angry young man. It's going to take a very special woman to love and redeem him. No, I'm afraid there's no help for it. You love Arabella, and she loves you. Marry her, for pity's sake, and have done with it."
Blake began to protest, but Thomas shook his head. "I know you only too well. You can hide it from her, even yourself, but not from me. Or people who are astute enough to see the way you look at each other."
"But Peter would never-"
"What, forgive you for making his sister happy? Oh, I think he would. Do you not imagine he might have hoped for this turn of events to come about as a result? Peter is no fool."
Blake's eyes widened in surprise. "No, surely he would not have-"
"He will be away for some time. He would have wanted to be sure Arabella would be protected and happy. I can't think of any woman of our acquaintance who would suit you better."
Blake nodded and sighed. "But there may be plenty of other men who would suit her better."
"But she loves you. Loves you now. Charlotte and I took almost too long to admit how we felt, and I nearly lost her. Don't make the same mistake. It's been a month, and I can see you love her more with every passing day. Don't worry about convention in this instance. If you love her, marry her."
He sighed. "I need to settle all of my affairs in Somerset first, with the Jeromes."
"You will of course come to stay with us when you do, and the townhouse in Bath is always at your disposal. Just send a note round to the servants the day before and they will try to make you comfortable."
"I'm sure they'll do more than try. Thank you for the offer and the words of advice. But I need to be left to my own discretion in so weighty a matter."
Thomas bowed. "Yes, of course, I quite understand. Just remember, you must be careful. There will be enough people angry about your love for her to try to pull the two of you asunder. One of them is coming this way now."
Blake prayed it was not Rosalie. He had already seen enough of her. More than enough, he thought with a shudder.
But no, it was Leonore.
"I see Philip and Adam have supplanted you already in Arabella's affections. Well, she is young, and wants someone with a bit more verve, joie de vivre. What girl that age wants to be tied down to a man so much older?"
He tried to ignore the pointed barb, though it was not something he had not already said to himself a hundred times.
She sidled closer to him. "And what do you think she would say if I told her-"
"She knows," Blake lied, and instantly regretted the fib.
Leonore's sharp eye detected the dissimulation at once. "Ah. So you haven't told her yet."
"Even if she knew, it would make no difference. She is my ward only," he said with what he hoped was sufficient conviction.