“And a rogue of rogues!”
“As you are,” his sister returned.
He eyed her. “I know what you are at.”
“Do you? Right then, the question is, are you willing to allow the best thing that has ever happened to you to slip right through your fingers because you aren’t making a push to have it?”
“You have no notion what you are about,” he returned softly.
“Yes, I do. What I want for you to do is to ask yourself just what you will do if Felicia makes a match of it with someone you cannot fault. What then?”
“No one is good enough for her,” he answered and sighed.
“No? And you know that is false. What will you do when you are no longer her guardian? It ends in a week’s time. Your part will be at an end, you know, but, never mind. I have told Felicia I want her to stay on with Freddy and me and see the season to its conclusion,” Daffy answered. She then greeted her husband, who nodded to the duke, took her hands, and led her into the dance.
As it happened, the duke noted that James Reinhart had at that moment approached the Jersey. He watched as the Jersey looked at Felicia and nodded. Damn Reinhart’s soul!
Even as the cotillion ended and the waltz began, Reinhart was there, stopping Felicia from leaving the dance floor as he bent over her hand.
“Bloody hell!” the duke said out loud.
* * *
Felicia dimpled at Reinhart and hoped with all her heart that her duke was watching, for the handsome rogue before her had bowed low to say, “This waltz is promised to me.”
“Oh no, my lord,” she started to object. “This is a waltz, and it is promised to no one, not even you.”
“Ah, but I secured the Jersey’s permission to lead you onto the floor,” he said and offered his hand.
She looked towards the Jersey, who nodded to her, and turned back to laugh and say, “Well then, lead on.” She liked James Reinhart. He was entertaining, handsome, and experienced in many things, but he was not Ashton.
He made light banter with her as he moved her around the dance floor and quite a number of heads remarked upon it, for, like the duke, he was not known to bother with the debutantes.
As he twirled her on the floor, Felicia was aware of this and smiled up at his good-looking face and told him, “I am so very glad that my first waltz at Almack’s under everyone’s eye is with you.”
“Are you?” he said in a low and husky voice. “Why?”
“Well, yes. I think you know enough to cover up any clumsy step I might make.”
He threw back his head and roared with amusement. “You are a delight, Felicia, and are far too perfect to take one clumsy step.”
“Oh, well, when you have known me longer, you will see the truth to my words,” she said on a light laugh.
“I mean to know you better, much better,” he told her, and his gaze was intense.
She didn’t want the flirtation to go any further. He was dipping into waters that were too wild for her. To dally lightly was one thing; to take it to the next plane was quite another. She thought it best to ignore his remark and tell him, “Do you know those little sandwiches have left me starving. They are bite-size and watercress! That is another thing about Almack’s they should repair. It wants food.”
He threw back his head and laughed out loud.
* * *
The duke watched the two on the dance floor, and something inside him churned. What it was, he couldn’t say, but it was driving him mad with irritation.
Freddy had returned with his sister and was quietly flirting with his wife when the duke could hold back no longer and blurted out, “That devil is dallying with my ward. I think I shall go put a stop to it.”
“If you look more closely, I think you will see that he appears to be in earnest,” his sister returned quietly. “But do as you must.”
Freddy flicked a speck of invisible something from his black velvet and eyed his brother-in-law. “If it were Daffy and that bloke was openly flirting with her … I would do something about it.”