“Yes.”
“Yes?” His eyebrows shot up. “You will stay safely at home and allow me to go by myself?”
“Wrong, my lord. I said yes, you cannot convince me to stay home.”
“I should have known.”
They continued their stroll, stopping to speak with various people. Soon a waltz began, and William took her by the hand and led her to the dance floor.
Things were becoming a bit different between her and William. Comfortable. Although at the beginning she had been troubled by her body’s reaction to him, she was growing accustomed to it and had started to look forward to it.
“Isn’t that Mr. Davidson?” Amy nodded in the direction of two men who seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument.
“Yes. And that’s his friend, Mr. Rawlings.”
“They don’t look too friendly now, do they?”
While keeping up with the music, they continued to watch the men, whose quarrel began to draw attention. Mr. Rawlings threw his hands up in the air and stormed off. After a minute or two, Mr. Davidson followed him out.
“Well, that was certainly interesting,” William said.
“Oh, I also forgot to tell you about my visit with Miss Gertrude. Aunt Margaret and I made a call there. We were the only visitors, and while I wouldn’t say the ladies were rude in any way, I didn’t get the feeling that we were very welcomed. They made it a point to mention that they were not holding morning calls that day.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“One thing I thought noteworthy was that Miss Gertrude had scratches on her face. It made me think of the person who attempted to steal the ledger and then ran through the woods and stumbled.”
“You think it was Miss Gertrude?” He seemed to think for a minute. “That’s fascinating. I never considered that our shooter could have been a woman.”
“I’m not saying it was, only that the scratches on her face brought that to my attention.”
“Did you ask her about them?”
“Yes. She mentioned a cat that wanders her neighborhood that they feed on occasion. She said the animal scratched her.”
The music came to an end, and William walked her to where Aunt Margaret stood with Lord Pembroke, Lady Wethington, and Mr. Colbert.
“Must he stay by her side all night?” William groused.
Amy grinned. “You are by my side most nights.” She stumbled and sucked in a breath, heat rising to her face at the image her statement produced. “I mean most nights at the Assembly.”
He had the nerve to grin at her discomfort. “That’s different.”
They had already made it to the group, so Amy did not pursue the conversation and hoped the redness of her face would diminish before anyone noticed.
“Wethington, I just invited your mother to attend the theater with me Friday next,” Mr. Colbert said. “Would you and Lady Amy care to join us?”
“As a chaperone?” William muttered under his breath. Amy nudged him in the middle with her elbow.
“I love the theater,” Amy said, turning to William.
He sighed, obviously feeling trapped. “Yes. Of course we would love to attend.” He looked about as happy as he did each time she brought Persephone with her on one of their jaunts.
“Lady Margaret, would you care to join us as well?” It appeared Mr. Colbert was going to make it a group outing.
Lord Pembroke spoke up. “I’m afraid Lady Margaret and I already have plans for next Friday.”
All heads turned toward her aunt, who looked back at them as if daring them to ask questions.