She shook her head at him.
‘I am perfectly content, my lord, everyone is very kind.’
‘Truly?’ He looked at her closely. ‘We have never before been in company like this; it has given rise to speculation.’
She sipped the wine, her green eyes twinkling.
‘There has always been gossip, my lord. And if there is any speculation about us, they are all too polite to raise the matter in my hearing.’
Randall grimaced. His fellow officers had not been so circumspect with him this evening. They had looked at him askance when he had introduced her, and when she had moved off they had been frankly sceptical of his explanation that Miss Endacott was no more than an acquaintance. He had ignored the sly glances and curtailed the lewd jokes with a haughty stare, but it irked him that they should immediately assume the worst of her, merely because she was a schoolmistress.
‘I should not have brought you here,’ he muttered.
But if he had not, then they would have driven back to the Rue Haute and he would have been obliged to leave her at the door, when what he wanted to do was to sweep her off to bed and make love to her. By heaven, it was becoming more and more difficult not to do so. The touch of her hand sent the heat hammering through his body once more, but it did recall his wandering thoughts.
‘I am glad we came,’ she was saying, smiling up at him in a way that made him want to kiss her. ‘We are friends, are we not? I would not like to think that you are ashamed of me.’
‘Ashamed? Confound it, Mary, you are as good as any woman here, and better than many of them. I wish I could—’
She put up her hand to stop him and for an instant he saw something cloud her eyes, like a shadow of pain, but when she spoke her voice was calm and light.
‘We are agreed, are we not? Friendship is all we can offer each other. Pray, Randall, let us not spoil our last evening. Off you go. Enjoy talking with your fellow officers and leave me to amuse myself.’
* * *
Mary sent him away. He would never know how much it cost her to speak and act so cheerfully. It took all her will power not to cling to his arm and keep him by her side. She watched him walk away, noting his straight back, his broad shoulders, his noble bearing. She loved everything about him.
A sudden chill ran through her, like ice in her blood. Love? Is that what she felt for this abrupt, disdainful soldier? No, no, it could not be. Attraction, yes, and lust. Liking even, but nothing more. Yet when she remembered how low, how empty she felt when he was not with her, she wondered if perhaps she was deceiving herself. Mary quickly stifled all such disquieting thoughts, fixed her smile in place and turned her attention to the lady who was even now addressing her.
* * *
And so the evening went on. Mary and Randall went their separate ways around the crowded room, talking, smiling, joining little groups to listen to opinions and sometimes give their own. Occasionally they would meet then cheerfully move on, as if they truly were the friends they claimed to be. Mary did her part, holding up her head proudly as she explained to the ladies that she ran her own school, moving away from those who clearly thought she had no place in their gathering and conversing with those who were more liberal-minded. One part of her—the business side—realised that such contacts might prove useful to her school in the future.
That cold, bleak future without Randall.
* * *
It was well after midnight and Mary was growing tired. She was wondering how much longer the evening would continue, whether she might seek out Randall and suggest she should make her own way home when she heard her name.
‘Miss Endacott, ain’t it?’
A cavalry officer was standing behind her. There was something familiar about his carefully windswept hair and black moustache. She had seen him at the review, but that day his cheeks had not been quite so red, despite the sun and the heat. He was bowing low, affording her an excellent view of his black pomaded curls.
‘Colonel Bennington Ffog, at your service, ma’am. Delighted to see that Randall has brought you into company at last.’
‘Yes, thank you.’ She could think of nothing more to say to this, but the colonel appeared not to need any encouragement. He put his hand under her elbow and guided her through the crowd.
‘Always a dashed crush, these affairs, what? I believe you are a schoolteacher, ma’am.’
‘Yes, I own an academy.’
‘An academy, eh?’
‘Yes. For young ladies.’
‘No young men?’ His eyes gleamed in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. ‘By Jove, I would enjoy being a pupil in your class, ma’am. I can see why Randall is so enamoured.’
‘I’m afraid I do not understand you, Colonel.’