Sabrina nodded. She felt a stab of disappointment as she watched him make his way to the patronesses to bid them good night.
“It would appear,” Mrs. Drummond Burrell said toward the viscount’s retreating figure, “that his lordship managed to escape with his hide intact. A pity. I should have liked to see him tested.”
“I must say that Miss Elliott doesn’t look happy,” Lady Jersey said. “Yes, a drama would have been enlivening tonight. A pity.”
“At least the girl has the good sense not to dash after him,” Countess Lieven said. Like the other two ladies, she’d hoped for just the opposite.
“Oh, dear,” Lady Jersey said behind her fan. “Miss Elliott has decided to meet her rival. Oh, how I wish we were closer.”
Teresa, a firm smile planted on her mouth, was saying, “Dear Lady Barresford. How delightful to see you again. My mama surely would have sent her best regards if she’d had the faintest notion that I would be speaking to you.”
Sabrina turned about at Miss Elliott’s words. What an incredibly lovely girl, she thought. She dismissed Phillip from her mind for the moment, promising herself that when she saw him on Monday, she’d flatten his ears. Her aunt had told her what he had done. Three waltzes. However had he managed to keep a straight face? He was trying to compromise her again. Why? She’d released him. He was free. Why didn’t he bless her and run as fast as he could?
“. . . And this is Wilfred, my brother, my lady.”
Wilfred of the dreamy eyes, Sabrina thought. She watched him bow. It was odd how he was eyeing his sister who was now staring at her. There was no smile on her face.
Lady Barresford nodded pleasantly toward the uneasy Wilfred. “Sabrina, this is Teresa Elliott and her brother, Wilfred.”
After polite greetings, Teresa said in a voice brimming with gaiety, “Do let me take Sabrina from you for a few minutes, my lady. I should like to get to know her better.”
Wilfred opened his mouth to say something, but Teresa said quickly, “Why don’t you dance with Miss Ainsley, Will. She’s standing over there next to that woman who must weigh at least eighteen stone.”
Sabrina smiled at the perfectly blank expression on Wilfred’s face.
“But I don’t—”
“Yes, you do,” Teresa said firmly, and actually shoved him in Miss Ainsley’s direction.
Teresa turned back to Sabrina. “Don’t keep my niece too long, Miss Elliott, for there are many other gentlemen she needs to meet.”
“Certainly not,” Teresa said and took Sabrina’s arm. Her hold was strong.
“You’re new to London,” she said, sitting very close to the interloper on a small settee just behind a palm tree.
“Yes, I have been with my aunt but a week.”
“I saw you dancing with Viscount Derencourt, Miss Barresford.”
“My name is Eversleigh.”
“Ah yes, Miss Eversleigh. Was dear Phillip giving you lessons?”
“Well, no, actually, I love to waltz and he is so very good at it.”
“I don’t suppose you realized that three waltzes will make everyone question your good sense? Your sense of propriety?”
Sabrina, who had been openly admiring this lovely girl, now wondered what was going on here. “No, I didn’t realize it. Phillip was playing a jest on me.”
“You call him Phillip? How long have you known the viscount, Miss Eversleigh?”
“Not very long. But he’s a good friend.”
“A good friend doesn’t play fast and loose with a girl’s reputation.”
The good friend does if he wants the girl to marry him, Sabrina wanted to say, but didn’t.
Teresa’s eyes widened as memory suddenly fell into place. “Eversleigh, did you say?” Her heart began to pound. It couldn’t be, no, she couldn’t be that lucky. She cleared her throat. She had to tread carefully. “I don’t suppose that you just arrived from Yorkshire, Miss Eversleigh?”