‘Miss Linton!’
I whirled at the sound of someone calling my name - but it wasn’t Dalgliesh. It wasn’t Morty, either.
‘Captain Carter!’
The British Army captain gave me his favourite cheeky grin, and did a little bow that was anything but respectful. He was one of the few males on this planet that I could actually tolerate.
‘Miss Linton. What a pleasure to see you. And how is your aunt? Still happily nasty, I trust?’
And remarks like this were the reason for my tolerance.
‘Nastier than ever before, thank you. Avoid her at all costs.’
‘I shall do my best.’
‘How is our mutual friend, Sir Philip?’
Captain Carter pointed over to where a tall, lanky figure with oversized ears and a rather impressive nose was dancing with a wispy blonde, his eye dazed with adoration. ‘In love. How else?’
‘That makes how many times this month? Four?’
‘Five.’
‘My, my, he is in good form.’
‘It’s the spring air, I’m sure.’
Behind us, the musicians struck up the tune of a lively dance. Captain Carter extended his hand. ‘Well, Miss Linton? Would you like to dance?’
I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Yes!’
Unlike the torture sessions on the dance floor with other members of the male species, I actually liked dancing with Captain Carter. He was one of the few men I had met whose hands didn’t wander, and who truly seemed to enjoy the dance itself, not the groping. He helped me enjoy it, too, a thing I would not have believed possible before I’d met him.
Plus, while I was dancing in the middle of the ballroom in the hard, muscled arms of a British Army captain with a shiny sabre at his side, the chances of my being forcibly abducted by Lord Dalgliesh seemed relatively slim.
The first dance started. It was a quadrille - definitely
not my favourite, but Captain Carter made it bearable. He never pushed me around, never took his eyes off my face, and didn’t even mind when my foot occasionally landed on his, which, in this case, happened purely by accident, I swear. After two rounds through the ballroom, just when I was starting to get comfortable, the captain nodded sideways to somewhere out of my field of vision.
‘Dear me. I think I have a rival for your affections.’
I gaped at him. ‘What?’
‘Look over there.’
Turning with the music, I followed his nod with my eyes and what I saw drove the captain’s words right out of my mind. There, in the shadow of a column, stood Lord Daniel Eugene Dalgliesh.
I had been doubtful before as to whether Lord Dalgliesh would permit me to leave. But looking at him, standing there like that, staring at me, I knew. I could see the bleak truth in his eyes.
‘That man has been staring at you ever since we started dancing,’ the captain’s voice drifted to my ears from far, far away. ‘Any idea who he is?’
‘No,’ I lied. ‘No idea at all.’
The dance drifted to a close around us. Halting our moves, Captain Carter dismissed Dalgliesh with a shrug and smiled down at me. ‘Well, I can’t blame him for staring.’
I stomped on his foot. This time, it wasn’t by accident.
‘Ouch!’ His grin widened. ‘Not in a good mood tonight, are we?’