James. She’d forgotten ’twas his name. It fit him well. Yet she’d grown so fond of his surname she hadn’t the heart to discontinue the use of it.
“Quite a gathering.” He pivoted and gestured to the groups of threes and fours dotting the vast space.
His presence allowed her spiked nerves to dull their edges, and she breathed more freely. “Indeed.”
Taking a sip, he offered a handsome sideways grin. “I have yet to see such an estate as this outside of Boston.” His brow bent slightly, eyes keen, as if he were looking for someone before he turned back to her. “And in so small a town. Remarkable.”
“I agree.” Hannah’s tension eased from her shoulders at the welcome conversation he offered.
Again he took a sip and glanced from one side of the room to the other, allowing Hannah a long look at the missing section of his ear. It seemed to fit him—rough and harsh as it was—proof of his fearless soldiering nature. His red coat was pristine, every polished buckle and clasp reflecting the bright glow of the candles that surrounded them. For someone so tall, and of such a rank, he carried an easiness about him. Yet there was a cloaked alertness that never rested. His eyes ever watching, his spine ever straight.
“Oh, there you are, my dear.”
Dottie’s arrival signaled the end of Hannah’s blessed quiet.
Round and bouncing with exuberance, the woman seemed to gain in mirth as the evening wore on. “I was searching for you, and here you are.”
Higley tossed Hannah a smile, a single eyebrow bobbing as he stepped aside for the woman to come between them.
Her vision was planted at Hannah’s face. “You left dinner so early I was beginning to—Oh! Higley! My, my…how dashing you look. Doesn’t he look dashing?” Eyes wide, she lowered her chin at Hannah, expecting an immediate answer in the affirmative.
Hannah licked her lips, allowing herself a moment to mold a proper response before opening her mouth. “Captain Higley is most kind. And most handsome.”
The declaration she offered Higley was taken as she’d hoped—a friendly gesture and nothing more. He responded with a gentle grin before turning his attention fully on the woman who seemed intent upon matchmaking.
“Mrs. Pitman, what a hostess you are. I am sure I have never attended such a ball as this.”
Clever. He turned the conversation to her.
“And you have ordered such magnificent refreshments. This wine is extraordinary.”
“Oh.”
Dottie’s cheeks pinked, and she appeared more the smitten schoolgirl than a married woman as she giggled. Perhaps she had taken a bit too much of the wine already herself.
“Well, the music will begin soon, and I do think the two of you would make elegant dance partners.”
Hannah grinned and glanced away. She would be pleased to have Higley take her hand, though she could hardly be the one to second the suggestion. The thought of Stockton once again standing opposite her made her belly want to cast up what few bites she’d taken. He’d looked at her with such intensity the first few dances she could almost feel the touch of his stare on her skin.
“What do you say, Miss Young?”
Higley’s voice tempted her gaze back up, and for the first time that evening, she smiled with real meaning. There was knowing in his eyes, as if he had read the reluctance in her posture and wished to calm it. Relief massaged away the knots in her neck. What manner of man was he?
“Thank you, Higley. I would be—”
“Captain Higley, there you are.”
Hannah’s stomach rolled to her feet when Stockton strode through the crowd and joined them.
Higley bowed. “Good evening, sir.”
“Ladies.” Stockton grinned at them before aiming his glare at his captain. “Higley, there is someone I should like you to meet.”
He stepped aside, and Philo took the empty space, grin wide and feigned as ever.
What was he doing here? Bile crept up Hannah’s throat, and she grit her teeth, breathing carefully through her nose. Dearest Lord, I cannot endure yet another tribulation.
“This is Reverend Philo Young, Miss Young’s father.” Stockton turned to Dottie. “Do forgive me, Dottie. I took it upon myself to issue him an invitation, as I figured you would be—”