“Good.” Anthony pushed himself up off the wall and gazed out with an air of determination. “Now, where is she? I need you to introduce us.”
Colin scanned the room for a minute or so, then said, “Ah, there she is. She’s coming this way, as a matter of fact. What a marvelous coincidence.”
Anthony was coming to believe that nothing within five yards of his younger brother was ever a coincidence, but he followed his gaze nonetheless. “Which one is she?”
“In the green,” Colin said, motioning toward her with a barely perceptible nod of his chin.
She was not at all what he’d expected, Anthony realized as he watched her pick her way through the crowds. She was certainly no ape-leading amazon; it was only when compared to Edwina, who barely touched five feet, that she would appear so tall. In fact, Miss Katharine Sheffield was quite pleasant-looking, with thick, medium brown hair and dark eyes. Her skin was pale, her lips pink, and she held herself with an air of confidence he could not help but find attractive.
She would certainly never be considered a diamond of the first water like her sister, but Anthony didn’t see why she shouldn’t be able to find a husband of her own. Perhaps after he married Edwina he’d provide a dowry for her. It seemed the very least a man could do.
Beside him, Colin strode forward, pushing through the crowd. “Miss Sheffield! Miss Sheffield!”
Anthony swept along in Colin’s wake, mentally preparing himself to charm Edwina’s older sister. An underappreciated spinster, was she? He’d have her eating out of his hand in no time.
“Miss Sheffield,” Colin was saying, “what a delight to see you again.”
She looked a bit perplexed, and Anthony didn’t blame her. Colin was making it sound as if they’d bumped into each other accidentally, when they all knew he’d trampled at least a half dozen people to reach her side.
“And it’s lovely to see you again as well, sir,” she replied wryly. “And so unexpectedly soon after our last encounter.”
Anthony smiled to himself. She had a sharper wit than he’d been led to believe.
Colin grinned winningly, and Anthony had the distinct and unsettling impression that his brother was up to something. “I can’t explain why,” Colin said to Miss Sheffield, “but it suddenly seemed imperative that I introduce you to my brother.”
She looked abruptly to Colin’s right and stiffened as her gaze settled on Anthony. In fact, she rather looked as if she’d just swallowed an antidote.
This, Anthony thought, was odd.
“How kind of you,” Miss Sheffield murmured—between her teeth.
“Miss Sheffield,” Colin continued brightly, motioning to Anthony, “my brother Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton. Anthony, Miss Katharine Sheffield. I believe you made the acquaintance of her sister earlier this evening.”
“Indeed,” Anthony said, becoming aware of an overwhelming desire—no, need—to strangle his brother.
Miss Sheffield bobbed a quick, awkward curtsy. “Lord Bridgerton,” she said, “it is an honor to make your acquaintance.”
Colin made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort. Or maybe a laugh. Or maybe both.
And Anthony suddenly knew. One look at his brother’s face should have given it all away. This was no shy, retiring, underappreciated spinster. And whatever she had said to Colin earlier that evening, it had contained no compliments about Anthony.
Fratricide was legal in England, wasn’t it? If not, it damn well should have been.
Anthony belatedly realized that Miss Sheffield had held out her hand to him, as was only polite. He took it and brushed a light kiss across her gloved knuckles. “Miss Sheffield,” he murmured unthinkingly, “you are as lovely as your sister.”
If she had seemed uncomfortable before, her bearing now turned downright hostile. And Anthony realized with a mental slap that he’d said exactly the wrong thing. Of course he should not have compared her to her sister. It was the one compliment she could never have believed.
“And you, Lord Bridgerton,” she replied in a tone that could have frozen champagne, “are almost as handsome as your brother.”
Colin snorted again, only this time it sounded as if he were being strangled.
“Are you all right?” Miss Sheffield asked.
“He’s fine,” Anthony barked.
She ignored him, keeping her attention on Colin. “Are you certain?”
Colin nodded furiously. “Tickle in my throat.”
“Or perhaps a guilty conscience?” Anthony suggested.
Colin turned deliberately from his brother to Kate. “I think I might need another glass of lemonade,” he gasped.
“Or maybe,” said Anthony, “something stronger. Hemlock, perhaps?”
Miss Sheffield clapped a hand over her mouth, presumably to stifle a burst of horrified laughter.
“Lemonade will do just fine,” Colin returned smoothly.
“Would you like me to fetch you a glass?” she asked. Anthony noticed that she’d already stepped out with one foot, looking for any excuse to flee.
Colin shook his head. “No, no, I’m quite capable. But I do believe I had reserved this next dance with you, Miss Sheffield.”
“I shall not hold you to it,” she said with a wave of her hand.
“Oh, but I could not live with myself were I to leave you unattended,” he replied.
Anthony could see Miss Sheffield growing worried at the devilish gleam in Colin’s eye. He took a rather uncharitable pleasure in this. His reaction was, he knew, a touch out of proportion. But something about this Miss Katharine Sheffield sparked his temper and made him positively itch to do battle with her.
And win. That much went without saying.
“Anthony,” Colin said, sounding so deucedly innocent and earnest that it was all Anthony could do not to kill him on the spot, “you’re not engaged for this dance, are you?”
Anthony said nothing, just glared at him.
“Good. Then you will dance with Miss Sheffield.”
“I’m sure that’s not necessary,” the woman in question blurted out.
Anthony glared at his brother, then for good measure at Miss Sheffield, who was looking at him as if he’d just despoiled ten virgins in her presence.
“Oh, but it is,” Colin said with great drama, ignoring the optical daggers being hurled across their little threesome. “I could never dream of abandoning a young lady in her hour of need. How”—he shuddered—“ungentlemanly.”
Anthony thought seriously about pursuing some ungentlemanly behavior himself. Perhaps planting his fist in Colin’s face.
“I assure you,” Miss Sheffield said quickly, “that being left to my own devices would be far preferable to dan—”
Enough, Anthony thought savagely, was really enough. His own brother had already played him for a fool; he was not going to stand idly by while he was insulted by Edwina’s sharp-tongued spinster sister. He laid a heavy hand on Miss Sheffield’s arm and said, “Allow me to prevent you from making a grievous mistake, Miss Sheffield.”
She stiffened. How, he did not know; her back was already ramrod straight. “I beg your pardon,” she said.
“I believe,” he said smoothly, “that you were about to say something you would soon regret.”
“No,” she said, sounding deliberately thoughtful, “I don’t think regrets were in my future.”
“They will be,” he said ominously. And then he grabbed her arm and practically dragged her onto the ballroom floor.
Chapter 3
Viscount Bridgerton was also seen dancing with Miss Katharine Sheffield, elder sister to the fair Edwina. This can only mean one thing, as it has not escaped the notice of This Author that the elder Miss Sheffield has been in much demand on the dance floor ever since the younger Miss Sheffield made her bizarre and unprecedented announcement at the Smythe-Smith musicale last week.
Whoever heard of a girl needing her sister’s permission to choose a husband?
And perha
ps more importantly, whoever decided that the words “Smythe-Smith” and “musicale” might be used in the same sentence? This Author has attended one of these gatherings in the past, and heard nothing that might ethically be termed “music.”
LADY WHISTLEDOWN’S SOCIETY PAPERS, 22 APRIL 1814
There was really nothing she could do, Kate realized with dismay. He was a viscount, and she was a mere nobody from Somerset, and they were both in the middle of a crowded ballroom. It didn’t matter if she’d disliked him on sight. She had to dance with him.
“There is no need to drag me,” she hissed.
He made a great show of loosening his grip.
Kate ground her teeth together and swore to herself that this man would never take her sister as his bride. His manner was too cold, too superior. He was, she thought a touch unfairly, too handsome as well, with velvety brown eyes that matched his hair to perfection. He was tall, certainly over six feet, although probably not by more than an inch, and his lips, while classically beautiful (Kate had studied enough art to regard herself qualified to make such a judgment) were tight at the corners, as if he did not know how to smile.
“Now then,” he said, once their feet began to move in the familiar steps, “suppose you tell me why you hate me.”
Kate trod on his foot. Lord, he was direct. “I beg your pardon?”
“There is no need to maim me, Miss Sheffield.”
“It was an accident, I assure you.” And it was, even if she didn’t really mind this particular example of her lack of grace.