“On the other hand,” Douglas said, looking over at his wife, “you always looked splendid in the empire style, with the focus on your endowments.”
Meggie wasn’t particularly surprised; it had always been so with her aunts and uncles. She saw her uncle’s fingers creep toward her aunt’s shoulder, pause, then fall back to his side.
After Douglas had seated his two ladies in the Northcliffe carriage, tapped his gloved fist against the roof, he said to Meggie as the carriage rolled forward, “You will be treated very nicely because, to be very honest about it, no one would ever dare to insult one of my family. On the other hand, both Alex and I are rather well liked in society, as is your uncle Ryder and aunt Sophie. You will be your charming self, and if you have a question about how to behave in any given situation, just ask either Alex or me.”
“It’s still rather scary,” Meggie said. “I suspect the balls here are very different from ours in Glenclose-on-Rowan.”
“People are the same,” Alex said. “It’s just the gowns and jewels that are more splendid.”
“Some people are idiots,” said Douglas.
“And some are not,” Alex said. “Just like at home.”
“However,” Douglas said, “as I told you, if any man does anything that makes you uncomfortable, you will immediately tell him to take himself off. Then you will show me the clod and I will feed him a few choice words.”
“Yes, Douglas is quite good at that, although he hasn’t had much practice for a long time.”
Douglas sighed, crossed his arms over his chest. “Just think, Alex. In a couple of years all the boys will be let loose on London. Can you begin to imagine the sorts of messes they will embroil us in?”
Alex groaned.
Meggie laughed. She thought of their twin boys, James and Jason—the most beautiful males she’d ever seen in her life. She rolled her eyes, thinking of the two of them strolling into a ballroom and hoards of wide-eyed ladies swooning in ecstasy.
Lord and Lady Ranleigh greeted their guests at the bottom of the grand staircase that led up to their pride and joy—a ballroom occupying the entire second floor.
“The first Sherbrooke offspring to appear in Society,” Lady Ranleigh said, smiling at Meggie. “You are blessed with your family, my dear. There are many people eager to meet you. I trust you will enjoy yourself.”
Meggie said, “Oh yes, ma’am, Aunt Alex says I am to dance holes in my slippers.”
Meggie continued to smile, to laugh, to make jests with all sorts of people who were perfectly pleasant to her. Young gentlemen came by to meet her and stayed or asked her to dance. It was just before the midnight dinner that she saw a tall man she knew looked familiar. She cocked her head to one side as she stared at him.
Surely she’d met him before, but where? The tilt of his head, she knew she’d seen him somewhere before. But it wasn’t just his air of familiarity that held her in place. It was the oddest thing. Meggie felt the impact of him to her toes, which, she was forced to admit, were on the sore side what with dancing every dance.
She recognized that impact in the deepest part of her. She hadn’t forgotten it. It had simply lain dormant for a goodly number of years.
She was still looking toward him when she reached her aunt Alex. Her heart was beating, slow deep thuds. Why wouldn’t he turn around? It had to be him, it just had to.
“You are enjoying yourself, love?”
Meggie managed to look away from him a moment. “Oh yes, I just danced with Viscount Glover. He speaks Spanish fluently and wants to enlarge his father’s succession houses.”
“Hmmm. He is an interesting young man. I believe he lost his wife in childbirth just last year.”
Meggie nodded, but she wasn’t paying attention. She was staring at that man. “Who is that man, Aunt Alex? The one who is speaking to the three gentlemen beneath that chandelier?”
Uncle Douglas came up behind his wife just then. “What man, Meggie?”