“What plan? The only plan I heard from her is to wait and see what happens and to try and keep things from going too far.”
“That’s the one. We are depending heavily on you in this plan, because you are the only one who is invited to the ball. Gunter is going to remain hidden in the garden and Lady Ann is going to leave a window open in an upstairs bedroom that would be the most likely seduction spot so Tomas can slip in and hide somewhere.”
“Well, that’s good thinking,” Antonio admitted.
“Don’t worry, the colonel will be watching over her as well,” Brick reminded him.
“Yes, but unfortunately, he cannot do anything but watch,” Antonio said between gritted teeth. God, he had never felt so damn helpless!
“He can toss a pretty mean book.”
Antonio groaned in frustration. “I am not going to survive a season.”
“A whole season? God, I should hope someone is planning to ask for our Lil Bit’s hand before that. I was really hoping this would be the last one of these balls we have to do.”
As they neared Stanton’s home, Antonio ordered Brick to stop the carriage and he joined the ladies inside.
“Thank God, I feared you intended to cause your own scandal by arriving on the carriage seated by the driver,” Ann complained. “Girls, if you could all cover your ears, I need to speak to Antonio in private before we enter, and this is my last chance.”
Smiling at the request, they all three covered their ears.
“You don’t honestly think they aren’t listening?”
“It’s the best I can do to preserve your dignity. Antonio, you are acting irrationally. I have great fear you are going to create a scandal far more disastrous than Amy ever could. If you do, then no amount of influence on my part will get you invited to another ball, which will put Amy at considerable risk. You had your opportunity to protect Amy on a personal level, but you declined to do it. Now you need to make your protection impersonal. Think of Amy solely as an assignment for the night. You have the willpower to do that. You have had missions before that were personal, yet you managed to complete your assignment without involving your own feelings. You have to do this tonight.”
“I will try to do as you ask, but there is a risk to my being impersonal. Amy could become upset by my indifference towards her and do something foolish just to hurt me.”
“That doesn’t sound like Amy at all.”
“I think I know her a little better than you, Ann. There is this little girl inside of her who can do all sorts of things, including petty revenges.” He glanced over at Amy with her ears covered. “Such as listening to conversations when asked not to,” he added. “But we will see which one of us is right. I will be impersonal, and we will see if Amy can resist retaliating.”
Ann smiled and told the girls they could remove their hands now. Catherine started to lower her hands, but Domnika stepped on her foot. All three continued to cover their ears until Ann pulled their hands down.
Antonio would have found it amusing if he weren’t sick to his gut with worry.
He entered as Ann’s escort, which no doubt caused a great deal of speculation and rumor that she had taken a younger lover. She assured him the rumor wouldn’t do either one of their reputations any harm. The three young ladies followed in their wake like chicks.
Catherine enjoyed being the most skilled and knowledgeable of the three for once. She had the routine down so well from the prior year that Ann had little to do but greet friends and introduce the ladies.
Antonio suggested he should place his own name on the ladies’ dance card, but Ann shook her head. “You had better plan for no dancing tonight. If you dance with one, you must dance with others and you cannot do your job and dance at the same time, which you would know if you were thinking straight. I must assume that amazing strong will of yours is failing you tonight.”
Antonio might have replied if he could think of any retort. The problem was she was completely correct. His thinking was dangerously bad and had been for the entire week. He was saved the possibility of speaking when three of the rakes he had identified on the list approached and begged for an introduction of the two beautiful young ladies that stood with Ann’s equally lovely daughter.
One of the rakes, Darby McAllister, overheard Amy state her surprise the room could hold half so many people. He explained, even before proper introductions were made. “Only the area around the four most beautiful women of the ball is crowded. The other rooms are quite empty.” When she laughed at him, his eyebrow rose in challenge. “Shall we take a tour of the rooms, so you see I speak only the truth?”
“That’s enough out of you, Darby,” Ann warned. She then flicked her fan in the direction of the three young men. “These three are fine for dancing, but they are well-known flirts with no serious intention of finding a bride quite yet. You will accept no walks, tours, or breaths of airs with these three.”
Darby protested her words. “Lady Halloway, you have sorely misjudged my intent. I have been seriously looking for a bride, it’s just that I am a romantic and I’m holding out for the truest and deepest love.” He locked eyes with Amy’s. “A young lady that is as beautiful inside as outside, with charm, and sophistication, a lady beyond all others.”
Antonio had heard him use that line a hundred times, and it had never failed to convince the young lady with whom he held in his sultry eyed glance that she was the true lady he had been looking for. It also gave him a great departure when he tired of the girl’s affections. He could declare her perfectly lovely, but despite his great affection, he now knew she was not the special lady he sought.
Antonio was relieved to see Amy’s only response was a great attempt not to laugh. It was Catherine that gave way to giggles first, and then the dam quickly broke, and all three ladies laughed at Darby. To his credit, he stood firm and took his humiliation in good humor, for now even the other rakes were chiding him for growing stale in his delivery.
“I was not stale. I truly felt my words,” he protested. Still focused on Amy, he asked, “Why do you so cruelly mock my heartfelt words?”
Amy gave him a genuine look of compassion. “Your delivery was very fine,” she assured him. “And the eye contact, quite intense. Only your description of the lady you seek is nothing like me. It was that and not your fine performance that caused our outburst of giggles.”
“Nonsense, I am quite certain you are everything I claimed and more!” His furrowed brow showed his bafflement by Amy’s words. She was no doubt the first ever to disqualify herself.
“Perhaps you should get to know me before making any further declarations,” Amy suggested. “Did you wish for a line on my card, or having learned I am decidedly not the woman of your dreams, do you wish to bow out now? I’ve only three lines remaining, so I will not be offended if you withdraw.”
“Withdraw, not a chance! Place me on all three.”
“I will place you on one.” She looked up at the other two men.
They declared in frantic unison they wished a line from her, Miss Domnika, and Catherine as well, if they would do them the honor.
Once they left Ann insisted upon seeing Amy’s card and laughed when she saw all the lines stating: ‘Mr. rest’ ‘Mr. drink fluids’ ‘Mr. watch others’ and ‘Mr. someone interesting to talk to’.
She laughed and showed it to Antonio before handing it back. He gave Amy a quiet nod of approval.
For a moment, he could relax since the worst of the rakes never managed to get on Amy’s shortened dance card. She was clearly not trying to torment him. Her dance card proved that. But it also proved she was truly concerned about her ability to control her passions. Since Father Duncan had told him about her existence a year before, he had decided to become celibate until he found her. Yet at first, even his strong will had been overcome when ladies proved too seductive. And the longer he remained celibate the harder it was to resist a truly determined woman. Over time he had learned, but it had taken time w
ith a lot of mistakes in between.
When the first young men came to claim the three girls’ hands, Ann suggested they dance as well. “We have to dance sometime and those three appear quite harmless.”
Antonio agreed and led Ann to the dance floor. Despite his late start in learning the dances and the infrequency in which he partook, he was naturally graceful and looked quite elegant in the line. On several occasions, the dance caused partners to switch, and when Amy’s hands grasped to his as they circled twice, he squeezed her hand affectionately.
“You are not terribly impersonal, Mr. Capella,” she said.
“No, I cannot seem to get there.”
Before they could say more the dance steps had led him back to Ann.
***
Amy stood beside Mrs. Halloway watching the dance, when a gentleman approached them. Mrs. Halloway seemed pleased to see him. She briefly introduced Amy and then asked her if she would mind terribly if they took a turn in the garden.
Amy stammered she would not and watched in shock as Mrs. Halloway and the gentleman slipped away. She looked for Antonio, but he appeared to have disappeared as well. So much for needing great protection. The only things she needed protection from were bad dancers and boredom. She leaned over and tried to inconspicuously massage her crushed toes.
Catherine had warned her many of the young men were terrible dancers, but then she had cheerfully added it was impossible to be seduced by a bad dancer because the pain kept killing the moment. Amy couldn’t argue with the truth of that. She had been in no danger whatsoever of losing her willpower to control her passion.
Her willpower to control her temper was an entirely different matter. By the third dance she decided society should have some minimum dance standards that young men must pass before being allowed to attend any social events. Let them roam about the hills like grazing cattle if they could dance no better than a clumsy bull.
“Allow me,” a gentleman said and knelt before her, massaging her foot. He was an older man, but in no way old. In fact, he exuded a great deal of robust energy and the heat of his hands literally burned into her feet. Aware he could see down her neckline as he knelt before her, she sat up straight and frowned at him. “Sir, we have not been properly introduced. If you do not release my foot and leave my presence immediately, I will kick you soundly.”
He released her foot and sat down in the chair two down from her own. His dark eyes sparkled with amusement.
“Why do you not go away?” she demanded.
“I am waiting for Ann to return so we can be introduced. While I know all about you, she clearly failed to mention me—or perhaps she did. My name is Chavier Jones. Have you heard my name mentioned?”
“No.”
“Well, I have heard yours mentioned and with the highest of praise.”
“What have you heard?”
“Let’s see: you are extremely intelligent, speak every language in the world—which probably means eight or nine—I’ve never met anyone who speaks the thousands of languages uttered about the world.”
“I speak eight well and two others poorly.”
“Well, that is certainly not all the languages, but it’s seven or eight more than most seem to manage.”
She laughed, since his count implied a portion of the people could not even speak their native language.
“You are said to have a very pleasant sense of humor, a laugh that sounds like wind chimes, and a genuine compassion.” He paused for a moment. “And yet, all that I heard of you still did not prepare me for the real Amy.”
She wanted to ignore him since they had not been introduced and they should not be talking, but her curiosity to know what about her had surprised him overrode her good manners.
Realizing he wasn’t going to say more until she looked at him and acknowledged his presence, she turned her face towards him and instantly his eyes locked with hers. No, he was decidedly not old. Long and lean, with the darkest of hair, he reminded her of a black panther she had seen in drawings.
She ignored the flutter in her breast and stared at him with determination not to swoon.
He laughed softly. “No wonder Ann is so taken with you. You are very much like her.”
“I take that as a compliment, sir.”
His straight white teeth appeared in his beautiful, heartfelt smile. “It was the finest compliment I could give you. Still, you are not just an imitation of Ann. There is something very special about you. I look forward to discovering what it is.” His eyes lowered to her neckline. “That gown suits you.”
Her hand flew to her chest as if trying to hide it from his view. She froze as his hand reached towards her. She did not move as he sensually pulled the ribbon loose that held her dance card and caught it between his fingers. He pulled it towards him and read the list. He smiled at the lines she had filled in and then laughed aloud at the last one.
“If I did not know for a fact this is your very first ball, I would think from this card you had attended a thousand. You are correct. By the end of the evening you will desperately be in need of intelligent conversation.”
He reached over and clasped her hand that was still pressed against her chest. His touch burned into her wrist and when he stretched her arm out straight and tied the card back on her wrist, she did not attempt to pull away. He then took her hand as he stood and kissed it, not with just his lips, but she was certain she had felt a flicker of his tongue caress the tender skin between her knuckles.
“I will return on the twentieth dance to provide that intelligent conversation you anticipate needing.”
He released her hand and she pulled it back safely to her waist. She looked for Mrs. Halloway or Antonio, but both were frustratingly absent. Then Catherine returned and took the seat next to her. “Amy, do you need some air? You look flushed. Has something happened?”
Amy regrouped and assured Catherine she was fine.
“Then why are you sitting here rather than dancing? What happened to your partner?” she demanded as she opened Amy’s card and read the name ‘Mr. Rest’. As her eyes read down further she burst into laughter. “Oh Amy, I had wondered how your card became filled so quickly.” She pulled her into a hug. “Do you know I have never thought of doing that,” she admitted. “Does this mean you are not enjoying the dance?”
“I enjoy dancing very much. However, I greatly prefer my partners to dance on the floor and not my feet.” She then explained her belief that there should be some sort of skills test required before young men are allowed to attend balls.
She evidently had been a bit too loud while expressing this, for she heard a gentleman trying cover his sudden laughter with a cough, from the other side of the post. Amy tried to peer around the post to see who was laughing, certain he had been listening to their conversation. Unable to see anyone, she motioned for Catherine to stand and see who it was.
One nice thing about teaching little children to be soldiers, they all knew silent hand signals for such useful actions as ‘reconnaissance’, ‘observe’, and ‘report back’.
Catherine smiled, clearly enjoying her assignment, and stood up. “Let me get you some punch dear, you look thirsty.”
She walked past the column, and then as if remembering something, she returned to Amy. “Would you like a bit a cake as well?” she asked as she signaled ‘friend’ and ‘commander’.
Antonio? “No, punch is fine. Would you like me to go with you?”
“I can carry two glasses of punch, Amy,” Catherine scolded. “You should rest your feet. They do look terribly trampled. I don’t understand it. We danced with the same gentlemen. Are you certain you weren’t trying to lead and threw them off balance?”
Again, coughing sounded from the column.
“I was not trying to lead; I was trying to stay as far away as possible. And why are there so many waltzes? I thought it was considered to be highly improper?”
“Mrs. Stanton prides herself on being very avant-garde,” Catherine w
hispered. “Now let me get you your drink. You’re becoming very ill-tempered, which is not like you at all.”
Amy removed her shoes and placed her hands upon her feet, removing the pain and soreness. Looking at her satin slippers, she wished that she could heal them so easily. They looked as if they had been in a major battle and lost.
“Amy, what are you doing?” Mrs. Halloway asked as she returned and stood in front of her.
“Triage. But I fear the shoes can’t be saved.”
“I concur but put them back on anyway. In the future, we’ll bring you an extra pair. How on earth did you do so much damage in so short of time?”
“I was attacked by cows masquerading as gentlemen.”
Again, soft male laughter came from behind the column.
Mrs. Halloway frowned and stepped back so she could see who was there. Her face relaxed upon sight of the fellow. “Chavier, what a surprise to see you here. I thought you placed balls up there with malaria as things to avoid at all costs.”
Chavier approached her, kissing her on both cheeks. “I stand by that belief. However, now that I know amusing conversations can be had, I may come more often.”
“Well, allow me to introduce you to the source of your amusement so you needn’t have to lurk behind columns in the future. Amy, this is a dear friend of mine, Chavier Jones. Chavier, Miss Amy Winston.”
A motion from Mrs. Halloway reminded her she needed to stand for introductions. Her shoes were not on yet, but she stood up, and presented her hand. His hand once again burned into hers, but the kiss upon her hand was not improper this time. In fact, she wasn’t certain his lips had touched her hand at all.
She frowned, first in disappointment and then in annoyance with herself.
“Amy, it is a pleasure to formally meet you.”
Mrs. Halloway’s eyebrows rose. “Had you informally met prior?”
“I confess I tried. I saw poor Amy sitting all by herself, bending over, tending her battle worn feet, and thought to come to her aid. She smartly informed me that we had not been introduced, and if I did not stop tending to her foot, she would kick me.”
Love's Betrayals (The Extraordinary Life of Amy Winston Book 2) Page 22
