“Now wait a minute,” Livingston objected, while Étienne tried to remain stoic.
“It would be me, Asa or Étienne.”
“They would dismiss Asa. Everyone knows he’s as skilled as a toddler when it comes to speakin’ to girls. One conversation with him and they would run the other way,” Conrad hooted.
The only person who laughed was Conrad. Pleas looked down at his feet, and even Livingston turned away. But no one denied it.
“Conrad,” Étienne said, his voice matching the lethal expression on his face.
Immediately, Conrad quieted down and murmured an apology. I dipped my head in acknowledgment, feeling as though I had stepped into the past where Étienne was back to saving me from every child who teased me.
The only difference was, I now knew what I was and what I was not. I would never have ladies falling at my feet like Livingston did. I would never be able to express myself in the proper ways. I was never going to be understood. I was content with that.
It was then there was a murmur of conversation that travelled across the ballroom, saving me from the uncomfortable silence that had descended around us. Heads began to turn toward the entryway, so I looked in that direction, too.
Nat had finally arrived.
She stood there with her hands at her sides. A smile of barely contained excitement graced her face as she looked across the room. Her happiness had always been contagious. But tonight, that was not what I was drawn to.
It was the way she looked, and how she carried herself. She barely bent to grab the material of her gown, so she could walk across the ballroom floor. Like most debutantes, she was wrapped in white. There were overlays of brocade and lace with the barest touch of ivory. Her sleeves were silk and hugged her arms, highlighting the elegant slope of her bare shoulders. A floral design circled the hem of the dress and traveled up, stopping around her impossibly small waist. It should have been overpowering, but on Nathalie, it was delicate, almost dignified. Over-the-elbow gloves in snow white hid her arms.
Nat followed the rules and wore the veil every debutante was required to wear. It traveled behind her, catching the air and floating ever so slightly.
As she walked past us, I saw the back of the dress and the narrow V it made. When had she cut her hair? Not long ago it was long, hanging down her back with a bow in place. Now the dark strands were to her shoulders. The exposed skin of her upper back pulled a reaction out of me that I was not prepared for. I felt as though I’d been sucker-punched in the stomach as I watched her walk throughout the room.
I knew I would never see a woman as beautiful as her.
I knew the men around me were seeing the same thing. One glance, and it was confirmed. They were staring at her like they wanted to unwrap her.
“My God,” Conrad muttered under his breath.
In unison, Étienne and Livingston looked to him, their eyes narrowed into thin slits.
“Have a care, will you?” Étienne growled. “She’s seventeen.”
“It’s a debut,” Conrad pointed out.
Livingston’s lighthearted demeanor vanished in an instant. “Does not give you liberties to stare at her in such a manner. Don’t forget you are standin’ beside her brothers, Conrad.”
My lips curled upward as I took a drink, even though it should not have. I took the same liberties as Conrad. Every man with a pair of eyes in this room was going to notice Nathalie. I couldn’t very well say that unless my goal was for Étienne to rip my heart out with his bare hands.
Conrad held both hands out in front of him and took a step back. “I mean no harm.” He looked at his half-full drink. “I do believe I need another drink. If you’ll excuse me.”
The moment Conrad was out of earshot, Étienne turned to me. “Ask my sister to dance before Conrad does.”
His order took me by surprise. “What?”
“Ask her,” Étienne repeated. “I trust you. I do not trust Conrad. In fact, wouldn’t trust Conrad around a pack of wolves.”
Livingston snorted. “He wouldn’t dare attempt anythin’ in our presence.”
Étienne nodded. “Yes, but I already know the thoughts in his head. And that’s enough for me to cut his hands off and beat him with them.”
Livingston, Pleas and I solemnly nodded. For Livingston, Étienne, and Pleas, they had common ground: a sibling. Specifically, a little sister. I’d watched them protect Nat and Rainey relentlessly. I found myself doing the same, as though the two girls were my own sisters. Even though, at the end of the day, all of us knew they weren’t.
That instinct to keep Nat away from every ass such as Conrad made me nod even though there was a resistance in me, telling me this was not a good choice. “I’ll dance with her.”
Étienne sighed with relief and clapped me on the back. “Good man.”
With that conversation over with, my shoulders visibly relaxed when I noticed Étienne and Livingston staring at me expectantly. My eyes widened. “You don’t mean right now. Do you?”
“If not now, then when?” Livingston asked. “Take it from a fellow…” he searched for the right word, “lover of women that Conrad is not goin’ to waste time.”
“He has a valid point,” Pleas remarked dryly.
Livingston elbowed him while maintaining eye contact with me. “He will dance with Nat the moment we have our backs turned.”
Étienne and Livingston would be relentless until I took Nat onto the ballroom floor and danced with her.
“Fine,” I grumbled.
Pleas laughed. “It’s Nat. The same as Rainey.”
“No one is the same as le savauge,” Livingston murmurs.
Pleas elbowed him.
“I know that. But you know how I don’t care for dancin’,” I said as a weak excuse.
I had viewed Rainey and Nat the same way since they both came into my life. But when Rainey stepped into the ballroom tonight, I noticed nothing different about her. I could dance with her tonight with ease because she was Rainey. And I wasn’t tracking her every movement throughout the room like I was with Nat.
The biggest problem of all was I didn’t know what spurred this sudden change of events. It was not as though Nat had been away at boarding school for years, and she had unexpectedly returned. She’d been here the entire time. I had simply been spending all my time at work, staring more at numbers on pages than people around me. If I would have looked up, just once, perhaps I would’ve noticed the change in her.
“I’ll be back,” I said to my friends.
I walked slowly and steadily across the ballroom floor as though I was getting ready to face the guillotine. And in a way, I was. As I approached Nat, I saw her standing with Rainey and two other girls. I didn’t remember their names, just that they giggled a lot and it was incredibly irritating.
One of the gigglers spotted me and whispered into Nat’s ear and then giggled. Rainey looked over Nat’s shoulder, and once she saw me, she shrugged a shoulder, seemingly underwhelmed that it was me. Nat kept her back to me, but once I was close enough, she turned, her cheeks slightly red and eyes bright. “Hello, Asa.”
“Good evenin’, Nat.” I dipped my head toward Rainey and her friends. “Ladies.”