“Stay away from her,” Patience said under her breath after they left.
“She is quite pretty.”
“Nicholas.”
“I jest. Trust me, my only romantic concern at the moment is getting my sister married off.”
The guests finished arriving, and Nicholas turned to Patience. “I have an announcement to make just after the dancing starts. You are welcome to stay here with Mama.”
“Wait.” She pulled on Nicholas’s sleeve. “It isn’t . . . I mean he hasn’t even asked me yet.”
He just laughed. “I already told you, this ball isn’t about you.” Then he left, disappearing into their crowded ballroom.
***
“The woman we paraded about parties and Green Park was Lady Patience Kendrick?” Sophia hissed near Anthony’s ear.
“I am aware.” Anthony was across the ballroom from Patience, but he hadn’t taken his eyes off her since their introduction. She had seemed happy to see him. But she had smiled at everyone who greeted her since as well.
“I’m surprised she wants anything to do with us.”
“Did she seem like that to you? She seemed happy to see us, I think.”
“Yes, she did. And to think at one point I had thought . . .”
“What had you thought?”
“Well, I had thought you had formed an attachment to her. But of course, now that is impossible.”
Anthony straightened. Ever since hearing from the duke, he had allowed hope to form. Not just form, but thrive. It was strange to hear Sophia speaking about his situation like this. It was like visiting an older version of himself. A darker version, one without the bright light of possibilities shining in front of him.
“An attachment to a maid would be acceptable in your mind, but not one to Lady Patience?”
Sophia had never looked sterner. “It isn’t about acceptability. I had assumed Patience the maid would be happy to marry you, but the sister to the Duke of Harrington? She has so many other options.”
“You don’t think I could deserve her?”
“It isn’t about being deserving, Anthony. She is the sister of a duke.”
“Yes, you have mentioned that.”
“And it doesn’t look like she has a shortage of admirers.”
Sophia had distracted him, and he had misplaced Patience’s position in the crowd. But the turn of Sophia’s neck pointed him to a pack of six or seven young, and some not so young, lords hovering about Patience. And she was smiling at all of them, just as she had smiled at him.
Some of his old doubts crept out of the dark hole where he had buried them. He shoved them back down. This evening was his one chance to speak with Patience. Who knew how long it would be until their paths crossed again? “I love her, Sophia. I didn’t even know I was capable of loving someone like I love her. It is painful and wonderful all at once. I have to try.”
Her face softened. “Of course you do.”
“Am I really reduced to pushing myself into that pack of wolves so I can receive some attention?”
“Only if you want to speak to her.”
He and Sophia pushed through the gathering crowd and reached Patien-ce’s circle of young men. Her eyes lit up when she saw them approaching. But perhaps they did for each one of these men as well. He didn’t know this Patience.
“Mr. Woodsworth and Mrs. Jorgensen, it is such a pleasure to see you again.”
Anthony gave a her a smile and a short bow. Isn’t that exactly what she had said to him before? Was it a practiced line?
“You know old Woodsworth?” one of the young men asked Patience. Lord Nortfield. He was a baron but not one of particular wealth. Anthony hadn’t bothered to put him on Patience’s list because, in addition to being a peer, he was a notorious rake.
“I know Mr. Woodsworth quite well, actually,” Patience said, her smile never faltering.
“Really? I’m surprised anyone could know Mr. Woodsworth well. He reminds me of nothing more than a brick wall.” Lord Nortfield snickered, as did a few of the other gentlemen nearby. “How does one get to know a brick wall?”
Anthony did his best to ignore the stylish young man. He wasn’t here to impress him. He needed to know if Patience cared for him. “If I recall,” Anthony said, “Lady Patience Kendrick seemed to feel I was more like a duck than a wall.”
Lord Nortfield outright laughed at that. “I’m not certain that is any better.”
“Oh no, Lord Nortfield, you are quite wrong about that.” Patience blinked and stepped toward Anthony, leaving half of the young men behind her. “Being compared to a duck is much better than a wall. Not to mention, he doesn’t just remind me of a duck.” Her smile grew even broader, like it did when she was about to do something mischievous. “He reminds me of my Ollie as well.”
“Who is Ollie?” Lord Northfield asked.
Patience and Anthony turned to him. “Her dog,” Anthony said at the same time Patience said, “My dog.”
Lord Nortfield snorted, but Anthony’s ears barely took in the sound. His eyes returned to Patience’s shining ones. What woman tells a man he reminds her of a dog and a duck in a ballroom? Only Patience. She was the same whether in a ballroom or covered in soot. The pull that he had felt toward her ever since she was just a pair of boots in the library tugged at him once again. It wasn’t infatuation; he could see the intensity in her eyes. She felt it too. He just needed to figure out which of his plans would work the fastest to make her his. Living his life without her wasn’t an option; it would be much too dull.
“If you will excuse me, gentlemen.” He gave Lord Nortfield a look that conveyed how little he believed the title fit. “I have the honor of dancing with Lady Patience for the first set.” He put his arm out, and Patience slid her arm around his like it belonged there. Lord Nortfield put his hands on his hips, and his otherwise handsome face screwed up in a scowl.
Anthony led Patience to the open floor. They were the first couple to arrive, and he took them to the very center of the ballroom. There was no reason to hide anymore. Anthony was the son of General Woodsworth, and even if no one here knew his name, they knew his father’s. He had every right to dance with the woman who had crawled through his bushes and into his heart.
As long as she cared for him as well, nothing else mattered. Their positions in life could be different, but Anthony would no longer believe they belonged to different worlds. How could they? She was his world.
The music started, and it was a slow waltz. Perfect. This was his chance to prove that he could dance as well as Stewart. Better even, since he was dancing with Patience.