Her lips parted with indignation this time as she looked down at her wrist. The seam of her silver glove had hooked on one of his medals and ripped the fabric all the way to her wrist, exposing the soft milky skin.
Averting his gaze, Julian cleared his throat. “My apologies, Miss Prescott. I will…”
She snapped in a sharp voice, cutting him off mid-sentence. “You have done quite enough this evening, my lord. Thank you for the dance, but I shall be taking my leave now.” She turned on her heels and marched away from him, leaving Julian stranded and alone in the middle of the floor.
So rude…
He glared at her retreating figure for a moment before realizing that all eyes were on him.
The nearby lords and ladies threw curious glances in his direction until he forced a smile, bowed, and made his way off the floor.
He was seething with anger by the time he reached the table of refreshments and poured himself a glass of punch. The tangy fruit-flavored drink did little to ease his irritation as she thought of the dance. He had not wanted to believe it, but Eleanor had been right. Americans were rude, stubborn, and quite crass.
But so beautiful.
He felt the same strange stirring beneath his ribs as he recalled the deep blue of her eyes and the perfect shape of her lips.
Chapter 4
The nerve of the man!
Lily practically huffed as she pushed through the crowd and found a quiet corner at the edge of the room near the terrace doors. She knew she should not have allowed such a simple comment to get under her skin, yet it had been inevitable. She had spent the first part of the evening feeling like an outsider, and then he verbalized that fear.
It was him…
She allowed her gaze to wander over the crowd again as she searched for him. She had not recognized him at first, but one look into his eyes had brought back the memory of the sighting outside Madame Moirier’s. She was certain of that. He could change his clothes and even his hair, but those eyes were far more distinctive than anything else.
The flecks of gold had glinted in the candlelight, and Lily had found herself getting lost in the depths. That was until he had opened his mouth.
You are the American that everyone is talking about.
The words still stung deeply as her body tensed. It was one thing to be the topic of discussion, but another matter entirely when she did not know how much gossip had reached theton. Did they all know of the rumors regarding Oliver’s involvement with the leaked political information? And by extension, had her name been mentioned as well?
Her heart beat a little faster as she thought of all the implications. She felt a little guilty after acting so harshly, but she had been sneered at all evening and had raised her guard.
“There you are, I have been looking all over for you,” Arabella announced as she came toward Lily and stopped at her side. “Is something the matter?” Her voice was filled with concern despite the healthy flush in her cheeks.
Taking a deep breath, Lily composed herself. “Not at all, there was just a slight mishap during my dance.” She lifted her wrist for Arabella to see the tear in her glove.
“Oh, you poor thing!” She gasped. “I can lend you a pair of mine if you like. I think I do have a silver pair that would match your dress beautifully!”
“Thank you, you are a wonder, Arabella, but before we do that, how was your dance?” She forced a smile, trying to recall if she had seen Arabella dancing. Yet the truth was that she had beenso taken by the man and then angered that she had not noticed anyone around them at all.
Her cheeks flushed with color as Arabella shyly averted her gaze. “It was lovely. I danced with Mr. Benedict Southampton. He was charming, delightful, and truthfully, quite funny. He asked me to dance again, but I will have to check with my mama first. I am not certain that it is proper for us to dance a second time after only just meeting.” Her voice seemed hopeful as she sucked in a sharp breath.
Lily softened at the sight of her only friend in London acting so bashful. “I am glad that you had such a wonderful dance. At least one of us did,” she lowered her voice with a sigh as she glanced down at her glove.
Whispered voices drifted to her ears, causing Lily to look up.
A nearby group of ladies were glancing in her direction while covering the lower halves of their masked faces with fans.
“I cannot seem to have a moment of peace,” Lily remarked when she lowered her torn glove again and pursed her lips in displeasure.
Giving her a sympathetic look, Arabella tilted her head to the side. “It is just because everyone knows who you are by now. It is exciting to have an American in our midst.”
Lily shook her head. “Of course, everyone knows who I am. I cannot seem to hide the fact every time I open my mouth.”
Reaching out, Arabella placed a hand over Lily’s arm. “I think your accent is lovely, Lily. And it is not half as bad as you think. Forget the rest of theton, the news of your arrival will soon die down, and everyone will go back to the usual kinds of gossip. If we are lucky, some debutant might be caught alone with a man in private, and that news will simply blow you out of the water!”