“I wasn’t expecting me to say that either, but as a former matchmaker, I have plenty of experience with almost-engaged couples, and I cannot tell you how many times I had to intercede with couples who were simply meandering across a room one minute and then ... they were just gone. I once found a couple gazing longingly into each other’s eyes in an ice room, which, if you ask me, wasn’t the most romantic of places to hide, what with how chilly it was.”
“I better not discover Charles and Luella in any ice rooms, but...” Owen frowned. “Do you think we should make plans to sneak off together so no one gets suspicious?”
It was quite telling when Camilla found the mere idea of sneaking off with Owen a little too appealing.
She shoved that nonsensical idea straight to the farthest recesses of her mind and summoned up a smile. “While that would probably be more than amusing since I get the impression you’re probably as good as I am in the acting department, which I’m not good in at all, I don’t believe sneaking off will be necessary. Even if we were engaged, we’re a more, well, mature couple, and no one expects mature couples to be completely enamored with each other.”
“It’s not as if we’re that mature, and certainly aren’t at our last prayers.”
Camilla blinked. “I hope you weren’t under the impression I was saying I thought you wouldn’t be capable of being enamoredof a lady. I just thought our age gave us a ready excuse not to turn all stealthy and then force poor Mr. Timken to come after us.”
“You think he’d come after us?”
“And with Beulah’s shotgun.”
“Huh” was all Owen said before he surprised her with a wink. “Meemaw might try to intercept Mr. Timken if she noticed us heading for a quiet place since she’s convinced we’re perfect for each other.”
“Then let’s agree we won’t try to convince everyone we’re almost engaged by seeking out one of those quiet places, because I’m not sure Mr. Timken would win in a match against your grandmother.”
“He admitted to me just yesterday that Meemaw still scares him half to death, so I suppose that means I’ll agree to no meeting up for a feigned rendezvous, whether that would have been amusing or not.”
“Then it’s officially agreed upon—no feigned rendezvous,” Camilla said as all sorts of thoughts went tumbling through her mind—ones that centered around all the things she knew couples got up to when they stole away, one of those things being kissing, something she might have, a time or two, or twenty, been considering of late.
Owen gave his tie a bit of a tug before he stilled, his gaze settled on something across the room. “Would you look at that—Stanley looks like he might be considering doing some of that throttling you’ve mentioned you’d like to do to me at times.”
Camilla directed her attention to where Stanley was standing with a group of his friends, but he wasn’t paying attention to any of them. Instead, he was squinting at Charles, his jaw clenched and his color high.
It took a rather herculean effort to resist a laugh. “I think we might find success with Luella far sooner than I was anticipating, although I’m going to have to put you in charge of making sure Stanley doesn’t try to go after Charles.”
“What a way to put a damper on an evening.”
“Please. You know you wouldn’t let Stanley have a go at Charles, even if you think he’s being far too attentive to your sister.”
“I’m sure you’re probably right.”
“Probably?”
He blew out a breath. “Fine, I wouldn’t, however I doubt there’d be a reason for me to get involved if Stanley would be such an idiot to try to engage Charles in an altercation because, even with Charles being an authentically refined gentleman, he’s a man who can take care of himself and would dispatch Stanley in about a second, something I wouldn’t mind seeing.”
“But then Beulah would get involved, and then her rifle would come out, no matter that you hid them from her or not, and then a good old-fashioned feud would definitely come into play.”
Owen frowned. “Why do you think Meemaw would whip out her rifle if Stanley tried to have a go at Charles?”
“Beulah adores Charles and will take it as a personal affront if anyone tries anything with him while under a Chesterfield roof.”
“My grandmother adores Charles?”
“She’s been trying to get him to agree to learn how to bake pies, or more specifically, one particular apple pie.”
“That recipe is taking on a life of its own,” Owen muttered.
“Indeed, but...” Camilla stopped talking when she spotted Ada Mae strolling up to join them.
“Forgive me for interrupting, but I was wondering if I could have a word with you, Miss Pierpont, regarding the song selection. I’ve practiced all week with the sheet music you were kind enough to send to me, but I have a question about the timing of a particular stanza.”
Telling Owen she’d rejoin him momentarily, which Owen responded to by whispering something about seeing her in an hour, which left her grinning and Ada Mae’s brow arching, Camilla took the next few minutes to go over the arrangement with Ada Mae, then walked to the center of the ballroom and called for everyone to join her.
As the partners paired up, all of them seeming somewhat familiar with where they were supposed to stand, Camilla decided there was no use showing everyone the steps since she had the sneaking suspicion everyone already knew them. Instead, she nodded to Ada Mae, who placed her fingers over the keys and began to play.