Fletcher handed the two glasses to Lady Devon. “Come, let’s go find her before mischief does,” he said to Audrey.
“Go on. I’ll wait here in case she returns,” Lady Devon said, taking a sip of the lemonade.
Fletcher and Audrey made a circuit around the ballroom looking for Mia. They didn’t rush, but as the minutes passed with no sign of her, Audrey began to panic. “I don’t like this. Where could she be?”
“I don’t know, but she couldn’t have gone far. Let’s go look on the terrace. It’s quite stuffy in here. Perhaps she’s gone outside for a breath of fresh air.”
They walked through the French doors onto the darkened terrace. At first, they didn’t see anyone, but then they heard Mia’s distinctive giggle. Fletcher strode to the far end and found Mia and a gentleman he didn’t know standing very close to each other in the shadows. The gentleman was caressing her cheek and whispering in her ear.
“There you are, my dear,” Fletcher said in a clear, loud voice.
The gentleman looked up with panic in his eyes before stepping back and quietly slipping away through the library doors without a backward glance at Mia.
“Well, I never!” she said, stamping her foot. “He didn’t even say goodbye.”
“Mia, what are you doing out here? You were told to stay in the ballroom,” Fletcher admonished.
“No need to get angry, Fletcher. I went to find you, but it was such a crush in the ballroom, and I was getting overheated after dancing the reel…” she said with a pout.
“Dearest, the rules are in place to keep you safe,” Audrey said. “If anyone else had come across you alone out here with that gentleman, it would have caused a scandal, and you would have been forced to wed. Do you understand?”
“Wed? I don’t want to wed anyone. I want to have fun,” she said, looking between her sister and Fletcher.
“Then you should not put yourself in compromising positions,” Fletcher said. “Come now, you were lucky this time. Let’s head back inside, but Mia, make no mistake, I shall not warn you again. Do not wander off, or your Season will end, and we’ll leave London immediately. Do I make myself clear?”
Mia swallowed hard, realizing how close she’d come to a disaster of her own making. She didn’t even know thatgentleman’s name. “Yes. I’m sorry, Fletcher. I promise it won’t happen again.”
It was one of the few times she’d ever seen Fletcher so stern, and she didn’t want to see that again. Her brother-in-law was a man of few words sometimes, but she had no doubt he’d meant every one of them when he threatened to end her Season if she stepped out of line a second time. Without the Season, she had no doubt Fletcher would move the family back to Dandridge Manor in a heartbeat. That was the last thing she wanted.
Mia dutifully followed her sister and brother-in-law back inside. She hadn’t lied and really had gone out on the terrace for some fresh air, but then the gentleman approached her from the library doors, and she was swayed by his handsome face and perfect smile. She was merely trying to have a bit of fun and thought she’d be enjoying her first kiss. Instead, she’d nearly ended her Season at her first event.
Her sister had talked to her endlessly about proper behavior during the Season, about not being alone with a gentleman, but to Mia, they’d been merely words to keep her in line. Now that she’d been caught up in the very circumstances her sister had warned her about, she realized the consequences of being caught like that and should have paid more attention to her sister’s words.
She wasn’t ready to leave London or to wed anyone and vowed she wouldn’t make that mistake again. Once inside the ballroom, she plastered a wide smile on her face as her next partner came to claim his dance.
Audrey returned to Lady Devon’s side.
“All is well?” Lady Devon asked
“Yes,” Audrey said without any further elaboration.
Chapter3
Two days after the Thompsonball, Easton, Ludlow, and Chandler were at Tattersall’s near Hyde Park Corner, looking over the crop of horses for sale. A black stallion caught Ludlow’s eye, and he walked over to the horse.
“Hello there, boy; aren’t you a handsome one?” he said, speaking softly to the animal while rubbing his hand along its neck.
Easton walked over to him. “Is he the one?”
“Yes. I think so.”
When Easton looked up, he saw the most magnificent stallion he’d ever seen being led into the sales ring. He hurried over to the groom holding the beast of a horse. The stallion was mammoth, standing at over seventeen hands tall. His coat was as white as snow, and there was something about the way the horse looked at him that made Easton know this was his horse. He held out his hand to the horse before rubbing its nose. “You know you’re magnificent, don’t you?” The horse snorted, seeming to agree with him.
Easton, Ludlow, and Chandler stepped back, and the auction began. The bids for the white stallion were competitive, but Easton finally ended up with the top bid.
“Congratulations, Easton. He’s a beast of a horse.”
“Just what I was looking for,” Easton said. “Especially when I head to the country estate. There he’ll be able to stretch his legs and run to his heart’s content.”