“She’s your mother. She’s due a little courtesy.”
He took a moment to absorb that, and realized to his horror that his mother had somehow won again. Because no matter what conversation he had with her, no matter that Mellie neatly put her in her place regarding the invitations, he had once again ended up in the wrong. And, apparently, he was going to a damned tea as well.
“Have I just been managed?” he mused, not at all pleased by the thought. Surprisingly, he was not horrified either. It might be fun to watch Mellie and his mother fence with one another. He’d thought his fiancée akin to a lamb to the slaughter, but she’d just proved she had teeth of her own. Just so long as he could watch from afar. From very, very far away.
“So you’ll let her have her tea?” Mellie asked.
“If you want it.”
“I think it’s only polite.”
It would be a nightmare, but she didn’t realize that yet. Fortunately, he would be at her side the entire time and could protect her. Or so he planned as the steps of the dance began.
Then there was little time to talk as they skipped and hopped through the patterns of the dance. She moved easily, neither the worst nor the best dancer he’d ever been partnered with. But what made this moment so much more delightful was the way she seemed to relish dancing. She enjoyed a pattern that had become routine to him. She smiled brightly at him, she laughed happily when one lady was particularly dashing, and she held his hand and looked at him as if he had given her the moon.
And he wanted to. He wanted to give her the sun, moon, and stars and anything else her heart might desire. He wanted to swing her around and pull her into his arms, then kiss her senseless. And after he laid her down in a bed of silk sheets, showered her with jewels, and made her come a thousand times? Then he would sink into her and find such bliss between her thighs that—
The dance came to an end. The dance ended, and she was looking at him with a furrow between her eyes. He swallowed, forcibly bringing his mind back to the present. Then he bowed in his most respectful fashion before leading her to the edge of the ballroom where every male in London was standing and waiting for her.
“They are waiting for their time with you,” he said, his voice tight. It was an effort of will to keep his hands from becoming fists.
“Should I refuse them?”
“No,” he forced himself to say. He saw Eleanor standing nearby. He had no idea where she’d been during that blighted conversation with his mother, but she was here now, entertaining the men while they all waited for Mellie.
He turned to Mellie, choosing the brutal truth for the first time in a long time. “I cannot watch you dance with them.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, Mellie, but they are thinking things that make me want to run them through with a sword.”
She blinked at him. “Do you even own a sword?”
“A pistol then. I own a pistol.” A fine pair he’d won in a game of faro. He hadn’t the slightest idea where they were at the moment, but he remembered winning them. “Or my grandfather’s sword.”
She laughed, the sound rich and fine. How had he not seen how refined she was on every level? “You quite turn my head when you speak so romantically.”
“Really?”
She laughed a little louder. Then she sobered. “No silly, because I know you are teasing me. But I thank you for the effort. I feel…” She took a deep breath and turned her sparkling eyes to the room at large. “I feel alive, Trevor, and it’s wonderful.”
“Then you should enjoy it. And like the besotted bridegroom, I will stand on the side and glower at any man who dares touch you.”
“They are only trying to pluck the feathers off, you know.”
“I know,” he growled. “And that makes it ten times worse.”
“Shall I tell you a secret?” she whispered as the gaggle of gentlemen began to surround her. Trevor had made sure to stop far enough away to have their conversation, but the blighters had moved to her.
“Please,” he said. Anything to distract him from how beautiful she was.
“There is a design on the gown underneath. The feathers are meant to flake away to show the colors and stitching below. The duchess predicted the pattern will be revealed by midnight.”
He gaped at her. Good God, did she not understand what that did to the male mind? To know that he issupposedto undress her? It would be quite the surprise tonight, but after that? Every man would be determined to destroy her gown whenever she appeared.
“I shall have to carry pistols and hire guards to protect you,” he said.
She simply laughed, too innocent to know that he was serious. “It’s to make me exciting, and I must say, it’s working. I feel like a mysterious package soon to be opened.”