Wick took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry, Mantheria. I didn’t call him out, but I did insult him. I couldn’t help myself. I once idolised him, for goodness’ sake. I even aped his ways...trying to flick my snuffbox open with only my thumb.’
She touched his shoulder. ‘You don’t even like snuff.’
‘I was only pretending.’
‘And so was I when I thought I could love him.’
He shook his head, clenching his teeth painfully together. ‘But you have been faithful to him. You have done nothing wrong.’
Mantheria smiled sadly. ‘Nor have I done much right in my marriage besides Andrew. You can ignore your feelings, like I did, but that will not make them go away. Be wiser with your heart than I have been, my dearest brother.’
Wick’s heart already felt rather battered, and the pain didn’t lessen as he watched Louisa dance with Sunny, Lord Carlisle, Mr Peterson and Lord Norwich. Despite being approached by several matrons who dropped extremely obvious hints, he did not dance.
He couldn’t.
Standing at the side of the room, his eyes followed Louisa and Mantheria through the figures of the dance. His sister Helen had the same colouring as Mantheria and Elizabeth before she’d died, but if Lizzy had lived she would have matured like Mantheria and been a beauty in her own right. Would Elizabeth have wed and become a mother by now, too? Had she survived, would she have stopped Mantheria from marrying a man she didn’t love? Would Elizabeth have seen past Glastonbury’s wealth and title to his soul?
Elizabeth had been sensitive like that. She had sensed other people’s emotions, and more than once soothed Wick’s pride or bruised ego. How different all their lives might have been if she and Charles had lived. If he could have saved them both. Then maybe he could have courted Louisa. Loved her.
Instead, he watched her twirl around the dance floor with another man.
Chapter Nineteen
Despite wearing another beautiful new gown of celestial blue with a matching silk slip, Louisa felt rather flat. Wick had arrived late to the Kensington ball and he had not asked her to dance. It was some solace, but not much, that he had not asked any other young lady to dance either. He was making it clear to the world—and to Louisa—that he hated these things and everything to do with the marriage mart.
She needed to stop hoping for him to change. For him to love her. Besides, she was not worthy of his love. The gentlemen who had asked her to dance seemed to be fonder of her fortune than of her face. It was just as Aunt Rockingham had warned her. Without her title and her money, Louisa was nothing.
Her partner Mr Snow bowed to her and took her hand to lead her to the crowded side of the ballroom, where Mantheria stood next to two young gentlemen. Louisa assumed that they would be her next partners. The young and beautiful Duchess had made sure that Louisa had a partner for every set.
A step away from Mantheria, Louisa felt someone grab her free arm and step on the hem of her gown. Louisa thought it might be Wick, but when she turned her head she saw that it was Cousin Barnabas. ‘Louisa, what are you doing here?’ he said, in a loud voice that caused several pairs of eyes to turn in their direction. ‘Mother has been looking everywhere for you.’
‘Let go of me!’ she said, twisting out of his grip and tearing the flounce on her gown.
Barnabas reached for her arm again—but this time Wick stood between them. ‘If you lay a finger on her I will knock you to the floor. Then beat you senseless.’
Her cousin blinked and his bulbous eyes focused on Wick’s muscular arms. Louisa knew that it was no idle threat and felt her own confidence rising. She was no longer friendless and helpless. All the Stringhams had accepted her into their pack, and Wick’s sisters would have fought for her as viciously as he did.
‘Louisa!’ Aunt Rockingham practically yelled from the other side of the dance floor and rushed towards her. The crowd parted to make way for her and all eyes fell on Louisa.
Her aunt tried to brush past Wick, but still he stood between them. ‘No, Lady Rockingham. You are not to touch her.’
‘She is my niece. I am her guardian.’
The once loud ballroom was now as silent as a church on a Thursday afternoon.
Louisa found her backbone and her tongue. ‘I am of age, Aunt Rockingham. You have no further hold on me.’
Aunt Rockingham clutched at the diamonds around her neck. ‘Is this how I am to be treated after taking care of you for over ten years? For loving and protecting you? I would not have thought you so ungrateful as to run away with a stranger. I have been so worried.’
There were several gasps. Louisa glanced around the room and saw that the dancing had stopped. Everyone was watching the scene her cousin and her aunt were making as if they were in a play on the stage.
Wick stepped menacingly towards her relatives but Louisa placed a hand on his arm. The Stringham sisters didn’t need anyone to stand up for them. They stood up for themselves and she could do that too. She stepped forward to challenge them head-on.
‘I was tired of being your servant, Aunt Rockingham,’ Louisa said loudly. ‘I was weary of wearing rags while you were dressed in diamonds. You claimed that my allowance would not cover better clothing, or even boots that did not pinch. You said that you could not afford to bring me to London for my debut. If that is the case, then you need not worry about spending another farthing on me. I have friends who do not begrudge me the basic necessities of life, and they treat me with the honour that I should have received in my own home, as befits my birth and station in life.’
‘How dare you speak to my mother that way?’ Barnabas said, raising his hand as if to slap her.
Louisa briefly closed her eyes, but the blow did not fall. Instead, she saw Wick standing over her cousin, who was flat on his back on the floor. Wick delivered another punch to Barnabas’s face and then grabbed his coat collar, dragging him across the ballroom floor and out of the room. The expression on his countenance was murderous. She almost felt sorry for her cousin.Almost.