His heart palpitated, and he felt tingling in his chest.Sunny decided then and there not to attend her ball.He didn’t worry about Mantheria finding a partner for the quadrille or any dance.She was the beautiful daughter of a duke with a healthy dowry.His feelings for her would fade.Of that he was certain.
* * *
April 7, 1806
Sunny hadn’t cometo her coming-out ball the night before.Mantheria had worn her prettiest white dress and reserved the first dance for him.Even after the guests began to arrive and Mama suggested that she find an alternate partner, Mantheria had refused.Sunny was coming.He’d kissed her thoroughly, which meant that he must intend to court her.A gentleman didn’t go about kissing unmarried ladies like that under the mistletoe.Before him, the only kisses she’d received had been on her hands or cheeks.
At Christmastime, Mantheria felt relieved that Sunny had finally noticed her.She’d loved him for six years, ever since Wick had brought him home the first summer after Eton.Sunny had always been kind to her, but he’d treated her like one of the little girls.Which Mantheria was not.She loved her little sisters, but she couldn’t help but wish that her mother would take a firmer disciplinary hand with them.Or that she would send them to school.Mantheria had attended Miss Cluess’s girls’ school in Bath for the last three years, and she had loved it there.She thrived under the structure, schedule, and strictures.Including Miss Cluess’s favorite:The rules of Society keep us safe.
But Sunny had not come to her ball last night.
The string quartet had begun to play, and Mantheria was saved from acute humiliation by none other than the distinguished Duke of Glastonbury.He was the sort of handsome that made your insides feel sticky.But he must have been a great deal older than her—in his late thirties.Silver touched the black temples of his hair, and he possessed an air of confidence that Wick and his friends had yet to acquire.His suit was also very handsome, and he wore a jeweled pin on his cravat.
Not only did the Duke of Glastonbury dance with her during the quadrille, but he’d also asked for a second dance.The supper one.Lord Glastonbury was a witty companion with a well-informed mind.And unlike her rather wild and rambunctious family, his manners were perfectly well-bred and polite.To have captured the wealthy duke’s attention for even one night was a feather in any debutante’s cap.It had almost made up for the fact that Sunny had not come to her ball.She knew that he was still studying at Cambridge, but her brother Wick had come to London for the Easter holidays.
Why had Sunny not kept his promise?
Mantheria stood still as her lady’s maid finished buttoning her blue riding habit and tied the ribbon of her bonnet charmingly to the side.Wick had promised to take her riding at the park today, and she could quiz him about Sunny.She thanked her lady’s maid—a delightful addition to becoming a grown woman—and walked down the stairs.
Wick was waiting at the bottom of them.Although they were siblings, they did not resemble each other much.Wick took after Mama’s side of the family, with thick brown hair and a stockier build.Mantheria favored her father’s aristocratic features: blonde and slender.
He groaned and narrowed his eyes at her.“Took you long enough.I’ve been waiting for over half an hour.”
Brothers.
Mantheria sniffed.“That is hardly a polite way to address a lady.”
“You’re my sister.”
“And aladyby birth and breeding.”
Unlike their mother, who had been common before she’d married a duke.And sometimes she still brought Mantheria to a blush by her blunt words and her vulgar involvement in trade.Mama owned a perfume company and oversaw the running of it.Such behavior would have been unfortunate in a titled gentleman, but it was shocking for a lady.It went against every societal rule.Mantheria was certain that if her mother weren’t such good friends with the Prince Regent, she would be shunned by Society.As her daughter, Mantheria had received her share of snubs and digs over her mother’s eccentric behavior.And sometimes even unwanted attentions from gentlemen, such as a pinch or a grab.
Her father didn’t follow the rules either.He was supposed to be a duke, not a poorly dressed naturalist with a menagerie of animals.Papa disliked most aristocrats, and he hated both Society and Town.
At least Wick looked the part of a marquess.Even if he often didn’t behave like one.He was stockier than Sunny, but he dressed with the precision of a Corinthian.
“I hope the groom is still holding the horses outside,” he grumbled, jutting his jaw out as he opened the front door for her.
Mantheria was pleased to see that the groom wasindeed still holding the horses’ bridles.Wick swung up into his seat, and Mantheria waited for the groom to help her into the sidesaddle.They walked their horses, side by side, down the London roads.Even when they reached the park, galloping was against the rules.
Holding the reins tightly, Mantheria asked, “Did Sunny come with you to London?I didn’t see him at my ball last night.”
Wick scowled at his little sister.He did not like going to balls, and as the eldest son of a duke with the courtesy title of marquess, he was always beset by debutantes and their matchmaking mamas who were after his title and fortune.“Yes, he did.But he was smart enough not to attend.”
Her brother’s thoughtless words stung.Mantheria bit the side of her cheek.She had made all sorts of excuses and reasons for Sunny not coming to the ball.But she’d never considered that he’d chosen to avoid it.Her ribs seemed to tighten, and she felt a light quiver in her stomach.She would give Sunny a chance to explain.Wick didn’t know everything about his best friend.Even if he’d given Sunny his crooked nose as boys.They’d fought before they became friends.
Once they were in the park, they allowed their horses to quicken their pace a little to a trot.If Mantheria wasn’t there, she was certain that her brother would have allowed his horse to run.Like the rest of her family, he didn’t seem to think that the rules of Society applied to him.
Mantheria had a good seat on her horse and was happy to see several of her friends from school.She waved to some and even stopped her mare to talk to others.She and Wick were heading back home through Hyde Park when her brother spotted Sunny.He hailed his friend and rode up to him.Mantheria followed politely behind at a respectable pace.Her heart, however, was beating unnaturally fast.
Sunny didn’t have his own horse.He was riding a hack.No doubt as a way to economize.Wick had mentioned more than once that his friend was short on funds.Despite his nickname of “Sunny,” he appeared anything but happy this morning.His brow was furrowed, and he scowled.The two friends spoke for several minutes while Mantheria remained quiet, waiting for her turn to ask for reassurances and clarification for missing their dance.Another university friend hailed her brother, and Mantheria kept her steed near Sunny’s.
“Why didn’t you come to my ball?”she asked in a low undertone, thumbing her ear with one hand.“You promised to dance the quadrille with me.”
“I am sorry if my absence inconvenienced you, my lady.”
His words were formal and cold.And he did not meet her eyes.Mantheria’s heart sank.She’d imagined all sorts of excuses for Sunny.