Chapter Seven

“Is something amiss? You have scarcely touched your appetiser, and it is nearly time for the plates to be cleared.”

Elaine blinked, refocusing her attention on her plate. James was right. She’d been pushing around her vegetables for the past few minutes and had not taken a single bite. She made an effort to do so now but it didn’t lift James’ attention from her.

“What is the matter?” he asked again. “Did something happen?”

“Nothing happened,” she assured him, forcing a smile to her face. Elaine realised a second too late that that was the wrong move. The smile was clearly insincere, and she was certain James saw right through it.

“Are you not hungry then?” he questioned. “Would you wish to go home early?”

“No!” she said hastily. And a little too loudly, she realised, when a few heads turned in her direction. She pointedly ignored the person sitting directly across from her, even as a prickly sensation raced over her skin.

They were all seated at a grand table in the dining room and, despite her best wishes, she had not been seated next to the Duke of Ryewood. Instead, he was sitting right across from her.

She tried her best not to look at him and so far, she succeeded. But he was the only thing she could focus on. Ever since she saw him dancing with the beautiful, blond lady, her hope had begun to wither. And now that he was seated between two beautiful blond ladies, that hope was a dead thing in the centre of her chest.

On a brighter note, she had now gathered that the blond-haired lady on his left was his sister. Elaine overheard her call him ‘brother’ and she did notice a few similarities in their features. That didn’t make her feel much better, however, since his attention was almost entirely monopolised by the marquess’ daughter.

“I noticed you dancing with a few gentlemen,” James queried once more, “Do any of them pique your interest?”

Elaine flushed, eyes pinned to her still rather full plate. “Do you genuinely believe this is a suitable conversation to engage in during such a public dinner, James?”

“Why not? If you tell me who you fancy, I may be able to have a talk with them.”

“And why would you want to have a talk with them?”

“To see if they are up to par, of course,” he said as if it should have been obvious.

Elaine sighed. She appreciated James’ dedication to her cause but right now, it wasn’t helping her feel any better. “Tomorrow we shall see if there is any hope left for me,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound as morose as she felt. “For now, I simply want this evening to be over with.”

“Why? You were in a grand mood a short while ago.”

That was before she began comparing herself to the beautiful daughter of Lord Grovington. That was before she saw the duke dancing with her and realising that she could not have been as elegant as her. That was before she was seated across from the duke and Lady Isabella, forced to catch snippets of their conversations even though she was making an active effort to not listen.

“James?”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever had feelings for another person?”

James’s hand faltered midway to his mouth, his fork growing limp between his fingers. For a moment, he didn’t move, staring dead ahead. Elaine frowned, following his gaze. If she didn’t know any better, she would think he was looking at the duke’s sister.

“I have,” he said at last. “But they were fleeting emotions in my past. I have not felt anything close to love if that is what you are truly asking.”

“It would surpass anything I have ever experienced. Can you tell me what it is like?”

James frowned. He seemed to be thinking about it for a moment. “It is…most distracting.”

“How so?”

“You find that you are unable to focus on the things that you should. The person you fancy consumes your thoughts. When they walk into a room, they are all you can focus on. If they are not by your side, the distance between you feels as vast as the ocean. It is…simply distracting.” He resumed his eating. “It is a useless emotion.”

Distracting . James was no poet yet he managed to encapsulate all that she felt in a single word.

Elaine glanced at the duke. Her heart skipped a beat when she realised he was already staring at her. Lady Isabella was saying something to him but he wasn’t paying her any mind. When their eyes met, he tilted his head to the side and smiled.

Elaine’s heart thundered against her chest. Blushing furiously, she looked away quickly, then chastised herself for acting so immaturely.

“Do you not wish to marry, James?” she asked her cousin, trying to act normal despite the fact the duke had sent her nerves into a flurry once more.

“I do. It is my duty as a viscount.”

“For reasons other than duty,” she pressed.

“No. Marriage is simply a mutually beneficial relationship between a man and a woman. If I had no duty to provide an heir for the title, then there would be no benefit for me in the relationship.”

“Surely there are other gains to be had between a husband and his wife.”

“Such gains can be found outside of marriage.”

“Like what?”

James thinned his lips. “This is not a proper conversation for a lady,” he said.

Elaine could not quite fathom why. She didn’t know much about what happened between a man and woman during marriage other than the fact that the woman was meant to bear children while the man kept a roof over their heads and food on their table. But there had to be more, didn’t there?

It shouldn't matter. At least, not for her. She was not one of the lucky ladies who could afford to choose who they married. She was only here out of desperation, out of the need to save her family from further ruination. Elaine knew she did not have the luxury of choosing a husband out of love.

“The Duke of Ryewood seems to have taken an interest in you.”

This time, she managed to hide how startled she was at James' observation.

“He was just being kind.”

“It seemed like more than kindness to me.”

“Would it be so bad if it were?”

“I only want you to be careful. His reputation leaves much to be desired.”

Elaine frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

“I suppose it is not surprising that you do not know, given how little you know about the Ton. Truthfully, I do not know the details myself, though I am aware that he was recently involved in a scandal.”

“A scandal?” Elaine resolutely averted her gaze from the duke’s direction, even though she wanted nothing more than to do just that. “About what?”

James just shrugged. “You should pay heed when he approaches you again, Elaine.”

The caution struck something in her. Elaine focused on eating, tasting nothing, her mind spinning as she tried to imagine what sort of scandal could be surrounding the duke’s name. Was he a rake? Did he have a habit of ravishing ladies in dark corners? Did he have a gambling habit?

Not knowing nagged at her, even though Elaine knew it might be for the best. She couldn’t put her hopes on the duke. It was foolish of her to even think that in the first place. She had to stay level-headed and focus on the only thing she had come here to do.

But if the duke kept looking at her like that, Elaine wasn’t sure how well she would fare in her quest.

***

“Will this night ever end?”

I was wondering the very same thing .

Laughter pulled Elaine out of her thoughts. She jolted, her spine going ramrod straight as she realised she was not alone and the question had not simply floated out of thin air.

There was a lady standing next to her—the very same beautiful blond lady whom Elaine had marked as the duke’s sister.

For a moment, Elaine merely stared at her. And the blond lady stared back. In those few uncomfortable seconds, Elaine came back to the present. The dinner had been over for some time now and the hostess had invited the ladies to the drawing room while the men went to the parlour to play billiards. The last thing Elaine recalled was staring longingly into the retreating back of the Duke of Ryewood before she found a corner in the drawing room and succumbed to her boredom.

She hadn’t expected anyone to approach her. In a room full of roses and lilies, she was a wallflower whom no one paid any mind to. If there were men present, perhaps it would have bothered her to know that she was bound to be ignored when surrounded by such beauties. But since there were no gentlemen, Elaine only lamented the fact that she had a few more hours of this to go.

“Oh, don’t get shy now,” the blond-haired lady said, smiling brightly. “It is far more entertaining when I have someone to complain with.”

Elaine blinked. Ah, yes. Someone had commented on how long the night was and…had she spoken aloud? She could have sworn she had agreed in her mind.

“Elaine,” she managed to say as she regained her composure. “Elaine Sutton.”

The lady curtsied slightly, her smile lighting her bright blue eyes. “My name is Clarissa.”

Clarissa approached and positioned herself beside Elaine. Elaine didn’t miss the fact that her dark corner brightened considerably with this new company.

“Tell me, Elaine,” Clarissa went on. “Is it me or have events such as these grown much longer since the last Season?”

“I do not know,” Elaine admitted softly. “I did not attend any events during the previous Season. I have not been to any at all, actually.”

“Truly?” Clarissa sounded genuinely surprised. “So this is your first?”

Elaine nodded. She couldn’t help studying Clarissa’s face and saw no trace of judgment.

“How interesting,” Clarissa mused. “To be frank, Elaine—may I call you Elaine?”

Elaine nodded. She didn’t think Clarissa was the kind of lady who had ever been denied a thing in her lifetime and Elaine did not feel inclined to be the first.

Clarissa’s smile brightened at her permission. “To be frank, Elaine,” she continued. “I noticed you in the ballroom. And I must say that you carry yourself like someone who is quite accustomed to balls.”

“Shall I take that as a compliment?” Elaine asked uncertainly.

“Yes, please do! That is how I intended it. You are quite graceful, Elaine. And there are quite a few ladies present who cannot claim the same.” Clarissa flushed and a fan Elaine hadn’t noticed before opened before her face with a thwack. “Oh, goodness. You must forgive me. It is rather unbecoming to gossip with someone I have just met.”

Something in the cadence of her voice and the poise with which she carried herself set Elaine at ease. She didn’t even notice that she was smiling until she heard it in her voice. “It is not so unusual, Clarissa. What do you think half the ladies in here are doing?”

“They are likely talking about the latest fashions.”

“And how dreadful Lady Emerson looks with all those feathers in her hat,” Elaine observed. She subtly lifted her chin toward three ladies gathered in the opposite corner of the room, their heads bent close to each other as they laughed and whispered.

“Or how desperate Miss Annabelle seemed to dance with the Earl of Dunkley,” Elaine went on, moving to the other group of ladies gathered just a short distance away from the first. “Or perhaps how odd it was that Lady Jones was given the honour of hosting the first ball of the Season when she was not in the Queen’s good graces.”

“How do you know all of this?” Clarissa asked, surprised.

“You would be surprised how many things you hear when no one notices that you are there.”

Clarissa raised her fan to her lips. It took Elaine a moment to realise that she was hiding her laughter. “What about them?” she asked, eyes turned to the group of ladies sitting in the centre of the room. “What are they talking about?”

That was the group Elaine had been trying her hardest to ignore, the loudest of them all. Sitting in the centre was the marquess’ daughter, like a queen engaging her subjects. The other ladies seemed to hang on to her every word, vying for her approval. But Lady Isabella paid them scant regard while she regaled them with her tales of the night, of how she was certain all the gentlemen she danced with would call on her the next day.

The prospect of the Duke of Ryewood calling upon Lady Isabella left a bad taste in Elaine’s mouth.

“She talks about herself a lot,” Elaine said after a moment, hoping Clarissa wouldn’t notice her lapse.

“I am not surprised. I was seated just one seat away from her during dinner and she would not stop telling my brother how much she excels at all manners of arts.”

“Oh, is that so?” Elaine already knew that. She’d pieced together enough of what she’d heard to come to that conclusion.

“You know my brother, do you not?” Clarissa’s fan moved further up her face, until nothing but her eyes were visible. “I believe I saw you two dancing.”

Elaine fought the blush that overcame her face as hard as she could and lost poorly. She avoided looking at Clarissa instead. Had she noticed how smitten Elaine had become with the duke in such a short span of time? If she had, who else might have noticed?

“Yes, I do recall the duke,” she managed.

“Ah.” Clarissa’s voice sounded just as strained. “And what are your thoughts of him?”

“He is quite pleasant. Very…teasing.”

“Teasing?”

“Quite so. I do not know what to make of it yet.” It was the truth. She could not discern whether his playful demeanour was genuine flirtation or merely part of his charm.

“I see.” Clarissa’s fan ceased its fluttering for a moment. Elaine didn’t dare look, fearing that the duke’s sister had noticed something in Elaine’s tone. Something to indicate that perhaps Elaine was not as nonchalant about their meeting as she was trying to make it seem.

“Well, enough about my brother,” Clarissa said at last. “I have had enough of hearing about the Duke of Ryewood since the start of this evening. Tell me, Elaine, do you enjoy poetry?”

Elaine released a slow breath of relief at the change in topic. She most certainly did enjoy poetry. More than that, she enjoyed being able to talk to someone with such ease, without silly little emotions about one’s brother clouding her mind.