With a self-deprecatory grimace, he drained his glass.
Given the field on which their game was to be played, given his expertise in that sphere, ultimate control-the ability to stop, redirect the play, even rescript the rules-lay in his hands. And always would.
He wondered if she'd realized that.
After strolling in Richmond Park by moonlight, Amanda found it hard to pretend to any great interest in such a mundane event as a ball.
"I wish I could escape," she whispered to Amelia as they promenaded down Lady Carmichael's ballroom in their mother's wake.
Amelia shot her a worried glance. "You can't have another headache. I only just stopped Mama from sending for Doctor Graham last time."
Amanda eyed the flower of the ton with a jaundiced eye. "It'll have to be another party, then. Aren't the Farthingales entertaining tonight?"
"Yes, but you'll have to do the pretty for another hour before you can leave. And you'll have to find Reggie."
"True." Amanda scanned the crowd in earnest. "Have you seen him?"
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Amelia shook her head. Louise settled on a chaise with Lady Osbaldestone and their aunt, the Dowager Duchess of St. Ives. After curtsying and exchanging greetings, the twins strolled on through the gathering crowd.
"There's Emily and Anne."
Amanda followed Amelia's gaze to where two girls, patently nervous, stood by one wall. Emily and Anne Ashford were to make their come-outs that Season. The twins had known the Ashfords all their lives. With identical, reassuring smiles, they made their way to the younger girls' sides.
Emily's and Anne's faces lit.
"This is your first ball, isn't it?" Amelia asked as they joined them.
The girls nodded, brown ringlets dancing.
"Don't worry," Amanda said. "I know it's hard to believe, but you will survive the night without doing anything to sink yourselves."
Emily smiled, nervous but grateful. "It's just so… overwhelming." She gestured at the throng filling the room.
"At first," Amelia said. "But after a few weeks, you'll be as used to it as we are."
Together with Amelia, Amanda chatted of inconsequential matters, skillfully encouraging the younger girls to relax.
She was looking about for some suitable young gentlemen to snare for Emily and Anne when Edward Ashford, one of their brothers, emerged from the crowd. Tall, well built, soberly dressed, Edward bowed to the twins, then, taking up a stance beside his sisters, considered the crowd. "A relatively small gathering. Once the Season proper starts, it'll be much worse than this."
Emily shot Amanda a startled glance.
She suppressed an urge to kick Edward. "One hundred or five hundred, there's not much difference. You can only ever see twenty bodies at a time."
"And by the time the larger balls start, you'll be feeling much more at home," Amelia put in.
Edward glanced at his sisters assessingly, censoriously. "This Season is your chance to make a good match. It might be wise to make a greater effort to attract the right notice Hiding by the wall-"
"Edward." Amanda smiled daggers at him when he looked at her. "Can you see Reggie Carmarthen?"
"Carmarthen?" Edward lifted his head, looked about." I wouldn't have thought he'd be much use."
More use than Edward. At twenty-seven, he was a certified bore, pompous and prideful. Amelia seized the moment to draw the girls' attention; Amanda shifted to keep edward's gaze from his sisters.
"I can't see… oh."
A familiar blankness infused Edward's features. Following his gaze, Amanda was unsurprised to see his older brother Lucien Ashford, Viscount Calverton, step from the crowd, his customary taunting, oddly crooked smile lifting his long lips,