Miss Armistead Makes Her Choice (8 page)

She rested her left arm along his shoulder and took a deep breath; the waltz had not been long performed in Bengal and she had no wish to mortify Mr. Lloyd-Jones. She had not long to contemplate her thoughts, however, for soon they were whirling about the room together and she could think of naught but keeping up with him. He was an exceedingly skilled dancer, or so she supposed though she had few but the young officers stationed in India with whom to compare.

“Well, then, Miss Armistead,” Mr. Lloyd-Jones said as he looked down into her eyes, “this seems a most opportune time to divulge to me the fascinations of India.”

“But where shall I begin?” she asked whilst silently observing that, in order to converse, she was forced to crane her neck at an awkward angle. However, if she did not, her forehead grazed against his chin in a too-familiar fashion she was powerless to prevent. Indeed, he swept her about the room with such authority, it seemed as if she need only submit and he would execute the dancing for the both of them.

“Perhaps you might start by telling me about your family. Your mother I have met and your friend, Miss Hale, but have you no sisters? Brothers? Have they enjoyed growing up in India as much as have you?”

“I am possessed of two younger brothers who, I am persuaded, are every bit as irascible as they should have proved to be had they grown up in England. My mother has resisted sending them to be schooled abroad, but I expect it is a disagreement my father shall presently win. Mr. Cruikshank and I shall look forward to hosting them for the course of their holidays as well as the heaving of a sigh when we see the backs of them, I suppose.”

“I should have liked a brother or two,” Mr. Lloyd-Jones remarked, “though I often feel as if I have enough to do in looking after my sister. She is not in the least wayward and yet she seems to find herself in more than her share of scrapes.”

“Miss Lloyd-Jones? Never say so!” Elizabeth insisted as she realized that the pain in her neck was due to the fact that he held her entirely too close for proper conversation. “She seems the epitome of pleasing comportment,” she added a bit faintly.

“Oh, entirely! I haven’t the slightest qualms when it comes to her behavior. And still, the most appalling commotion seems to rise up round her like a sudden thundercloud burst onto the scene of a pure blue sky.”

“Somehow I do not believe you. She is a lovely girl, in every way. I wish I had a sister as kind and merry as she.”

Mr. Lloyd-Jones bestowed on her a beatific smile, one that denoted his great affection for his sister. “Yes, I am most blessed in her. As such, I find I am particular as to whom she should marry.”

“More so than your parents?” Elizabeth asked with great interest in spite of the pain in her neck and the ensuing faintness that, moment by moment, grew more imminent.

“My mother is no longer with us,” he replied as a dark cloud passed over his face, “and while Analisa’s mother is all that she should be, I can hardly hope to stand against my father in this matter, let alone his wife. But that is neither here nor there. We were meant to speak of India, were we not?”

Elizabeth managed a little nod but felt that if she were not allowed to ease the pressure to the back of her neck, she should surely swoon. “Mr. Lloyd-Jones, I do not believe I have ever experienced waltzing thus. I confess to feeling as light as a feather in your arms, however, if you were to loosen your hold just a trifle, I should find conversation more comfortable.”

Immediately, he loosened his grip, a circumstance she instantly regretted as she knew she was safer in the tight circle of his arms. As matters stood, she was doomed to fall to the floor. The room began to swirl about her and her vision narrowed until all was utter darkness.

Chapter Five

Colin stared at the white face that lolled against his black coat sleeve and knew he had never seen anything so beautiful in all his days. It was his last thought before the humiliation assailed his senses; the fault for her fainting could be laid entirely in his dish. Why he had gripped her so tightly in his arms was anyone’s guess. It wasn’t that she seemed in need of his strength; she did not seem the least bit frail—quite the opposite—and yet, in spite of her efforts to conceal it, he sensed in her an unaccountable vulnerability.

More likely his rigidity on the dance floor was due to his anxiety with regard to his deflated confidence as a result of his broken engagement. The breaking of his pact with Tony, and at such a rapid rate, did nothing to improve Colin’s opinion of himself, either. It hardly mattered that he was thoroughly justified in the breaking of both promises, he still wanted nothing more than to curse, competently and at length. However, he did not; the girl in his arms was in need of a gentleman and he was the one at hand.

Quickly, he scanned the room for an unoccupied piece of furniture, preferably a sofa of some length where she could be arranged in comfort. He spotted one on the far side of the room and instantly began to bark at the circle of onlookers. “This lady has fainted; do allow me to pass!” When the crowd did not immediately part, he cradled her more tightly in his arms, her head protected along the inside curve of his shoulder while he engaged the outer to butt against those in his path.

Analisa ran to his side and he was only too grateful to order her about. “Find her mother and have her meet me at the sofa by the fireplace. No, wait!” Concerned that it would be too warm and stuffy by the fireplace, he changed direction and headed to a different sofa, this one beneath a window. “Here, Analisa, she shall be here,” he called in what amounted nearly to panic. Appalled at his heart-pounding apprehension, he forced himself to slow down and succeeded in placing his burden on the sofa without further mishap.

The moment she was no longer in his arms, she began to stir. “Where am I?” she asked as her head swayed to and fro.

He fell to his knees at her side and took her hand. “All is well,” he said, vastly relieved that his words were indeed true. “You shall be right as a trivet in a moment.”

At his words, her head turned in his direction and she opened her eyes. For a moment, she seemed sadly bewildered but then her gaze fastened onto his face and she smiled at him with such sweetness that his heart seized up in a most peculiar fashion.

Suddenly, she frowned and uttered an “oh” of alarm as her hand slid from his grasp. Pushing herself upright, she looked about. “I fear I have created a scene. Is my mother nearby?”

Colin turned to look about the room and spotted the approach of Mrs. Armistead. “She is nearly upon us.” He rose to stand and stepped away to allow Miss Armistead’s mother to tend to her daughter. It occurred to him, then, that he was no longer strictly required, yet he had no wish to depart before she had entirely recovered. “Do you wish to go home? Shall I have your carriage brought round?” he asked for lack of any better reason to remain at Miss Armistead’s side.

“Oh, please do,” Mrs. Armistead replied as she chafed her daughter’s hands and pinched her cheeks. “I shall take you straight home to Aunt Augusta’s and tuck you into bed, my sweet,” she cooed.

Reluctantly, Colin turned away and went in search of a footman. After some thought, he realized that should he order his carriage be brought round with the Armistead’s, he could insist on his willingness to escort the ladies home in his own conveyance. Miss Armistead would be afforded the company of Analisa while those who saw them leave together would refrain from speaking ill of the girl who had the great fortune to be escorted from the party in the company of the Lloyd-Joneses.

Satisfied with this arrangement, he found himself suddenly eager to host the ladies at a dinner in his home as Analisa had suggested. It would give him the opportunity to make amends to Miss Armistead and perhaps she should regale them all with the promised tales of India. He returned to the Armistead’s and informed them that once they had proffered their
adieus
and retrieved their wraps, his
carriage would be at their disposal.

“Oh, but we have our own carriage, Mr. Lloyd-Jones,” Mrs. Armistead blustered. “It is not as if we arrived in anything as pedestrian as a hackney cab. Elizabeth’s Aunt Augusta is very good ton, I shall have you know!”

“Yes, of course she is, Mrs. Armistead,” he assured her, though he hadn’t the slightest idea who Aunt Augusta might be. “I hadn’t meant to imply anything untoward; I only thought to escort you home in my carriage. It would be a boon to me, as I am more than a little alarmed and shall feel better when she is safely home. My sister shall come along, as well, to lend us countenance, and your carriage may follow along behind. Does that suit you?” he asked with a little bow.

“Oh, yes, indeed it does,” she cried as her spectacles slipped to the end of her nose. Hastily, she adjusted them, her hands, one full of a pointless lorgnette, shaking. “I do assure you that Elizabeth has not fabricated her condition so as to prevail upon you in any way. How I should scold her if she had!”

Colin observed how Miss Armistead turned at her mother’s words so as to hide her blushes, but she was not quick enough to keep them from his observation. “The thought hadn’t occurred to me,” he hastened to assure them. “As proof of my good will I wish to renew my sister’s invitation to dine at my house; shall we say Thursday next? I intend on serving a great many delicacies for your enjoyment, ones that cannot be had in India.” He hadn’t any earthly idea what those foodstuffs might be, but he was determined to find them out. He also decided that alterations to the dining room would commence the moment he had breakfasted in the morning.

“How very lovely, Mr. Lloyd-Jones! Elizabeth and I shall very much look forward to it, won’t we my dear?” Mrs. Armistead crooned. “And now it is time that you got to your feet.”

Colin wasted no time in assisting Miss Armistead to a standing position and refused to let go her hand until she had proven she was no longer in the least faint.

“Thank you, Mr. Lloyd-Jones,” she said quietly. “I am persuaded I don’t know what could have happened. One should think my sea legs would have been of more benefit to me in this instance,
should they not?” she asked, smiling up at him.

It was with some difficulty that Colin resisted the impulse to fall headlong into the depths of her emerald eyes. “I must take the full blame for your mishap, Miss Armistead, sea legs or no. Now, do feel free to lean against me as we depart,” he instructed as he took her arm. “We shall force ourselves to go slowly, shan’t we? Doubtless both carriages will have arrived out front once we gain the steps down to the street.”

She followed his directions without comment and, though she leaned on him very little, she felt scandalously near. He thought how completely different was his life but a fortnight ago when he knew he should die of grief over his broken betrothal. It seemed but a blink of an eye ago and yet, here he was, very much alive and enjoying every moment.

Their journey through the now voluminous crowds of the ballroom and down the stairs staggering with the weight of party-goers on their way up was not in the least conducive to conversation. The silence between them continued, however, as they waited in the chill night air for the carriages, which did not arrive as quickly as promised, to heave into view. However, once they had seated themselves in his comfortable coach lined with ruched gray satin, the squabs covered in petal soft velvet, and the door had shut behind them, Analisa ensured that it would be a most memorable ride.

“So! I do believe I heard Colin give a date for his dinner party. Please say that it is an evening you are free, Miss Elizabeth,” Analisa urged.

“I really couldn’t say for certain. Mama, do you agree that we ought to check with Aunt Augusta before we accept any invitations? She might have accepted one on our behalf for the same date and has not of yet divulged the matter to us.”

“Very true.” Mrs. Armistead wagged her head sagely. “Lady Augusta would take it amiss if we were to accept an invitation without her approval. Not that she would disapprove of our dining at Lloyd-Jones House, to be sure,” she added nervously. “It is only a matter of being made sure she has
not already accepted an invitation on our behalf for the self-same night, don’t you see?”

“Yes, of course,” Colin assured them but he could not help but feel their protestations were on account of something else. He thought perhaps Miss Armistead would venture a more illuminating comment if there were a silence to fill. As such, when Analisa took a breath to speak, he squeezed her hand in his own as warning.

The brief silence stretched on into an awkward breach and Colin wondered if perhaps he had got Miss Armistead all wrong.

Finally, she drew a deep breath and spoke. “You have both been so very kind and attentive. I am persuaded Aunt Augusta shall understand should it be required to break an engagement for the sake of your party. I imagine her possible ire might be greatly reduced should she receive an invitation, as well. I am aware that having yet another lady to the party might lead to difficulties and yet I am persuaded you shall have no trouble finding enough gentlemen to balance the table should Miss Analisa be in attendance.”

“An excellent notion, Miss Armistead,” Colin replied, “and expressed so prettily! I should be honored to add your aunt to the guest list. I have a few ideas of my own as to which gentlemen to invite, but I wonder if there are any you would most especially wish to attend?”

Miss Armistead’s expression was difficult to read in the darkened carriage, but he could well enough detect the note of censure in her voice. “Certainly Miss Analisa’s assessment on the matter should be of far more use than mine. After yourself, I can have no reason to wish any other gentleman in attendance save my betrothed, who will not as of yet have arrived from India.”

Colin admired Miss Armistead’s address. He admired, also, her appearance but owned that her admonishment stung. “Analisa, as you can see, I have been appropriately upbraided. I daresay I shall regret the question based on your response the last time I posed it, but, pray tell, whom should it please you to invite to balance out the ladies?”