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“Clearly not, if you are speaking in halting sentences,” Ethan remarked.

Hudson shook his head. “I just need another glass.”

Colin pressed his lips into a thin line. “How many have you had? It is not even midnight yet.”

“If you were in any of my establishments, you would be losing at least three estates and your darkest secret,” Daniel added.

They were not helping.

“Perhaps a walk in the gardens?” Ethan suggested. “The cool air might clear your head.”

His mother would kill him for disappearing in the middle of the ball.

“I am not one of your vapid dalliances that you have to lure out into the gardens.”

Ethan looked visibly affronted. “Believe me, Hudson, you are not pretty enough to be lured out. Besides…” The damned fool smiled. “Why would I need a dalliance when I have Phoebe?”

“The Dowager Countess of Southford and Lady Scarlett Clarke!”

Hudson’s spinning world suddenly came to a grinding halt.

So it went for everyone else, it would seem, for a sudden hush suddenly fell all over the ballroom.

Do not look now.You are not ready for this. Get a hold of yourself first.

But he would never be ready.

There was only the here and the now and the undeniable urge to look towards her light. Always her, and nobody else.

So, Hudson looked…

And the sight of her stole his breath away.

I can still leave. Pick up my skirts. And. Just. Leave.

But leaving seemed an awful lot like retreating. Likeadmitting defeat.

And she would not do that while she still drew breath. Not while she had a breathtaking dress in her arsenal that she had yet to put to good use.

“Look!” her mama breathed in wonder. “Her Grace is truly a miracle worker! I never thought they would be able to transform the ballroom in such a short time.”

“I suppose nothing is impossible with unlimited wealth and an army of servants,” Scarlett muttered.

Her mother nodded. “A pity that you and His Grace are not courting.”

“Mama.” Scarlett’s voice dropped to a low warning. “I thought we had already talked about this?—”

“I know, I know, my dear. But one can hope, right?”

“No, Mama. You had better put those hopes to rest. They are not happening.”

Her mama heaved a sigh that seemed to have come from the very depths of her soul, rattling her bones along the way.

Scarlett could not help but smile at that. Her mother had such a flair for the dramatic—when she cared, anyway.

“Oh look! There he is!”

Her head swung in the direction her mama had indicated. It was only second nature, she supposed. Somebody pointed and she turned.