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“No?” the Earl asked, sounding almost amused. “I assure you, Miss Rutley, it is quite the done thing for a gentleman to pay a call to a lady after he enjoys a dance with her. If you’ve not had the experience to inform you of this, I should be glad to provide a book. I can bring it to your house when I pay my call tomorrow.”

Emily’s mouth dropped open in shock. Thegallof the man! He’d all but called her an unappealing spinster, right here in the middle of everyone!

Andrew seemed to agree that this went a bit far. “Now see here,” he said sternly.

The Earl tipped his head toward the Duke in a conciliatory manner though his eyes remained fixed on Emily’s. “No offense meant, I assure you,” he said in what was one of the most patently obvious lies Emily had ever heard. “The younger Miss Rutley here had merely informed me that her sister was serving as a slightly unconventional chaperone. It’s why she was so eager for us to meet, you see,” he added.

At this, Emily’s glace flickered over to Amanda who was looking…well,furiouswas too mild a term for it, Emily thought.

“A chaperone’s duty,” she said through gritted teeth, “is to protect her charges from unsuitable advances.”

“Emily!” This time the word came from Amanda, a low warning.

Emily ignored it. The Earl did, too.

“I cannot think why you should think me unsuitable, Miss Rutley,” he said, the words a challenge.

“I,” she returned, “cannot be held responsible for your inability to think.”

The Earl’s expression flickered briefly in a way that suggested he was amused by this exchange. Diana choked back a sound that said she wasdefinitelyamused by this exchange. Emily, decidedlyunamused, kept her spine straight and her chin tilted up as she looked the Earl of Moore directly in the eye.

It was Amanda who broke the fraught moment.

“Oh, you areawful!” she exclaimed, stamping her foot petulantly like an angry child. “I am positively sick todeathof you, Emily!”

And then she turned on her heel and fled, Rose only steps behind her.

Emily felt a wave of misery overtake her though she could not quite call it regret. She hated angering her sisters, hated how often it was necessary. She hated it even more when she felt she’d gone about it in a manner that was…less than optimal.

For while she did not think the Earl of Moore had any business around her sister, she supposed she could admit that there might have been a better way to express her disapproval than by quarreling with the man in public.

This, she decided in an instant, was something else she could lay at the feat of the dratted Earl of Moore.

“Look at what you’ve done now!” she cried, dismay loosening her tongue and causing her to forget that, mere moments ago, she’d recognized the foolishness of fighting with him in the middle of a ball.

“Me?” He looked appalled. “I haven’t?—”

But she had neither the time nor the inclination to fight with him. Instead of waiting to hear the rest of his retort—which would, no doubt, have been nothing but nonsense, anyway—she stepped aside, ready to pursue her sisters.

And that would have been fine, except the wretched, terrible,awfulEarl of Moore had evidently decided that he, too, needed to depart in precisely that moment—never mind that he didn’t have any furious sisters to chase after. They moved—together yet opposite—nearly crashing into one another for a second time that evening.

This time, however, Emily saw it coming. She jerked herself back before they could collide…

And her slipper lost traction on the polished ballroom floor. She careened backwards, her mind conjuring the half hysterical thought that perhaps it was destiny that wanted to see her flat on her bum in front of thetonthis evening. How else could she explain that this had happenedtwice?

Except once again, she did not fall. Once again, strong arms came around her, halting her progress towards the ground.

It was not her shoulders the Earl of Moore grasped this time, however. No, this time when he lunged to stop Emily from falling to the ground, he seized her by her waist, pulled her up firmly until she was pressed well and firmly against him.

Against thewholeof him, she realized with a startled blink. Impossibly, her hands were pressed against his chest. What on earth were they doing there? His gaze bore into hers, intense and sharp and lit with something that was not quite animosity. Something about that gaze made Emily feel even more breathless than had the near fall.

“Oh my,” breathed Frances.

This seemed to jolt the Earl, at least, back into his senses.

“I beg your pardon,” he said gruffly.

“Right,” Emily replied which was terribly inane, but her mind didn’t seem to be working quite correctly.