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“Lady Balfour enjoys a night out as much as any lady I’ve ever met,” Lord Balfour said with a smile. “Perhaps the four of us could make plans to visit the Golden Duck sometime in the near future.”

“Oh, that would be splendid,” Lady Balfour said.

“I agree,” Conor said, smiling.

Astrid felt warm all over. She hadn’t let her husband down. Her first real social interaction with members of thetonhad been a rousing success, and they had even made plans to go on an outing together.Perhaps this party will have the effect I had hoped it would, she thought happily.Maybe when it’s over, Conor and I will both find ourselves better able to integrate with the people who should be our peers.

The rest of the evening continued in a similar fashion. At supper, Astrid was seated next to Lord Mowbray and his wife. They were older than she, both in their forties, a jolly couple with big voices and big appetites. Lord Mowbray took large portions of every dish on the table and boomed out compliments to his hosts. Lady Mowbray told Astrid all about her three children.

“How many children do you hope to have?” she asked Astrid.

“I hadn’t thought about it,” Astrid confessed.

“Have three,” Lady Mowbray advised. “It really is the best number. You’re quite likely to get both a boy and a girl, and even if you have three girls, your odds are good that one of them will be a beauty and will make a good match. Then you’ll have someone to look after you in your old age.”

“Why not have seven?” Lord Mowbray boomed.

Lady Mowbray rolled her eyes and leaned closer to Astrid. “He would,” she said. “He would if I’d let him!”

Astrid wondered how many children Conor wanted. It was something she hadn’t thought about until now. Did he want children at all? They had never discussed the matter. And he was seated across the room, talking to Lord and Lady Trowbridge, so she couldn’t ask him.

Maybe I shouldn’t ask him, she decided.Not until I know my own answer to the question, at any rate.

But it wasn’t something that needed to be decided tonight. Tonight, she would focus on the new people she was meeting, on the beautiful rooms of her beautiful manor, on the fine food and the fine dresses.

I never thought this would be my life, she thought.I never thought to find myself the wife of an earl. And yet here I am, as Conor says, the Lady of Middleborough Manor.

The bell rang, signaling the end of supper. The guests rose to their feet as one and proceeded into the ballroom.

Suddenly, Conor was at her side. “May I have the honor of the first dance?” he asked her.

She smiled up at him, charmed. “Of course.”

The musicians struck up a waltz. Conor took Astrid by the hand and pulled her onto the dance floor and into a whirl of color, of skirts lifting and ladies flying in the arms of their husbands.

Astrid’s feet hardly seemed to touch the ground as Conor spun her around and around the dance floor. In his arms, she felt freer than she ever had in her life. It wasn’t until the song came to an end and the spinning stopped that she felt the pounding of her heart, the excitement that had taken hold of her.

“Oh, my goodness,” she whispered.

“We ought to socialize with our guests,” Conor said. But he was still holding her.

“Maybe just one more dance,” Astrid suggested, and Conor nodded and gave her a smile.

The next dance was a slow number. This time, instead of spinning and whirling, Conor held Astrid close to his chest. She imagined she could feel his heart beating against hers. He gazed into her eyes the whole time as they slowly rotated. and the people around them seemed to disappear.

“Have I ever told you,” he said quietly, “that I am so glad to have married you?”

“I feel exactly the same way,” Astrid said quietly.

“I don’t know what would have happened to me if it hadn’t been for you,” he said. “But I imagine I would have been spending tonight completely alone, with only DuBois for company. You have opened up my life in ways I could never have imagined, Astrid.”

When the dance came to an end, they separated and moved on to dance with other guests. Astrid was passed from one set of arms to the next. She surprised herself with how easy she found it to make conversation with the members of theton. They were pleasant people and pleasant to talk to.

All too soon, the last song of the evening was coming to an end and the guests were moving toward the door. Everyone seemed to want to shake Conor’s hand or bestow a kiss on Astrid’s cheek. “It was a lovely party, my dear,” Lord Mowbray said as he took his leave. “I certainly hope to see more of you on the social scene in the future.”

“I feel certain that you will,” Astrid said with a smile.

When the last of the guests had gone, Astrid and Conor stood alone in the foyer, watching as the servants began to clean up around them.

“Well?” Astrid said, turning in Conor’s arms so that she was facing him. “Was the party a good idea?”

“I think it was the first of many good ideas to come,” he said, and bent to kiss her.

The End?