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“That we are a striking pair?”

“No.” She shook her head, rolling her eyes at him. “That I have been hiding away all this time.”

“Have you decided you want to shine, little diamond?”

She looked him in the eyes and nodded.

She was tired of being relegated to the wall. Tired of the boring life she had led before. Tired of waiting to be noticed, when she could have put herself in the spotlight.

“Then come, let us make you shine.”

Chapter Nineteen

“This is rather dull,” Percival commented, casting an eye over the room. “I’m starting to recall why I shunned societal events as long as I did.”

And indeed, he was.

By anyone else’s standards, the ball would have been considered a success. But to him, it was dreadfully dull, and that was putting it mildly. He was starting to resent the stilted conversations and games they all played, as compared to the carefree conversations he used to have with his comrades in arms.

Thinking back to his camp, he sorely missed his brothers in arms and their easy camaraderie. Despite the cold and harsh conditions, he had always felt warm around them. They had comforted one another in times of loss and rejoiced with one another in times of happiness. He certainly hadn’t missed walking on eggshells the way he had to do with the ton.

He would give anything to escape it all, but he damn well couldn’t if he didn’t want to make an enemy of the Crown. Thankfully, he had Eli to at least converse with. The man was a welcome respite from the dreadful lot he was to pick from.

“I do not think your wife thinks so,” Eli quipped with a smirk.

“Why do you say so?” Percival asked, looking around for her.

They had barely spent a minute in each other’s presence since they had arrived, and he was starting to wonder if she had somehow forgotten that the whole point of them coming to the ball was to show the ton that they were very much in love.

Eli pointed in the direction of the dance floor, and Percival frowned, wondering why he would, considering Louisa knew better than to dance with another man.

His eyes narrowed, and his eyebrows knitted together when he noticed the way she smiled gaily while being spun in another man’s arms—and not just any man, but her previous suitor.

“She seems to be enjoying herself, isn’t she?” Eli teased, grinning wolfishly. “Isn’t that Lord Pemberton, her previous suitor?”

Pemberton. What a silly name.

It fit the man perfectly, considering how silly he was dressed. Percival knew he was being petty, but seeing how happy his wife was in the Viscount’s arms made him angry.

Yet, he didn’t want to admit the reason to himself.

“It is, isn’t it?” Eli continued, either unaware or uncaring that he was irritating him. “I wonder if perhaps there is some unfinished business between them. Perhaps?—”

“Don’t you dare,” Percival warned darkly.

Eli raised his hands in surrender, but his eyes still glowed with mirth.

Percival wondered then why he chose to maintain the relationship between them.

“I’m only trying to help lighten an otherwise tense mood.”

“There is no tense mood,” he gritted out, placing his glass down on one of the tables with more force than he had intended.

A gasp alerted him that he had shattered the glass, but he paid no attention to it even as a footman cleared away the spilled wine and checked his hand for cuts. He yanked his hand back and discarded his stained gloves, before making his way to his wife, who still hadn’t noticed the commotion she had caused.

He pushed past the couples on the makeshift dance floor, who glared at him for ruining their rhythm, but he ignored them till he was standing behind his wife and her all-too-willing partner, from the looks of things, waiting till she spun around and facedhim, before he took her hands and pulled her flush against his chest.

As much as he’d have liked to deny it, he admired the way her cheeks flushed whenever he was near her. He enjoyed the sight of her pale skin turning red, from her cheeks to her neck to her very ample cleavage, which she had let another man see.