Page 1 of A Diamond for Christmas (Diamonds of the First Water #6)

O f all the clumsy, imbecilic things to do! And in front of a lovely lady, no less. Geoffrey had tripped over the cellist’s chair leg and nearly bumped into a pretty blonde.

“Terribly sorry,” he said when the musicians beside him turned as one to glower while not missing a note of the mazurka quadrille they were playing. And quite loudly in his ear, too. But he wasn’t apologizing to them, rather to the vision in blue.

However, she gave him a withering look, not the warm one he’d hoped for when deciding to go in her direction. Having been introduced earlier, Geoffrey fully intended to ask for a dance.

Lifting her chin, the lady strolled past him to take another man’s hand.

Still looking back at her shapely figure, Geoffrey crashed into another guest.

“Ow!” came a female voice from the vicinity of his cravat where her face was now pressed.

“Terribly sorry,” he repeated, holding her by the shoulders so she wouldn’t tumble backward. All he could see was the top of her head. It was a view of fiery, copper-haired coils and an aigrette of small emeralds, which anchored two peacock feathers tucked alongside her chignon.

Holding her still, he stepped back. When the lady’s green gaze locked with his, Geoffrey was reminded of his family’s verdant Derbyshire estate.

“No harm done, my lord,” she said, offering a smile that stole his breath.

“Who are you?” he asked, mesmerized. At the same time, the performers enthusiastically played a crescendo.

Frowning, she asked, “Into the garden?”

That couldn’t be what the red-headed young woman said, not unless she was the most forward lady at Lord and Lady Fenwick’s Belgrave Square ball.

Bending low, he put his ear close to her pink-tinged, satiny lips.

“I said, ‘I beg your pardon,’” she clarified.

Then he put his own mouth to the delicate shell of her ear.

“I asked your name,” he explained.

She reared back and looked up at him. As the musicians now played less enthusiastically, he could hear her next words.

“You are breaking rules right and left,” she told him, entirely without animosity. In fact, she seemed entertained. “You know you cannot ask me that question, not in such an informal manner.”

“Of course not!” he agreed, glad she wasn’t annoyed. He needed a formal introduction. What on earth was wrong with him?

Yet never having seen her before at any assembly, Geoffrey feared she would vanish before he could discover her identity.

“And your hands are still upon me,” she reminded him, having to speak loudly over the music.

Yes, they were. And under his gloved fingers, she was warm and soft. He didn’t wish to release her, but he did.

“Stay there,” Geoffrey ordered. “Don’t move. ”

Her eyes widened.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” he added.

Looking around wildly, he spotted their host walking in the opposite direction.

“Lord Fenwick,” he exclaimed. Then he looked at the coppery goddess. “I shall return with our host at once.”

Sprinting in the direction of the old viscount, Geoffrey managed to catch him before he left the room, going so far as to grab his father’s friend by the arm.

“My lord, if you would be so kind as to introduce me to a female so I may ask her to dance, I would greatly appreciate it.”

“Diamond,” the man greeted him. “Searching for a wife at last, are you?”

At last? Geoffrey wasn’t ancient! At twenty-six, he considered himself the perfect age.

“Hoping for a new bride by Christmas?” Lord Fenwick continued. “That would make your parents happy, no doubt.”

“No, my lord. I mean, yes, I would like to marry, but not in haste.”

“Right you are. Marry in haste, repent in leisure, as they say.”

“Exactly,” Geoffrey agreed. “Would you mind introducing me to a fetching lady whom I’ve never seen before?”

“Naturally, I shall.”

Geoffrey turned, peering across the room to where he’d left her, but she was no longer there.

“She’s gone!” he exclaimed, experiencing keen disappointment.

“Who is?” the viscount asked.

Geoffrey sighed. “I don’t know her name, my lord. I shall go find her again.”

“Don’t let her get away,” Lord Fenwick called after him, making other heads turn .

Geoffrey would be the laughingstock of this springtime ball.

Caroline wished the dashing, dark-haired man would come back before her mother or her aunt spied her.

Alas, within a few seconds of the stranger’s departure, her mother noticed she hadn’t returned from speaking with a friend.

Lady Chimes, with her sister beside her, came to collect her only daughter.

“Why are you standing like a fence post?” her mother asked.

“I am waiting for a handsome man,” Caroline replied.

Her aunt smiled, but her mother did not.

“I am certain you shall better capture a man, handsome or otherwise, by dancing with him rather than by standing next to the musicians. Come along, Caroline. I have the very nobleman in mind for you. He was just introduced to us by our host.”

Caroline was unceremoniously dragged away to meet some Lord Nit-Wit.

Sadly, although the new man was also a stranger, he wasn’t the one who had placed his hands upon her shoulders, making her tingle.

He wasn’t the one with dark hair and deep blue eyes the color of delphiniums, nor the one who smelled deliciously of sandalwood and Pears soap, the same as her family used.

He had crashed into her and then held on, and every part of her had cried out for him never to let go. It was the strangest, most delightfully overwhelming sensation she’d ever experienced.

She danced a quadrille with the young man whose name she’d instantly forgotten while wishing she’d learned the name of the man whom she would not soon forget.

And then she saw him, standing by a towering candelabra, surveying the dance floor. She had the strangest inkling he was searching for her.

Sure enough, when his blue gaze landed upon her, he smiled, and it lit up his entire face. He even took a step onto the dance floor and was nearly run over by two couples before he hurried to the side again.

He was as enthusiastic as a puppy, yet as alluring as a sable-haired wolf.

“Lady Caroline,” came the voice of her partner.

She had faltered and made a misstep while making moon-eyes across the room.

“I apologize.” She wanted to ask if they could stop, but it would ruin the formation for the other three couples in their group, so she persevered.

As soon as the music ended, Caroline let her partner escort her back to her mother and aunt, who had come to the ball to keep them company as they often did.

A moment later, her blue-eyed stranger appeared before them. Beside him were their evening’s hosts, both Lord and Lady Fenwick, who addressed her mother first.

“Lady Chimes, may we introduce the son of an acquaintance of ours?”

Lydia Chimes smiled to their hosts and to the broad-shouldered young man, letting her hazel glance slide over him. When she turned her mouth up, Caroline’s mother looked like a young lady herself and had not a streak of gray in her red hair, a shade darker than her daughter’s.

“Why, yes,” her mother said. “If he and his family are known to you, then I am sure we would be delighted to meet him.”

“Good, good,” Lord Fenwick said. “Lady Chimes, this is Lord Diamond. His father is —”

“I know who his father is,” Caroline’s mother interrupted, and the change in her was as unexpected as it was swift. “And his mother, too.”

Caroline gawked at her harsh tone, having never heard the like in public and rarely in private, either. She glanced at her aunt for an explanation, but Aunt Cordelia merely shook her head. Apparently, she knew what this was about .

Lady Fenwick frowned, obviously not enjoying any discord at her ball. However, not catching the import of Lady Chimes’s words, Lord Fenwick continued, “Well, that’s fine, then. Lord Geoffrey was under the impression you were both unknown to him and sought me out to make an introduction.”

“We have no interest in making this man’s acquaintance,” her mother added with a voice as chilly as ice.

“Mother,” Caroline said softly, wishing she could recant Lady Chimes’s rudeness. She would not dare to gainsay her in front of others, even as she watched a puzzled expression cross over Lord Diamond’s face. At least now she knew his name.

“His mother, I shall not discuss, but his father is a dishonorable man,” Lady Chimes continued, “and thus, I can only assume his son is as well.”

“My lady, I assure you —” Lord Diamond began.

“You shall not assure me of anything, young man,” Caroline’s mother said before addressing their hosts again.

“I have been dreading such an occurrence, of coming across a Diamond whilst at an event, ever since we moved back from Bath. And now it has happened, and me without my husband by my side for strength.”

Caroline managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes while her aunt raised an eyebrow of incredulity. After all, the fierce Lady Chimes was every bit as formidable as Lord Chimes. In some instances, more so.

“Frankly, Lord Fenwick, I’m dismayed this happened at your ball.” Then her mother turned to her. “Caroline, come along. We shall leave at once.”

“Please do not leave on my account,” Lord Diamond said, his tone now one of bewilderment.

Caroline felt bad for him, trying to make eye contact, hoping he realized she was as confounded as he was.

“Don’t leave upon any account,” Lord Fenwick entreated. “You three ladies are most welcome to remain. ”

Her mother lifted her chin and looked away.

“I shall be the one to leave, of course,” Lord Diamond said. “I wish I knew what this is about,” he told Lady Chimes’s shoulder.

Caroline could have died of mortification when her mother continued to ignore him.

Then he looked directly into Caroline’s eyes again, and something undeniable passed between them. She believed it was a promise that they would meet again.

Then he turned to their hosts. “While I am befuddled by this lady’s accusations, I will not remain and make her uncomfortable. Thank you for inviting me, my lord.”

With that, he nodded, bowed shallowly, again to her mother’s averted form, to Caroline’s aunt, and to her before he strode away.