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“IT LOOKS quite nice,” Charles said, tucking the edges of my cravat into the deep navy blue vest of the suit he had ordered for me. “You’re sure to have quite a few dances tonight, Tom. Hattie’s already told me several times she can’t wait.”

“Isn’t she already being courted?” I asked, the fabric tight around my throat, uncomfortable in a way I wasn’t used to; I raised my fingers to pull on it and gain some breathing room, but Charles caught my hand and tugged it away. “I just have to choke all night?”

“It’s fashion, Tom. It’s meant to be uncomfortable.” He gripped me by the shoulders, squeezing gently. “You seem nervous.”

“I am nervous,” I said, looking at him. “I’ve never been to anything like this.

” Carriages had been coming all day, dropping off guests before their drivers pulled around the side of the drive to make room for the carriages that came after.

Servants were bustling everywhere; even Felix was too busy to have done more than give me a cursory greeting that morning.

The gardens were filled with lanterns, ready to be lit as soon as the dark settled, and the ballroom had been scrubbed from floor to ceiling, perfectly set up for mingling with tables around the walls.

Guests had been rerouted to one of the atria to have afternoon tea as they waited for the festivities to start, and I could hear the band tuning up through my open balcony door.

“You are going to do just fine,” Charles said, offering me a smile. “Tom, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had. There’s nothing you need to do tonight other than have a good time. Who knows, you may find some woman who ends up being your wife.”

“Who knows,” I said, although I will admit my agreement was little more than tepid at the thought.

I certainly wasn’t seeking out a wife, and in fact all I could think about was the prospect of having to spend the entire evening apart from Arthur.

Things had been so busy that I hadn’t even been able to tell him about the threat James had made the day prior, and I was going into the evening with an intense sense of dread percolating once again. “Perhaps you will.”

“I already have my first dance promised to Ida,” he said, smiling. “I didn’t want her to be embarrassed.”

“So gallant of you,” I said, jumping as a knock came at the bedroom door.

It was Rudolph on the other side, wearing a suit that was even finer than my own, his curls effortlessly beautiful, and an aura of sheer charm about him.

He looked at me, eyes flicking briefly from my head down to my toes, and I was struck by the momentary, obvious hunger in his dark eyes.

“You look nice,” he said finally before looking past me at Charles. “You… I don’t think anything could fix you.”

“How kind of you,” Charles said, waving his hand. “Are we beginning?”

“Arthur would like everyone downstairs, yes,” he said, and Charles headed into the hallway. I began to go, too, and Rudolph stopped me, offering Charles a small smile. “Go ahead. We’ll be along in a moment.”

Charles nodded, heading off down the hallway, and I looked up at Rudolph. “What?”

“What’s going on?” Rudolph asked, still blocking me in the room. “You’ve been acting strangely since yesterday.”

“I no longer have a job to return to in the city,” I said.

“And James informed me that he believes I’m your replacement and will not stop until he proves that my relationship with Arthur is not one of friendship.

I am desperately afraid that I’ve failed to help Arthur in any way and have only made the situation worse for everyone. ”

Rudolph looked as though he was seriously considering this, his dark eyes thoughtful as he mulled it over.

“Do you really believe that?” he asked. “That none of us are better off for having spent the summer with you? I certainly don’t feel that way.

I’d hazard a guess that neither Charles nor Ida nor Felix feel that way, either.

I also believe that genuinely, deep down, you don’t feel that the summer has been a waste. ”

I didn’t, but I was a little upset nonetheless that he had read me so easily. “Have I satisfied your curiosity?” I asked, sarcasm dripping from my words. “Will you allow me to attend the ball now?”

“I suppose,” Rudolph said, and he let go of the door jamb.

We walked down the hallway together in companionable silence, and I was unsurprised to find that Charles had waited for us at the top of the grand staircase, his hands in his pockets as he peered down at the Great Hall, which was abuzz with activity.

“If you’re looking for Ida, you won’t find her,” Rudolph said, patting Charles on the shoulder.

“She has every intention of being fashionably late. Mentioned to me that she was hoping to impress a beau.”

Charles hit Rudolph lightly on the stomach in return, but the blush that crept up the back of his neck revealed that he had in fact been watching for Ida.

“I was waiting for you two and your secret conversation,” he said, beginning to head down the stairs.

“Come along. Arthur will be fit to hang if we don’t arrive with some time left. ”

I followed him downstairs into the ebb and flow of a human tide, the volume unlike anything I’d ever experienced outside of the opera.

Finding my way to the ballroom was simple, and once inside it was as though I was being exposed to every facet of pleasure available to man.

The replacement band, who had come highly recommended, was playing a lively waltz as guests entered and were shown to their bespoke tables; wine and champagne were flowing freely.

I found myself immediately in possession of a champagne flute and took a sip, peering around the hall for any familiar faces.

I spotted James, Lady Wright, and who I assumed was the current Lord Wright, James’s brother, sitting at a table across the dance floor.

Hattie was talking to a tall, handsome man who must have been the marquess she was wooing.

Charles had been lost in the throng, Rudolph speaking easily to a group of men who looked about his age and who I assumed were friends he had not seen since he’d been in France.

Alone and admittedly overwhelmed, I sipped my drink and considered what I was supposed to do next when someone touched my arm and I turned to find Arthur.

Immediately my anxiety eased, my stupid traitorous heart doing a flip at the sight of him.

“Well?” he asked, amusement visible in his bright eyes.

I realized that at some point I had become capable of reading him as easily as I could read a book, and the thought frightened me.

I had made mistake after mistake since I’d arrived at Ashford Hall in June: involved myself in a case that had almost certainly lost me my job, allowed foolish feelings to override my natural judgment, hidden my true self from Charles, from Ida, from everyone.

I had stupidly fallen right into a trap that millions of people had before me: I had fallen in love with the wrong person, and there was no redemption at this point.

“It’s quite something,” I said, hoping I hadn’t taken too long to answer, caught up as I was by the idea that I had been lying to myself about my ability to let go of my feelings after a set time limit. “Are there this many people every year?”

“Yes,” he said with the air of a man who was long-suffering.

“If it was up to Charles, we’d have even more.

I convinced him that two hundred was quite enough, but he’s under the impression that we can hold even more in the future.

” He looked at me, a softness around the corners of his eyes. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I lied, smiling at him. “Now, what brings our busy host over to talk to a mere commoner like me?”

“You’re not a commoner,” he said as though I had hit a nerve, glancing over his shoulder before turning his gaze back on me. “It’s a shame we can’t dance,” he murmured, this time low enough that we wouldn’t be overheard. “I’ll have to see what I can do about that.”

I felt my cheeks flush, unable to keep myself from grinning at the thought of it. “Stop,” I said, although I really didn’t want him to. “Why did you come over here?”

“To look at you,” he said before raising his eyebrows slightly. “I want to introduce you to someone.”

I furrowed my brow, puzzled, but followed him as he set off across the floor, walking with far more confidence than I expected from him in this sort of situation.

I wondered if he had to force himself to hold himself with such poise, especially since he had made it abundantly clear that being the center of attention was not something he enjoyed.

I looked across the ballroom and found Charles watching us; he gave me a small, encouraging wave and I waved back, taking another sip of my champagne and wishing I had something stronger.

Arthur came to a stop next to a table filled with people, but it was an older, impeccably dressed man who he turned his attention to, offering him an actual smile .

“Mr. Hughes,” he said. “Do you recall me telling you about Mr. Thomas Whitmore?”

“Lord Ashford!” the man said, rising to his feet and shaking Arthur’s hand heartily before turning and doing the same to me.

“And this is Mr. Whitmore? Of course I recall our conversation. You’re the young lawyer who defended that fraud case in London a few weeks ago.

Masterful work, and Lord Ashford says you’ve only been a lawyer for a few years. Quite impressive.”

I was genuinely flabbergasted, shaking Mr. Hughes’s hand in return and looking to Arthur for a brief moment. “Thank you for the praise,” I said, finally catching myself before I was rude in not answering the man. “Did you see the trial?”