As his friend moved on silent feet and faded into the darkness, Ben worked his way toward the tree trunk. Once he’d cleared the wall, he dropped to the ground with a teeth-rattling thump. He rolled his neck and shoulders, then brushed off his breeches and coat.
“I am too old for this nonsense.”
At three-and-thirty, he was hardly in his dotage, but he wasn’t a young buck to be kicking up a lark anymore, either. He located and followed a path that wound through the garden and ended at the terrace stairs.
Several guests had retreated outdoors, taking advantage of the light breeze off the Thames. A lively melody floated through the opened French doors and flashes of color appeared through the bank of windows. Ladies dressed in crimson, plum, and emerald skipped around the ballroom floor on the arms of their gentlemen partners. Ben hadn’t danced a quadrille since he’d left London, but the steps came back to him in an instant.
A footman stood just inside the doors and, noting Ben’s approach, held out a silver tray. “Champagne, sir?”
Ben grabbed a glass and adopted a swagger as he entered the Eldridge ballroom. If he behaved as if he belonged there, no one would question him. They never did.
***
“You mustn’t fret,” Eve Thorne’s sister-in-law murmured in her ear. “He will be here.”
“I’m not fretting.”
Helena’s blue-green gaze dropped to the handkerchief Eve hadn’t realized she’d been twisting into a tight coil. It was an accurate reflection of what Sir Jonathan Hackberry’s tardiness was doing to her insides. Her fiancé had promised to arrive early to Lord and Lady Eldridge’s ball where their betrothal would be announced within the hour, and he had yet to make an appearance.
A thread of apprehension wound its way around Eve’s heart and held it captive. What if Jonathan didn’t come?
Giving up on following the conversation between Lady Eldridge and two ladies from the Mayfair Ladies Charitable Society, Eve stole another glance over her shoulder.
“Sir Jonathan will be here,” Helena repeated.
Eve repaid Helena’s kindness with a halfhearted smile. Her brother’s new bride was more than a sister-in-law to Eve; she was a dear friend. Eve didn’t want Helena to know her reassurance did nothing to calm the tempest brewing inside her.
Everything will be well. There is no cause for worry. Eve had learned long ago these were empty platitudes people tossed around when they didn’t know what else to say. But Helena meant well, and Eve loved her for trying to ease her worries.
Sebastian wore a scowl as he reentered the ballroom. He pulled Eve and Helena aside when he reached them. “Sir Jonathan wasn’t playing cards.”
Eve knew it would be a pointless trip. Jonathan was not a gambling man. He was an intellectual, more interested in archeology and anthropology than loo. But Sebastian seemed to need something to do, so she had suggested he check the card room.
Helena looked back and forth between Eve and Sebastian, then forced a bright smile, her dimples showing. “We haven’t searched the refreshment room yet.”
“An excellent idea. Shall we?” Sebastian held his arm out to his wife, but Eve shook her head.
“I will wait with Lady Eldridge in case Sir Jonathan arrives and cannot find me.”
“Are you certain?” Her brother drew Helena closer as if their short separation while he visited the card room had been days instead of a half hour. Helena tipped her head and gazed at him from beneath her lashes.
Eve couldn’t help smiling at the newlyweds. She appreciated their attempts to include her, but it was obvious they would rather be alone. “I am certain.” She shooed them away. “Go. Sir Jonathan will be here any moment.”
She said a silent prayer that he wouldn’t make her out to be a liar. Being abandoned by a second husband-to-be would be too mortifying to bear.
This time when she scanned the crowd, her heartbeat skipped when she thought she saw Ben. She almost wilted on the floor when she realized it wasn’t him. Lady Eldridge swore Eve’s former betrothed wouldn’t step one foot into Eldridge Place, even though he had been turning up like a bad penny at the assemblies ever since his return to London. The earl had taken extra precautions tonight and hired extra men to guard the doors at his wife’s request. Nonetheless, Eve had learned never to underestimate Ben’s ability to get in wherever he wasn’t wanted.