Picture Perfect by Lilac Lacey Read Free Book Online

to her sister-in-law than she had since Madeline had revealed the secret of Annabel’s adoption.
    ‘ I hope your dancing is up to scratch,’ Madeline said as they sipped their tea. ‘I know Augusta’s is, because I have accompanied her to her dancing lessons, but what about you, Annabel? You wouldn’t want to trip over your own feet at your very first ball.’
    ‘I have been practising with Henry,’ Annabel said, smiling with a confidence she didn’t entirely feel, ‘but better still, I have some copies of the latest waltz music, so I shall be familiar with the tunes. Come and hear.’ She took Madeline’s hand and led her to the pianoforte at the far end of the drawing room.
    ‘Delilah, shall we adjourn to my morning room?’ Mrs Black asked hastily. ‘I am not sure that I care for the rhythm of the waltz, I find myself continually waiting for the fourth beat in each bar.’
    Annabel seated herself at the piano and began. She knew her playing was a little uneven, but she hoped she made up for it with enthusiasm; her father always seemed to think so at any rate. ‘That’s a lovely piece,’ Madeline said, as she drew it to a close, the left hand lagging momentarily after the right, and Annabel was amused to see her cousin avoid criticising where criticism was so obviously due. ‘May I try it?’
    Annabel willingly surrendered the piano stool and on the opening chords she gave a courtly bow to Augusta. ‘Will you dance, my lady?’
    ‘ I would be delighted,’ Augusta replied, with admirable haughtiness and they whirled each other around the room in a waltz, Annabel doing her best to lead, but quite unaccustomed to reversing the steps, and Augusta laughing as she tried to follow. Already breathless, Annabel was sure Madeline increased her tempo, but she hung onto Augusta gamely and then Madeline increased her speed once more and they both swung apart to land, speechless with laughter at opposite ends of the window seat.
    What would it feel like, Annabel wondered, to dance with someone other than her brother, her cousin or her rather portly and paternal dancing master? To swirl around the room in the arms of a man who had asked her to dance, rather than in the arms of one who simply sought to improve her dancing? Wholly unexpectedly Mr Denham’s face arose in her mind’s eye, and she felt a little shiver of anticipation at the thought of dancing with him, although she was not sure why she would want to dance with someone who had treated her so oddly. Would he really be at Lockton House tomorrow night? He had said that he would. But did Mr Denham actually deign to attend the more frivolous events society had to offer, or was he only concerned with more elevated outings to art galleries and perhaps to musical soirees? Holding a musical evening of their own suddenly seemed like rather an attractive idea.
     
    A light knock on her door woke Annabel from her nap late the following afternoon and her mother’s maid, Laura, entered her room bearing a tray of tea and hot buttered toast. ‘Good evening, Miss Annabel,’ Laura said, setting the tray down on the dressing table and bobbing a small curtsey almost at the same time. Annabel couldn’t help but admire the lady’s maid’s dexterity. Laura, she was sure, would have no difficulty in wielding both dance card and fan while elegantly engaging in the most boisterous of country dances. For a brief moment she wondered if employment as lady’s maid might have been the highest position she could have aspired to if the Blacks hadn’t adopted her, but the thought was too disquieting and she hastily pushed it away.
    ‘ Thank you, Laura,’ she said instead, rising from the bed and wrapping her mauve shawl around her shoulders. ‘Don’t pour the tea, I don’t want a thing at the moment.’
    ‘ You’ll have to excuse me, Miss Annabel,’ Laura said firmly, ‘but Mrs Black insisted that you should have something light before the ball. In fact she said that if you