Picture Perfect by Lilac Lacey Read Free Book Online Page B

spent some time on the large balcony at the back of the house ascertaining that it held no conventional routes down to the garden beyond. Then he found a glass of brandy to occupy his hands and set himself up in a quiet corner not too far from the main entrance to the ballroom. He glanced up as Annabel entered the room and his hand tightened involuntarily on the stem of his glass. Justine was looking absolutely radiant. Her eyes were bright as she looked across the ballroom, lips slightly parted in a breathless smile, and she positively glowed in a dress of daffodil gold which just hinted at the blossoming femininity of the figure it sheathed. She’s a friend, he told himself firmly, no matter how appealing she looked at eighteen she would not, over the years to come, make the right wife for him. But she was a friend with whom he firmly intended to have at least two dances and perhaps even escort to supper.
    Annabel was right. A crush of guests arrived shortly after they had been announced and then after a rather sedated first dance with Henry, during which she felt she found her dancing feet, a tall young man in naval dress uniform approached them. ‘Hello, Nat,’ Henry said delightedly and for a brief moment Annabel wondered if she could tread on her brother’s foot without being noticed by anyone else, but fortunately Henry realised that it was not his presence which had drawn his friend over to where they stood. ‘Annabel, may I present my friend Nathan Jacobs? Nat this is my sister Annabel.’
    ‘ It is a pleasure to meet you,’ Nathan said with feeling. He took her hand and when he kissed it Annabel felt a tingling which seemed to run up her arm and straight to her heart. ‘May I have the honour of the next dance?’
    ‘ Certainly,’ Annabel said, dipping a social curtsey. Nathan’s hands were firm and confident as he partnered her in the next dance. They were in a set of eight and each time she spun down the centre between the other dancers, Annabel felt as if she were flying, her feet seemed to know what they were supposed to do without any conscious direction and each time she faced Nathan, she could see from the look in his eyes that she was beautiful tonight.
    Nathan was followed by another friend of Henry’s, and then an extremely handsome man captured her hand for the first waltz of the evening and Annabel found herself spinning around the dance floor in a way that felt entirely unlike dancing with her brother. She had no lack of partners and she wasn’t still for a moment. Then in a brief pause between dances Annabel found herself standing next to Madeline. A slightly older man was making his way swiftly towards them. ‘That’s Lord Kent,’ Madeline whispered excitedly in her ear. ‘He’s a terrible rake, but a wonderful dancer, I danced with him several times last season. The thing to do is resist his charms and that makes him
    want to dance with one again.’ She preened as Lord Kent approached, but he seemed not to notice her as he bowed to Annabel.
    ‘ I believe we are as of yet unacquainted, but may I have the pleasure of the next dance, Lady…’
    ‘ Miss Black,’ Annabel said firmly, ‘I am just Miss Black.’ She wasn’t quite sure she wanted to dance with someone who did not even acknowledge her cousin with whom he was surely acquainted, but neither was she sure of how to refuse politely. She had been far too busy dancing to have written in her dance card and all her thoughts prior to the ball had been concerned with how to ensure she had partners, not how to evade them.
    ‘ Unfortunately, Kent, Miss Beresford has promised this dance to me,’ a familiar voice said from behind her and Annabel felt a sudden and unexpected sense of relief, despite knowing that her rescuer continued to mistake her for someone else.
    ‘ But this isn’t Miss Beresford, this is Miss Black,’ Lord Kent said, with a slightly unpleasant edge to his voice, and Annabel was very glad that she need not