The Second Seduction of a Lady by Miranda Neville Read Free Book Online Page B

relax her feet into the matching dancing slippers embroidered with seed pearls.
    Her heart felt light. She hadn’t thought it possible, yet at this moment she felt no anger toward Max. He’d made a mistake. Everyone made them, especially gentlemen. Normally tolerant of human foibles, she’d believed him unpardonable. Perhaps there was a lesson here, that anyone deserved forgiveness—once.
    “You look beautiful, Eleanor.” Caro gave her a hug that took Eleanor’s breath away when she joined the family downstairs.
    “Caroline! You’ll crush your dress.” Elizabeth Brotherton was ever ready to spoil a moment of enjoyment.
    In a way she was right. Caro’s gown of fine white gauze would crush easily. She was so excited that her vibrant red curls already threatened to come loose from their pretty arrangement of satin ribbon and pearls. Eleanor was quite certain the girl would return from her first ball with her pristine kid slippers and gloves soiled and worn. But who could object? Caro’s youthful glee was infectious and certain to charm the stuffiest of sticklers.
    Except her own mother. Mrs. Brotherton was dressed with impeccable taste in her favorite lavender. Eleanor would bet her entire fortune on the certainty that Elizabeth would come home in as perfect a state as she’d left in, flawlessly pressed, coiffed, and scented by the sweet lavender powder she favored.
    Eleanor herself strove for no such undisturbed state. No normal woman could survive an evening’s dancing entirely unruffled. Her stomach fluttered dangerously at the anticipation of another cause of ruffling. Since the blackberry expedition she had spent far too much time dwelling on that kiss, and she was fairly sure—almost sure—that she would let it be repeated tonight. What else that meant for her future she wasn’t certain.
    “What a splendid ball,” Eleanor said when Max claimed her for the first set. “I am impressed that a mere man could arrange things so well.”
    “Thank you. I’ve never acted as host on such an occasion. And I will not do so again. Not at Longford, at least. As of this morning I relinquish all control over Robert and the Townsend estate.”
    “How long will you stay?” she asked, as they moved through the dance.
    “That depends.”
    “On what?”
    “On whether Robert allows me to remain his guest.” His lazy smile sent a different message.
    “Ah, you fear summary ejection. Have you been such a cruel, strict guardian then?”
    Max turned to the lady on his other side. Eleanor felt her toes curl and a foolish grin stretch her lips. In evening clothes of gray and deep red he looked far handsomer than any gentleman in the room. “He and the boys intend to leave here in a day or two,” he said, once the dance brought him back to her side. “He’s not cut out for country life and chafes for London.”
    Eleanor looked at Caro, who was gazing at Robert as they danced. “It’s probably just as well,” she said. “Caro will be sad, but they are both too young to marry.”
    “Worrying about your charge?”
    “She’s not mine tonight. Her mother is present.”
    “All the more attention for others, then, ” he whispered, as the movement of the dance drew them apart again.
    “I’ll never be host at Longford again,” Max said a minute later. “But I have my own house, near Newmarket. It’s not as large as this one but I hope you would like it.”
    “That’s one part of England I’ve never visited,” she said, trying to sound indifferent. “For some reason I have no relations there. I would like to visit Cambridge. The colleges are said to be very fine.” Once again the movements of the dance separated them.
    “Eleanor,” he said softly, when they came back together. “Are we going to spend this evening discussing the beauties and antiquities of England?”
    “I generally find travel to be a fine topic when one is traveling through a country dance.”
    “In that case,” he said, “I hope you