They both looked at Louise, who was now dancing with George Ponsonby. He might be handsome, but he was one of those men who somehow looked too smooth and polished, his smile too ready, and his hair too brilliantined. He was holding Louise very tightly but, far from looking uncomfortable, she seemed to be revelling in his attention.
‘Mummy said earlier that Louise’s manner is far too forward and that it’s already causing comment,’ Beth added.
* * *
Louise was dancing with George Ponsonby again when Lord Robert guided Amber out onto the dance floor a little later.
‘Why does Beth’s mother call you Teddy?’ she asked him.
‘It was my mother’s nickname for me when I was a baby. She died when I was two, and since Aunt Phoebe was her best friend she still uses it.’
Amber gave him a sympathetic look. ‘It must have been horrid for you having to grow up without her.’
‘Yes, it was rather.’
His voice was clipped and Amber guessed he wanted her to change the subject.
‘I was so relieved that Lady Rutland didn’t recognise you.’
‘Lady Rutland is the kind of person who only sees what she wants to see.’
He was an excellent dancer. Amber felt quite light-headed with the ease with which he swung her round as they glided across the floor.
As he whirled her round, Lord Robert told her, ‘Cecil’s over there with Diana, and Ralph Seaforde. I shall be in fearful trouble with Aunt Phoebe, though, if I take you over to join them.’
Amber looked in the direction he was indicating. Ralph Seaforde was tall and willowy, with dark hair and slightly olive skin. He turned to look at them, and for some reason Amber felt herself recoil, which was silly because he wasn’t even looking at her. He was looking – staring, really – at Lord Robert …
The ball was over and they were on their way home. Amber was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open and her feet positively hurt from all the dancing she had done.
Although the ball had been very exciting, and she had danced with Lord Robert, somehow the evening had left her feeling confused and not as happy as she felt she ought to be, although she couldn’t explain to herself just why she felt the way she did, except that it had something to do with Lord Robert and the way he had seemed different somehow, distant almost at times, and not the kind teasing Lord Robert she knew and liked so much, she acknowledged. Not for the world did she want to admit that the evening – and Lord Robert – had left her feeling slightly forlorn and deflated.
Louise, on the other hand, wasn’t tired at all. She was positively fizzing with excitement and energy, her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. George Ponsonby was exactly the kind of man she liked: wickedly handsome and dangerous, and with that look about him that said that he could introduce her to the most interesting and exciting things. Just thinking about him brought Louise a sharp thrill of excitement. She had had her fill of kissing inexperienced boys in broom cupboards, and watching the effect she had on them when she teased them with promises she had no intention of keeping. That was schoolgirl stuff, and she wasn’t a schoolgirl any more. She was a woman.
‘Do you ever wonder what our futures really will be, Amber?’
They were at a tea party at the Savoy and it was the day after a luncheon at which they had all been entertained and scared by a fortune-teller hired by their hostess to keep her guests entertained and amused.
Louise predictably had been the first in the queue to step into the small brightly coloured tent, erected in the drawing room, inside which the fortune-teller had been seated.
‘No,’ Amber answered Beth, teasing her, ‘because I already know what yours will be. You will be engaged before the end of the season to a very suitable and delightful young man with a title and a fortune. He will have a large estate in the country and a handsome town house in London, and once you are married you will have lots of deliciously pretty little girls and handsome little boys.’
‘And I know what yours will be,’ Beth countered. ‘You will meet a wonderfully handsome and wickedly dangerous artist, who will fall passionately in love with you, and you with him. He will offer you his heart and his hand. You will refuse him at first, but then once he has proved himself to you, you will accept him and then together you will design the most wonderful silks. I wonder what the fortune-teller told Louise – she was in there for ever.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Amber, ‘but whatever it was it must have pleased her because she has been looking very secretive and smug ever since.’
‘I’m getting really nervous about our court presentation and I’ll be glad when it’s over. I’m so pleased that we’ll be at the early courts instead of having to wait until June, aren’t you?’
They were to be presented the following day, and Amber agreed, swallowing back her own fear.
‘Lady Rotherford, my godmdother, has accepted Mummy’s invitation to my ball.’ Beth flushed slightly. ‘Her son, Alistair, will be escorting her. I haven’t seen him for ages, but he used to be such fun, but of course we’ve got your ball first. Did I tell you that Teddy has insisted on escorting Mummy?’ Beth gave her a teasing look. ‘Do you know what I think? I think that Teddy could be falling in love with you. He’ll be a duke when his grandfather dies, you know, and he’s fearfully rich.’
Amber laughed. ‘Of course he isn’t,’ she denied.
The truth was that she rather thought she might be falling in love with him, Amber admitted. Not that she was going to say that to Beth, just as she hadn’t admitted that she had already known Lord Robert before Beth’s mother had introduced them. It was her secret alone, and one that gave her a warm glow every time she thought of him.
‘We’ve had fun together, haven’t we?’
Amber nodded.
They were in the rooftop café in Selfridges, Lord Robert in his disguise.
‘I hadn’t realised that you and Beth were such good friends.’
Suddenly Amber felt anxious. ‘It doesn’t make any difference, does it?’
‘Of course not. You’re so busy now that you won’t have time for your old professor soon.’
Amber was about to protest when Lord Robert continued, ‘Which is just as well. I suspect that we would be found out if we continued with our little game much longer, and whilst it has been both delightful and innocent, the last thing I want is for your reputation to be called into question.’
Amber’s hand trembled as she put down her china cup.
‘Yes, yes, of course. You are right. I know that.’
She did. Amber had learned a very great deal about life during the short time she had been in London. If Beth had been shocked and disapproving about Louise dancing with George Ponsonby, then how much more so would she be if she knew that Amber had been out on her own with Lord Robert? London society loved to gossip, and that gossip could be cruel. A young unmarried girl’s reputation must not be tarnished by any trace of scandal.
The loving gentleness of her parents and their marriage seemed a world away from the things Amber saw around her now. People spoke openly of the Prince of Wales’s mistress, a married woman, of course. There were so many different rules to be learned and codes to be understood. She had been shocked when she had learned that Diana Guinness, whom Amber had been inclined to hero-worship, talked openly about Evelyn Waugh’s devotion to her and had allowed the author virtually to move in with her and Bryan whilst he recovered from his divorce.
In society,