A wandering servant offered flutes of champagne. Penny, Nicola, and Emma accepted eagerly. Alexandra declined, in favor of food.
“A toast to the three of you.” Penny raised her glass. “You didn’t have to come, but I’m grateful you did. Especially you, Alex. You should be at home with your feet propped on a cushion.”
Alexandra balanced a plate of refreshments atop her immensely rounded belly. “We’d never abandon you to face this alone.” She nibbled at a sandwich. “Besides, the food alone is worth the effort of attending. You’ve improved on this recipe remarkably, Penny.”
“What do you mean? Which recipe?”
Alex held up a half-eaten finger sandwich. “The sham. It’s not bad.”
Nicola grimaced. “Surely that’s the pregnancy speaking.”
Alexandra offered a sample from her plate. “Taste for yourself.”
“I’ll try.” Emma took a sandwich and sank her teeth into it, then chewed with caution. As she swallowed, her eyebrows rose in surprise. “That‘s almost tasty. What did you change, Penny?”
“I didn’t change anything. Gabriel’s chef must have made it. I had nothing to do with the refreshments.”
“That’s odd,” Alex said. “I assumed you planned the entire menu. There’s not a scrap of meat to be found anywhere.”
“Truly? No meat whatsoever?”
“Not that I could find, and I did search.” She looked down at her swollen belly. “This baby is quite the carnivore. It’s all delicious, though. Onion tartlets, pastry puffs stuffed with cheese, a terrine of mushroom and hazelnuts. There’s a pharaoh-sized pyramid of exotic fruits. The pineapples alone must have cost a small fortune. And, of course, there’s the sham.”
“Oh, Penny. He must truly love you,” Emma said. “Ash and Chase ate the sham. Gabriel made more.”
Penny couldn’t believe it. He must have arranged the menu. Of course, he would have done so days ago, well before their argument today. Nevertheless, she was touched by the gesture. He truly had planned this evening for her, down to the last detail.
Just as Emma had worked tirelessly to create her gown, and Nicola and Alexandra were here to support her, despite the fact that they’d rather be anywhere else.
Yet here Penny was, tucked in a corner.
A wallflower, as always.
Tonight, she vowed, she would be different. She would leave the dancing to those who enjoyed it, but she would mingle, converse, make her rounds of the guests—if only to say that she had done it. Not for Gabriel, and not for Aunt Caroline. For herself.
Penny drew a deep breath and stepped away from the wall.
“Wait.” Nicola grabbed her by the arm, yanking her back. Her voice was frantic. “Don’t go.”
Penny turned to her friend. “Heavens, Nic. You’ve gone white as paper.”
“Are you ill?” Emma laid a hand to Nicola’s brow, testing for fever in motherly fashion. “Do you need to sit down?”
“You look as though you’ve seen a ghost,” Alex said.
“Worse than a ghost.” Nicola shielded her face with one hand and lowered her head. “I’ve seen a fiancé.”
“A fiancé?” Penny echoed. “Whose fiancé?”
She moaned faintly. “Mine, I think.”
What?
Nicola, engaged to be married? Penny exchanged quizzical glances with Emma and Alex. They each shook their heads, as if to say this was news to them, as well.
Penny turned to look about them. “Where? Who?”
“For God’s sake, don’t look!” Nicola arranged the three of them shoulder to shoulder, making a human fence and then ducking behind it. “I can’t let him see me. He’ll recognize me from the hair alone.”
The orchestra struck up the first strains of a quadrille. The dancing was about to begin.
“Come.” Emma put her arm about their flame-haired friend’s shoulders. “We’ll find a place away from the crowd. And then you must tell us everything.”
“Very well. But you have to conceal me until it’s safe.”
“There’s a servants’ door in the far corner of the ballroom,” Penny said. “The corridor behind it leads to the rear of the house. We can make our escape through there.”
The three of them shuffled sideways in an awkward, not-at-all-suspicious manner. Meanwhile Nicola crouched in their shadow, scurrying behind their human shield. Thank goodness everyone was more interested in pairing off for the quadrille than in watching a quartet of social misfits.
When they reached the corner, Penny prised open the hidden door, just a crack. “The three of you first. I’ll stand guard.” She turned to face the ballroom and smiled innocently, fluffing her skirts to make a wider shield. Behind her, the others filed through the door, one by one.
And then she glimpsed Gabriel through the crowd, standing at the opposite end of the ballroom. He was magnificent in his full evening dress. Black tailcoat layered over a snow-white vest and cravat. His cheeks looked so smooth, she imagined that might be the reason for his tardiness. He’d probably been upstairs shaving at the last minute. By midnight, he’d have a forest of whiskers again. Their eyes met.
“Penny,” Alexandra whispered. “Aren’t you coming?”
“Not just now,” she answered. “Go on without me.”
As the quadrille came to an end, the dancers dispersed. He began to walk toward her.
She’d always dreamed of this scene. What girl hadn’t? The dark, handsome man locking gazes with her across the crowded ballroom. Striding toward her, unwavering in his intent, drawn to her beauty, acting on an inexorable melding of desire and destiny.
It wouldn’t happen that way. Not tonight. She refused to stand there meekly while Gabriel Duke made his manly strides across the ballroom to claim her.
Penny was going to meet him halfway.
When she began to move toward him, Gabe cursed under his breath. This was a wrinkle in his plans. She was beautiful beyond words. Beyond his words, at any rate. And he’d counted on having a long, slow saunter across the floor to search his brain for a compliment that would be remotely sufficient.
Instead, she was going to intercept him before he had any chance.
When they met in the center of the ballroom, he was speechless.
She broke the silence. “I want to say something witty or cutting. One of those worldly remarks that brings a man to his knees. But I can’t think of anything, so … The ball is lovely. You look quite handsome.”
“And here I was just cursing myself for my complete inability to describe how beautiful you look. You deserve a sonnet. An ode? I don’t even know the difference between the two. Next time, I’ll hire a poet.”
She smiled and shrugged. “We are who we are.”
“We are who we are.”
God, he loved who she was. But what was more, he loved who they were together. He couldn’t lose that.
“I don’t want to take you away from the party,” he said. “I just had a brief question to ask you.”
“I have a question for you, too.”
“You go first,” he said.
“No, you go first.”
“I