A Certain Want of Reason Read Free Page B

be mortified.
    Edmund stopped pacing and stared at his reflection from across the room. The dark scowl had been replaced by a look of fierce determination. He crossed the small room with one great leap, his reflection drawing closer and larger and even more determined.
    And that’s how it would start. He would make a ridiculous leaping entrance back into the ballroom.
    He took a deep breath and marched toward the door, anxious to begin before he could give any attention to the nagging thought that perhaps there were aspects of this plan he had not considered.
    This was a time for action, not consideration.
    The buzz of voices as he approached the ballroom indicated an even greater number of guests in attendance than earlier. A full audience to view his performance. Withers, the Adringtons’ butler, smiled as Edmund approached, but the smile evaporated as Edmund pushed him aside and leaped into the room.
    Just as he had done in the tiny red parlor, he leaped across the floor, covering as many of the colored tiles as possible with each stride. In no time at all, he had crossed the room, so that he had to stop abruptly to keep from crashing into the punch bowl. He turned and began to traverse the floor in the opposite direction, deliberately ignoring all comments voiced by other guests. In the middle of his third leap, he was pinned under the arms and dragged unceremoniously from the floor by none other than Adrington himself, with some assistance from the Viscount Mountdale.
    “The musicians have not prepared us for this one, yet, old boy.” Adrington pulled him to his feet as they reached the perimeter of the room.
    Mountdale sniffed his breath. “What have you been drinking?”
    “Get away, Candlesnuffer!” Edmund pushed them both aside, leaped into the middle of the floor, then began counting out tiny steps. His friends soon tackled him again, but he twisted away, rolled, then jumped to his feet with a laugh and capered over to the side of the room where a bevy of comfortable chairs invited matrons past their prime to sit and watch the proceedings.
    He collapsed into a chair bedecked with cushions. “Pillows love me,” he sighed. His contented reverie lasted until Adrington and Mountdale caught up with him. Before they had him in their grasp, Edmund writhed between them and dashed over to the nearest window. “I’ll jump off this ship!” he announced. But the window wouldn’t open without more of a struggle than he had time to offer. So he made his exit through the more convenient, albeit less dramatic, doorway with Adrington and Mountdale in close pursuit.
    * * * * *
     
    “Lucia, you cannot remain behind that plant all evening.” Eugenie reached out as if to scold an errant child.
    Lucia tried to plead with her eyes, apparently to no avail. “I really thought this the best solution, under the circumstances.”
    “Well, you thought incorrectly. You’ll attract all sorts of the wrong attention back there, with just enough of yourself visible through the leaves that you look like some sort of tropical plant display in Kew Gardens.”
    Lucia brushed away a large leaf that kept inserting itself in her ear. “That is rather what I feel like at the moment.”
    “Then come away, for goodness sake. We were scarcely in the ballroom three minutes when you disappeared, and I finally find you out in the hallway hiding behind a potted palm.”
    “I’m afraid I opened a rather large gash in the back of my gown,” Lucia whispered. “And you insisted that I—”
    “Take off your petticoat. I remember. I still think that’s the best way to show the dress—and your figure—to the best advantage.”
    “Only now I’m displaying more of my figure than is considered appropriate in these circles.” Lucia pushed the leaf out of her ear again.
    “We can fix the gown, dear girl, never fear.” Eugenie frowned. “However, we cannot fix it while you remain embedded in greenery. I suggest you stand in front of me and