One Night for Love Read Free

too fond of her to keep her dangling when he had been quite uncertain of his intentions toward her. But she
had
waited. He was glad of it now, humbled byher patience and fidelity. There was a lightness about their impending marriage. And his affection for her had not dimmed. It had grown along with his admiration for her character and his appreciation of her beauty.
    “And so it begins,” he murmured to her as the orchestra began to play. “Our nuptials, Lauren. Are you happy?”
    “Yes.”
    But even the single word was unnecessary. She glowed with happiness. She looked like the quintessential bride. She was
his
bride. It felt right.
    Neville danced first with Lauren, then with his sister. Then he danced with a series of young ladies who looked as if they expected to be wallflowers while Lauren danced with a succession of different partners.
    After taking a turn upon the balcony with one of his partners, Neville entered the ballroom through the French doors and joined a group of young gentlemen who, as always at balls, seemed to need one another’s collective company in order to summon the courage to ask a young lady to dance. He had the misfortune to remark on the fact that none of them appeared to be dancing.
    “Well, you have done the pretty every set, Nev,” his cousin Ralph Milne, Viscount Sterne, said, “though only once with your betrothed. Hard luck, old chap, but I suppose you are not allowed to dance with her more than once, are you?”
    “Alas, no,” Neville agreed, gazing across the ballroom to where Lauren was standing with his mother, his paternal aunt, Lady Elizabeth Wyatt, and his maternal uncle and aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Anburey.
    Sir Paul Longford, a childhood neighbor and friend, could not resist such a perfect opportunity for bawdiness. “Well, you know, Sterne,” he said with his best drawl, “it is only for tonight, old chap. Nev is to dance alone with hisbride all night tomorrow, though not necessarily on a dance floor. I have it on the best authority.”
    The whole group exploded with raucous male laughter, drawing considerable attention their way.
    “A hit, Nev, you must confess,” said his cousin and tomorrow’s best man, the Marquess of Attingsborough.
    Neville grinned after pursing his lips and handling the ribbon of his quizzing glass. “Let those words fall on any female ears, Paul,” he said, “and I might feel obliged to call you out. Enjoy yourselves, gentlemen, but do not neglect the ladies, if you please.”
    He strolled off in the direction of his betrothed. She was wearing a high-waisted gown of blond net over daffodil-yellow sarcenet and looked as fresh and lovely as the springtime. It really was too bad that he was not to dance with her again for the rest of the evening. But then it would be strange indeed if he could not maneuver matters more to his liking.
    It was not immediately possible. There was the necessity of conversing politely with Mr. Calvin Dorsey, a middle-aged, mild-mannered acquaintance of Lauren’s grandfather, who had come to solicit Lauren’s hand for the dance after supper and who stayed for a few minutes to make himself agreeable. And then the Duke of Portfrey arrived on Dorsey’s heels to lead Elizabeth away for the next set. He was her longtime friend and beau. But finally Neville saw his chance.
    “It is more like summer than spring outside,” he remarked to no one in particular. “The rock garden must look quite enchanting in the lantern light.” He smiled with deliberate wistfulness at Lauren.
    “Mmm,” she said. “And the fountain too.”
    “I suppose,” he said, “you have reserved the next set with Lauren, Uncle Webster?”
    “Indeed I have,” the Duke of Anburey replied, but hewinked at his nephew over Lauren’s head. He had not missed his cue. “But all this talk of lanterns and summer evenings has given me a hankering to see the gardens with Sadie on my arm.” He looked at his wife and waggled his eyebrows. “Now