Page 34 of A Mismatch Made in London

The music started, and other than the slight nervousness I always felt at dancing in a crowd, fearing I might make a mistake and everyone would see, I wasn’t sure my heart had ever felt lighter.

The dance was a long one. We talked about the last theatrical we’d seen, and it turned out we’d both been at the same one—the only one I’d ever attended, when Juliet and I had gone with her cousins the Lynches. It seemed he had enjoyed it, but not as much as I had.

After the dance, we retired to a spot by the wall and were joined by Jeremy after he escorted Miss Snowden back to her mama.

A young lady and her mother approached. I’d met her but wasn’t sure of her name. Miss Blalock? Miss Blankenship? Miss Blackstock? I couldn’t quite remember.

Whatever her name, she had a sour look on her face, and her mother resembled a widow at her husband’s funeral.

“Miss Beaumont. Mr. Shelley,” she said.

“Miss Bloomburg,” Juliet and Mr. Shelley said in unison.

Bloomburg. That was it.

She stood there as her mother said, “Miss Juliet, I believe my friend saw you in the company of a young gentleman in an open curricle late one evening. Is he your fiancé?”

My stomach dropped.Oh no.

Juliet looked pale. She sounded breathless as she said in a low voice, “I can’t imagine what you mean.”

Jeremy’s face was as angry as I’d ever seen it, but he stepped toward Miss Bloomburg and said, “I believe it is time for the second dance. Would you do me the honor?”

The young lady looked surprised. “Why, yes.” She smiled and gave him her hand.

Her mother’s lips opened slightly, then closed, as she stepped aside to let them pass. She seemed torn between expressing judgment about Juliet’s conduct and delight at Jeremy Beaumont asking her daughter to dance.

Juliet and I switched partners and joined the other dancers beginning to take their places. Juliet was starting to smile again, and I breathed a sigh.

I felt a little sorry for Miss Bloomburg, having to stand opposite Jeremy when he looked angry enough to fire his pistol in a duel and not at all like a gentleman standing up with a pretty dance partner.

That is, I might have felt sorry for her if she had not just brought her mother over to purposely slight Juliet in front of Mr. Shelley.

Miss Bloomburg had her nose in the air, a disdainful smile on her face.

I gazed across at Mr. Shelley. He did look more sober than before, but his smile returned as we started to dance.

Mr. Shelley was a courteous partner, but I was glad to see him glancing away from me and toward Juliet. I said a silent prayer that he wouldn’t be put off by what that jealous mama had said.

When the dance was over, Lord Gotthurst said, “May we get you some more lemonade?”

Our cups had long been taken away on a servant’s tray.

We thanked him, and he and Mr. Shelley walked toward the refreshments.

“I wonder if they will return,” Juliet said, “after what Mrs. Bloomburg said about me.”

“They wouldn’t abandon us.” Would they?

Jeremy stood with us, looking like a cobra guarding its eggs.

I might have laughed out loud at that analogy if I weren’t so afraid that Juliet’s reputation was being ruined even as we stood there.

But Mr. Shelley and Lord Gotthurst did return, and Juliet’s face lit up.

We sipped our lemonade as a gentleman came over and greeted Mr. Shelley and Lord Gotthurst. “May I introduce you to some of my family?” he asked. And they excused themselves and walked away.

They were probably relieved to be parted from us. After all, if they’d danced with us again so soon, it would have been almost a declaration of engagement.