Rendezvous by Amanda Quick

vivid imagination, she had not truly understood how enthralling it would be, nor how dangerous. A woman could lose herself to this kind of glittering, compelling excitement.
    And Harry was intent on marriage
.
    Augusta felt a wave of panic rise up inside her. Marriage? To Harry? It was impossible. It would never work. It would be a terrible mistake. She had to find a way to end this engagement, for both their sakes. Augusta watched the shadows on the ceiling and warned herself that she would have to be very careful and very clever.

H arry
propped one shoulder against the ballroom wall and sipped meditatively at a glass of champagne as he watched his fiancée step into the arms of yet another man.
    Augusta, glowing in a gossamer silk gown of dark coral, was smiling with pleasure as her tall, handsome, red-haired partner swept her into a dashing waltz. There was no denying the couple made an attractive sight on the crowded dance floor.
    “What do you know of Lovejoy?” Harry asked Peter, who was lounging beside him with a bored expression on his handsome face.
    “You’d do better to ask that question of one of the ladies.” Peter’s gaze wandered restlessly across the crowded ballroom. “I understand he’s got quite a reputation among the fairer sex.”
    “Obviously. He’s danced with every eligible female in the room tonight. Not one of them has turned him down yet.”
    Peter’s mouth twisted briefly. “I know. Not even theAngel.” His eyes lingered briefly on Augusta’s demure, golden-haired cousin who was dancing with an elderly baron.
    “I don’t care if he dances with Claudia Ballinger, but I may have to put a stop to his waltzing with Augusta.”
    Peter’s brow rose mockingly. “You think you can accomplish that feat? Augusta Ballinger has a mind of her own, as you should know by now.”
    “Be that as it may, she is engaged to me. It’s time she learned to behave with a bit more propriety.”
    Peter grinned. “So now that you’ve selected your bride you intend to turn her into the sort of wife you think you want, is that it? This should prove interesting. Bear in mind that Miss Augusta Ballinger comes from the wild branch of the Ballinger family. From what I have heard that lot never could do anything with propriety. Augusta’s parents scandalized Society by making a runaway marriage, Sally tells me.”
    “That is an old piece of business and need not concern anyone now.”
    “Well, then, how about more current news?” Peter said, beginning to show some interest in the conversation. “There’s the rather mysterious manner in which Miss Ballinger’s brother was killed two years ago.”
    “He was shot dead by a highwayman on the way home from London.”
    “That’s the official story. Things were hushed up, but according to Sally there was some speculation at the time that the young man was involved in highly questionable activities.”
    Harry scowled. “Bound to be some speculation and gossip when a young rakehell is cut down by violence. Everyone knows Richard Ballinger was a hotheaded, neck-or-nothing sort, just like his father before him.”
    “Yes, well, speaking of the father,” Peter murmured with relish, “have you pondered the reputation the man had for fighting duels because of his wife’s penchant for drawingthe wrong sort of attention? Aren’t you afraid that sort of problem might continue in the current generation? Some say Augusta is very much like her mother.”
    Harry set his jaw, aware that Peter was deliberately baiting him. “Ballinger was a reckless idiot. From what Sir Thomas has told me, the man exercised no control over his wife. He allowed her to run wild. I do not intend to permit Augusta to get into the sort of trouble that will oblige me to go about making dawn appointments. Only a fool finds himself fighting a duel over a woman.”
    “Pity. I think you’d be rather good at them. Duels, I mean. There have been times when I have actually believed you had ice