The Perfect Lady Worthe by Rose Gordon

Fairchilde commented.
    “Michael will never agree.” A sadness she couldn’t help filled her tone. “He thinks—”
    “Never mind, what he thinks, we shall have to convince him otherwise.”
    “We?” Charlotte squeaked.
    “Mainly you, of course,” Mrs. Fairchilde said with a wink. She turned her attention back to where Jane and Lord Worthe sat chatting and playing cards as if the rest of the world failed to exist.
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Nine
     
     
    Gareth made a mental note to get his affairs in order to prepare for his impending death on a dueling field. For surely that would be happening in the immediate future. If not because Gareth had held court privately with Jane in the drawing room at the musicale after everyone left, then because of what happened after their game of cards…
    “Aha!” she said, flipping her card over to reveal a queen, which was higher than his lowly ten. “I won this war and that’s the game, Lord Worthe.” Jane smiled triumphantly and swept up the remainder of his cards into her pile.
    “Gareth,” he murmured. At her queer look, he said, “You may call me Gareth.”
    Jane nodded slowly and straightened his deck of cards. “Thank you for playing cards with me, Gareth.”
    Gareth frowned. “You don’t have to thank me for playing cards with you.”
    Jane blushed and had it been for any other reason, he’d have enjoyed it immensely. “You don’t suppose they’re ready to go, do you?”
    Her words brought Gareth up short. “Is my company that unbearable?”
    Jane started, then offered him a slow smile. “Are you fishing for compliments again?”
    “No,” Gareth said slowly, genuinely confused and slightly annoyed. Did she only tolerate him because she had no other choice?
    “Well then, I suppose since I told you honesty was my tack, I should have some now.” She placed her hands on her armrests and shifted her position in her chair. “I very much enjoyed your company this evening, but I don’t want you to expire from tedium.”
    “By spending time with you?” he blurted in a tone laced with shock.
    “You don’t have to pretend to enjoy…” She plucked at her blue skirt. “I know I’m not the most enchanting creature in attendance.”
    “I think that depends on who you ask.” He hadn’t meant to say it, but once it was out, he had no regrets. “Would you like a change of scenery?”
    “If you’d like to go, please don’t feel obligated to stay with me.”
    “Obligated?” Gareth shook his head. She was just as thickheaded as the rest of her family. He’d have to rectify that immediately. “The only thing I feel obligated to do is to ask you to lift the hem of your skirt about two inches.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “It’d be a pity to drag it through the ashes some of the men have left on the balcony from their cheroots.”
    “Oh.”
    “Is that consent?”
    Jane didn’t say anything, she simply lifted her skirt just enough to keep it from touching the floor.
    Excitement shot through Gareth. He pushed her out onto the balcony. Finding a stone bench near the northern end, he maneuvered Jane to be right next to it then took a seat.
    “The stars are so bright and beautiful tonight,” Jane said.
    Gareth murmured something he hoped she’d take as agreement, but didn’t bother to look at the stars. He was enjoying the sight of her far more. Her profile face, tipped toward the sky, was a sight to behold. Big hazel eyes, parted pink lips, a delicate chin all washed in moonlight. Her hair had been styled to perfection, hours with curling tongs and hundreds of pricks with hairpins, no doubt.
    Jane swallowed then, the column of her throat working. Gareth resisted the urge to trace it with his fingertips.
    “Is something the matter?”
    Jane sighed. “When Charlotte goes to London we’ll still be under the same stars, but likely she won’t be able to see them.”
    “Does that worry you?”
    “It shouldn’t.” She clasped her hands in her lap.