To Woo a Widow (The Heart of a Duke #10)(34)

And since she was, for the first time in her life, being honest with herself, she admitted they were right.

She wanted one night in Miles’ arms.





Chapter 14


Where in blazes had she gone?

From over the top of his dance partner, Sybil Cunning’s head, he did a search for Philippa. Alas, she’d abandoned her position at the broad pillar. Had she been hiding there? Or was she even now waltzing in some other gentleman’s arms? He hardened his mouth and continued looking.

“…Did you see my mother took flight in the middle of the ballroom…?”

“Hmm?” Had some prospective suitor caught her notice or some rake with dishonorable intentions? Montfort mayhap?

“Oh, yes. And she intends to overthrow the king and name herself monarch.”

Miles blinked and yanked his attention down to Sybil. Plump, with full cheeks and a rounded form, she wore one of her patent smiles that always reached her eyes. In this moment, through the crystal lenses of her spectacles, mischief danced in their brown depths. He blinked several times. “Beg pardon, Sybil.”

The young woman, in her twenty-eighth year, snorted. “In the whole of my life, I’ve never known you to woolgather.”

No, he’d always been rather practical. There had been no reason to woolgather. And no woman to woolgather over. Until now.

“You’re doing it again,” Sybil pointed out with a widening smile.

He gave his head a hard shake. What spell had Philippa woven in these past days? Miles sighed. “Forgive me,” he apologized. “My mind was otherwise occupied.” As it had been since she’d stumbled down that walking path and into his life.

“Is it Lady Winston, then?” Curiosity underscored Sybil’s inquiry.

Miles stiffened.

“The woman who’s at last captured your heart.”

His mind came to a screeching halt. “I…” Had no suitable reply. For though there had been no spoken, or even unspoken, pledge between them, there had been a silent understanding among two children of friendly families.

With another inelegant snort, Sybil slapped his arm. “Oh, come, Miles. I’ve known you since we were babes. Never before has your name filled the scandal sheets…until this week.”

As he guided Sybil through the steps of the waltz, he carefully picked his way around, searching for a suitable reply. The actuality was, if he hadn’t met Philippa that day in the park, he would have married Sybil in two weeks’ time and they would have been happy. Politely so. There was not, nor would there ever have been passion, or this gripping mastery of his mind and heart that Philippa had managed.

He sighed. Sybil deserved more of him than a public confession in the midst of Lord Essex’s ballroom and, yet, she deserved something of him. An explanation. “It is Lady Winston,” he conceded.

“I knew it,” she said with another wide smile. She let out a long sigh. “Thank goodness.”

He cocked his head. “Thank goodness?”

“Surely you do not think me oblivious to our mothers’ scheming these years, hmm?”

A flush climbed up his neck.

She flashed him a wounded look. “I am disappointed, Miles. Knowing me as you once did and, yet, you think me so empty-headed that I’d be so oblivious to their frequent talks of us marrying.”

Miles guided her in another smooth circle. “They wished to see us happy,” he said. That, however, did not excuse their mothers’ interfering in her life…or his. In making that pledge to his mother, he was just as guilty.

“They wished to see us married,” she said bluntly. “But no one ever thought to my happiness.” She gave him a long look. “Not even you in offering to marry me…is it before your thirtieth birthday, hmm?”

He managed a sheepish grin. “Yes, well, you are correct. Virtue can only flourish amongst equals.”

Sybil flared her eyes. “Are you quoting Mrs. Wollstonecraft, now?”

“I am, thanks to a wondrous, much needed influence in my life.” Philippa had changed him in ways he’d not known he needed changing.

“Thank you,” Sybil said with a soft smile. “I am grateful for not only your offer, but also your wisdom in finally seeing what I desire matters just as much. I never wished to marry a man who did so for a sense of familial obligation. I’d rather marry a man who searched around the ballroom for a sight of me.” She dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “She snuck out the back entrance.”

He swiveled his head around and promptly missed a beat trampling his partner’s toes. “Forgive me,” he said quickly, restoring his attention. Where had she gone off to and for what end?

As the orchestra ceased playing, Miles brought them to a halt. He passed his gaze over Sybil’s face. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “You deserved a far better husband than me, anyway.”

She blushed. “Oh, hush. You were never one of those flirty sorts,” she said as he escorted her from the floor. “Just as you weren’t one of those scandalous sorts. For if you were, I’d expect you’d go after your lady.”

Miles winked, earning a laugh. As her amusement faded, he gave her another look. “Thank—”

“If you thank me again, I’m going to clout you over the head. Now go,” she said. “Go,” she repeated with a gentle insistence.