Scorned By Him, Cherished By His Brother novel · Chapter 13 of 24
Chapter 13: The Midwinter Ball
The Queen's ballroom held four hundred candles and nearly as many people who had read the Gazette.
I came in on Henry's arm, in a grey silk gown my father's housekeeper had taken in overnight, and the room turned to look.
Then the room turned away.
It was done so smoothly that I needed a moment to understand it.
A countess whose tea I had poured twice lifted her fan and studied the ceiling as I passed.
Two gentlemen from the Treasury found something urgent at the bottom of their glasses.
A girl in white said, not quietly, "That is the one who married both brothers."
"Smile," Henry said under his breath. "They are waiting to see if you flinch."
"I am smiling."
"You are showing your teeth."
"That is what a smile is."
His arm shifted under my hand, and I felt him laugh without a sound.
We got as far as the punch table before a lady in lilac stepped into our way.
"Lord Barrington, how brave of you to come out," she said. "And Lady Barrington. I do hope you have something kinder in your bottles for this husband than you had for the last."
I opened my mouth.
Henry's hand closed over mine on his sleeve.
"Madam," he said pleasantly, "my wife has saved three lives in this city this month, and one of them was your cousin's. You may thank her at your leisure."
The lady found she had nothing more to say.
He walked me on, past the punch and the pillars, and into a window alcove with a heavy curtain.
He drew the curtain shut behind us.
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