Chapter Eight
Nicholas danced with Lady Isabella at the Alleynes’ ball—a quadrille and a waltz—and then claimed her hand several hours later at the Warwicks’, in a ballroom draped with pink silk. The champagne, when he procured two glasses after a particularly energetic country dance, was also pink.
After handing Lady Isabella to her next partner, Nicholas retired to the back of the ballroom and leaned his shoulders against the pink-swathed walls. He took an idle sip of champagne, surveying the dance floor, his eyes sliding from one débutante to the next. Clarissa Whedon would be acceptable as a wife, as would Agatha Harrow. Miss Whedon wasn’t a beauty, but pulchritude was unimportant in a bride. A compliant nature, a quiet disposition, youthfulness—those were what he required, and Miss
