The Knight; His secret author

Counting the minutes

*Althea*

"I think she rather fancies him," I hear a soft feminine voice muse.

I spin around and immediately drop into a curtsy. "My Luna."

The Dowager Luna of Brinsley smiles at me. "Miss Leyland. I have not seen you in a good while, m’dear. How are you faring?"

"I’m well, My Luna, thank you for asking. And you?"

"Returned yesterday from a lovely month in the winelands. Overall, however, I am much happier since my elder son foubd his Luna. Now, if I can just get Lautius to walk up the aisle. Did he ask you for a dance?" She asks.

I consider lying, but I know a chance exists she’d ask her second son for confirmation. "No, he hasn’t, but he seems smitten with Miss Letitia."

"He’s smitten with them all. I’m sure he will ask you. He probably just didn’t want to do it in front of the she-wolf because he likes for each she-wolf to feel she is special and has his undivided attention when he is with her. But he enjoys dancing. Unlike Alpha Knightley."

"Alpha Knightley?" He loves dancing. In addition to circling me about dance floors, he had waltzed with me in gardens and in the moonlight along the stream on my property.

"Hmm," the dowager Luna murmurs. "At these affairs, he’s more ornament than use. No matter that she-wolves far outnumber men. He never dances. Although I did hear he once danced with Penny before she married my son, but I’m fairly certain that was just to tease my boy, to make him jealous." She furrows her brow. "Although he danced with you, didn’t he? Years ago, of course, and then based upon the nattering of matrons tonight, more recently."

I very nearly curse aloud. Did we have to always be the object of gossip?

As though speaking about him had conjured him, looking past the Luna, I spot him standing in a circle of men, but he hardly seems to be paying any attention to them. His gaze captures mine, and I feel as if he’d suddenly shackled it in irons because I can't look away.

Then he does the strangest thing. He reaches up and tugs on his left earlobe. A signal. A signal we had devised for communicating. I'll be waiting for you in the gardens.

The audacity of the man. After what had transpired by the stream, does he really think I'm going to rendezvous with him in a darkened place?

"Handsome devil, isn’t he?"

I jerk my attention back to the dowager Luna. "I was simply admiring the beauty of this chamber, the wallpaper, mirror, and elegant chandeliers."

"M’dear, I may have some years on me but I’m not dead, and I can certainly detect a spark of interest in a she-wolf’s eyes." She says.

I shake my head, "I promise you I have no interest in him at all."

"I suppose I can hardly blame you when he didn’t do right by you. Your father shared with me the truth of things. Shocked me down to my toes as I had considered Knightley a man of honor. Your father suing him for breach of contract made it very clear he was not."

Unfortunately, it had also served to give fuel to the speculation that Knightley had lied when he had declared I had changed my mind, especially after Knightley paid without a single objection.

The money had gone into my trust, increasing the amount of interest and thus providing me with a little more income each year. I know the exact amount down to the penny because when I’d returned from abroad, I’d set up a trust for Arianna and ensured the additional earnings from Knightley’s contribution were deposited into it.

"Better he decided we didn’t suit before we were married than after," I say.

"How gracious of you, m’dear. If it had been me, I think I would want some sort of revenge. Although they do say it can be a double-edged sword." She lightly pats my shoulder. "But it appears you have a new suitor. Good luck to you."

The dowager Luna greets Chidding in passing as he comes to claim his waltz. I like the way his eyes warm at the sight of me, the small smile he bestows upon me that reveals one tooth in the front charmingly overlapping the other.

When he circles me over the floor, he ensures we remain a respectful distance from each other. Proper. We would lead a very proper life, very different from the improper one I have lived from the moment I was born.

"Do you find it difficult being at these affairs?" he asks, to my surprise. I’d expected him to comment once more on the weather.

"I’m accepted by some, not by others, but that is the way of the hifh packs."

"Do you want to live among them?"

I want it for my daughter, and I suppose in a way, for my father, to prove I am worthy of the notice, respect, and elevation. As redemption for my mother as well. I want to be welcomed into ballrooms where my mother had been denied entrance. But mostly, I want to be accepted for myself, for people to look beyond the circumstances of my birth and to find me worthy of their admiration because of who I am within my heart and soul. But that is so very hard to admit. "My father set me on this course. I suppose I don’t want to disappoint him."

"I can’t imagine you ever disappointed him. I also imagine it was difficult coming by yourself. I did not realized you’d been invited as . . ." His voice trails off.

"As?" I prompt.

The tips of his ears turn red. "I knew your brother had been."

"Did he tell you that?"

He nods gravely. "At the club, when he approached to tell me I should cease giving you attention."

I couldn't be more surprised if a unicorn had suddenly galloped in through the doors leading onto the terrace. Not at my brother's actions, but at Chidding's disregarding the instructions. He is such a quiet, unassuming man I'm embarrassed now to acknowledge I’d been unsure of his backbone. "Yet here you are dancing with me."

He grins. "Here I am, dancing with you."

Because he likes me or because he is incredibly desperate for my funds? Why do I have such doubts? Because I'd once trusted unconditionally and been deeply hurt. "Is he in attendance?"

I’ve not spied him but then with so many people roaming about in this large chamber, as well as the adjoining refreshment room, I might go all night without noting the identity of every guest.

"No. Apparently, he had an altercation with Knightley at the club and was threatened with bodily harm if he showed."

Did that encounter with Brumsberry have any bearing on why my former lover wanted to meet me in the garden? "Still, you’re disregarding the advice of my father’s son and dancing with me. He’s bound to hear of it."

He gives me a gentle smile. "I’m not one to strut about, but neither am I one to be intimidated. I have a mean right hook when I put my mind to it."

Releasing a bubble of laughter, I look at him through a very different lens. "Indeed?"

"I admit to being timid, and I’m not particularly bold, but you may rest assured I do protect what is mine."

"I’m very glad to know that particular fact about you, my Alpha." Now, I just need to determine if he will consider me and Arianna his.

"I admire you greatly, Miss Leyland. It cannot have been easy to arrive here unescorted. Yet, you braved the censure. Perhaps, if you plan to attend another ball, you could send word, and I might accompany you, with a widowed cousin serving as chaperone."

"You’ve made an incredibly generous offer, my Alpha. I’ll certainly keep it in mind."

The music ceases, and we come to a stop. Once more, he places a kiss against my knuckles and holds my gaze. "I shall count the minutes until the final waltz."

Suddenly I find I will be counting them as well.