He shook his head and plastered a half smile on his face. The crowd made way for him as he strode across the ballroom.

“Lady Emily,” he said when he reached her side. Her fan covered her chest, fluttering nearly as much as her eyes did at his salutation. “It took me much too long to find you. What are you doing hiding away like this?”

Another flutter from the fan as he waited patiently, and just as her mouth was about to open, an older woman to his left answered for her. “We have been discussing the latest fashions. Haven’t we, my dear?”

Lady Emily’s eyes widened. Everton had watched her for a good ten minutes before coming over. That woman hadn’t once bothered to talk to her. If they had been speaking of fashions, it must have been quite some time ago. Her parents needed to send her with a companion to these functions if they insisted on immediately finding their own friends and leaving her to fend for herself—something she wasn’t capable of, at least not yet.

“Has your dance card been filled yet? If not, I would like to take your next open set.”

Lady Emily shook her head no but still wouldn’t speak up enough to say which of the next dances would be his.

“Is your next set free?”

A subtle nod.

“Then I shall claim it.”

The plump lady who had supposedly been speaking of fashions with Lady Emily slid on her chair to be closer to the two of them. “My daughter is also free for the next set if Lady Emily would rather be excused.”

The woman next to the plump matron furrowed her eyebrows. “But I thought your daughter was dancing—” A sharp elbow jab from her friend cut her off.

“I have hosted this ball with the express purpose of dancing with Lady Emily. No other woman will do.”

The woman huffed, and Lady Emily blushed. He put his arm out to her, and she reluctantly took it. He couldn’t imagine why she would want to sit next to these women, but he had a feeling the low lighting in that corner had something to do with it.

At this point, he would typically remark on a woman’s appearance or make a disparaging remark about one of the overdressed gentlemen hoping to catch any young woman of fortune’s eye, but after several weeks spent in Lady Emily’s company, he had learned that she was most comfortable with silence.

Silence was not one of his strong points, but he hated to frighten the poor girl, so he kept his observation of Mr. Rushland’s orange-flowered vest to himself.

It only took one turn about the room for the current set to finish, and Everton led Lady Emily to the outer edge of the dancers to await their set. He had yet to dance with the shy Lady Emily, as most of their interactions had been at card parties and house calls.