Hadrian soon plucked her from the crowd of admirers and led her onto the dance floor where two long lines were forming, gentlemen on one side and ladies on the other. Natalie was glad for the dancing master the duchess had engaged this past week, for there were slight differences in the steps she’d known in America, where techniques were not quite so strict.

As the music began, the formal movements provided little opportunity for conversation. But as Hadrian gazed at her, the slight smile on his lips made her heartbeat accelerate. As well, her insides melted at the intensity in his eyes, and by the time the dance ended, she had to concentrate in order not to wobble on molten knees.

He placed his hand at the small of her back. “I dislike having to give you off to other partners, but I must do my duty to half the women present. I hope you’ll reserve the waltz for me just before supper.”

“Two dances, Your Grace? I hear that’s scandalous behavior for London society.”

His expression showed a stirring possessiveness. “If people wish to interpret it as a declaration of my interest in you, then so be it. Now, allow me to introduce you to a good friend of mine who’s been anxious to meet you.”

He escorted her to a rangy man with a calm smile, who secured her hand for the next dance. Mr. Gerald Remington was a member of the House of Commons, and on learning her father had been a senator, engaged her in an animated discussion of the workings of the United States government.

As the quadrille drew to a close, she said, “I’m surprised that people here are friendly to me when our two nations were so recently at war.”

Remington grinned. “The war may have been of vital importance to the Americans, but to us Brits it was a minor skirmish. We’ve bigger conflicts going on, most notably with the French.”

With that, he introduced her to another of Hadrian’s friends. It was soon apparent the duke had arranged for her not to be left standing awkwardly alone in a sea of strangers. She had no lack of partners during the evening, including her grandfather and Lizzy’s husband. She also danced with her cousin Giles, who blushed when he trod on her foot. Despite his lack of fortune, he seemed a decent young man, so she agreed to his request to make him known to Lady Ellen, who was much taken with his dark Romany looks.

Now and then, Natalie caught a glimpse of Hadrian squiring a succession of dewy-eyed debutantes and elegant grande dames. She knew him well enough to detect a hint of jaded ennui in his polite expression, a fact that perversely pleased her. Then, after one dance, she spied Lady Godwin sitting with a gaggle of equally sour-faced matrons. They were glowering in her direction in a way that cast a pall over her blithe spirits.

“She may be my kin,” a familiar voice murmured, “but I never did like that woman.”