Angling his head, Tobias smiled at Fiona. “Did you forget?” He narrowed his eyes slightly and tried to silently plead with her to agree.

“You can dance with Lord Gregory later,” Miss Lancaster put in from just behind Fiona, proving that her eavesdropping skills were quite advanced. “There’s another waltz.”

Fiona turned to Lord Gregory with an apologetic smile. “I hope you don’t mind delaying our dance. I seem to have forgotten that I promised this one to my guardian.”

Tobias flinched inwardly, wishing she hadn’t called him that. He didn’t need any further reminders that he should not be doing what he was about to do.

“Of course, I don’t mind. Now I have something splendid to look forward to.” Lord Gregory stepped to the side.

Fiona took Tobias’s arm. As they walked toward the dance floor, she looked at him askance, her expression dubious. “Did your grandmother put you up to this?”

Chapter 19

Fiona’s question made Tobias stop, but only for the barest second because the music was starting. He swept her into his arms just as the waltz began.

It was heavenly. The sparkling candlelight reflected by the glass chandeliers and the mirrors. The blur of color as they swirled around the dancefloor. The lush notes of the music rising in the air and propelling the dancers.

“We’ve never had music before,” she said, her eyes locked with his. He looked splendid this evening in a black coat and silver-threaded waistcoat. When she’d imagined her guardian on her journey from Shropshire, she’d never envisioned a handsome man who made her pulse race.

“Not true. I hummed the first time.” The corner of his mouth ticked up. “On second thought, I believe we determined that didn’t qualify as music.”

She very much appreciated his ability to laugh at himself. “Perhaps with practice, you will gain the skill as I did with curtseying. After the queen’s drawing room debacle.”

“I doubt that,” he said wryly. “But I’m willing to try, and you can tell me if I’m successful. Now, why did you mention my grandmother? And tell me about your interview with her.”

“It was…enlightening,” Fiona borrowed the dowager’s word. “I see where your father might have inherited his autocratic tendencies.”

“Oh dear, what did she say?”

“She went on quite a bit about matchmaking and the importance of it. She’s considering becoming my sponsor in place of Lady Pickering.”

Tobias wrinkled his nose. “That will not go well. The only woman who is perhaps more formidable than my grandmother, at least in my experience, is Lady Pickering.”

“I have a hard time imagining that. Lady Pickering is so pleasant.” Fiona liked her very much. “Not to say your grandmother is not,” she hastily added.

Tobias laughed softly, a dark, throaty sound that never failed to make her want to smile in return. “I don’t mind admitting she can be rather intimidating on occasion. I was shocked when she arrived earlier today. I was not expecting her.”

“That’s the impression I had from Carrin.”