Miss Moyle looked at Basset then, some understanding passing between them when Basset barely shook his head. “I did not think… did not even your mother come, Harry?”

“She is not well,” he murmured, his voice turning stiff, his eyes averting. “She sent a lovely note with her regrets.” He raised his eyes to Adelaide, no longer so murderous, but hardly warm. “And Emblyn does not have to come.”

Adelaide gave him an exasperated look. “And what will people say when your sister is not there, even for this? One cannot swim in a pond and dip toes in a lake all at once.”

Basset’s mouth curved in an almost smile, causing her stomach to turn precisely one quarter. “I shall leave the expertise of swimming ponds and lakes to you, my dear. I’ve no knowledge of such things.”

Impossible man, he knew full well she did not either.

Still, it was banter and not an insult.

Progress.

“I will come.”

Both Basset and Adelaide looked at Miss Moyle in shock. “You will?”

She nodded, looking rather miserable about it. “‘Tis only right. I shall do me best to not shame ee.”

“That won’t happen,” Basset assured her, reaching out to take her hand. “Short of rallying the miners to burn the house down, nothing you do could.”

Adelaide gawked at his statement, having yet to even see a mine, let alone a miner. “Is that likely?”

The siblings laughed together. “Nay, ma’am,” Miss Moyle said with a smile. “Harry is much liked in the area, by miners and by other folk. And I’d never.”

“Good,” Adelaide managed, swallowing the sudden panic that had jolted at the idea. She had never been in the vicinity of any common people at all, and one could never be sure what the feelings of them were toward their betters.

Miss Moyle being among them could either work in their favor or to their detriment. What a terrifying thought.

Adelaide cleared her throat. “We’ve the perfect gown for you to wear, haven’t we, Basset? And I am sure you will want to learn the dance steps, so I will arrange lessons before the date. And I think my maid might do wonders with your hair…”

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

“I feel ridiculous.”

“Everybody feels ridiculous at these things, Emblyn. At least you’re not wearing a cravat.”

Emblyn glared at Gage Trembath, Harrison’s oldest friend, currently standing between the two of them. “I’d take that if it would free my arms. I be trapped in this like a bleeding chicken!”

Harrison bit back a laugh and smiled at his sister. “But a very pretty chicken, Emblyn. The finest in the room.”

Her look would have murdered him if it had come with blades. “Because that is what matters.”

“It is to my wife.” He shrugged and all three of them looked across the ballroom.