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campaign. Lorraine took it upon herself to speak to Lady Palmer, with whom she had an acquaintance. Lady Palmer was Lady Angeline Dudley’s cousin and her sponsor for the all-important come-out Season. The outcome of the meeting was that Edward was engaged to lead Lady Angeline Dudley into the first set of dances at her come-out ball—arguably the most important set of dances in her life.
    Lorraine’s initiative was accorded the heartfelt approval of the rest of the committee. Indeed, Edward even heard—and carefully ignored—mention being made of St. George’s, Hanover Square, as the only truly proper setting for a marriage of such social magnitude. The comment came in the voice of his maternal grandmother.
    Being accepted to dance that opening set with Lady Angeline Dudley was a huge honor for Edward. It was no less an honor for her, of course. He was one of the most eligible bachelors on the market this year—and he did not doubt that the whole of the beau monde was fully aware that he was actively in search of a bride.
    It was all deucedly unnerving.
    Just a year or so ago he might have attended any and every
ton
ball without anyone’s remembering afterward if he had even been there. Being a second son made one blessedly invisible.
    He wondered what Lady Angeline Dudley looked like. And what she was like as a person. But it seemed he was destined to find out soon enough. He was forced to go through the excruciatingly embarrassing formality of applying to Tresham himself for that all-important set with his sister—Tresham
was
back in town, alas. And of course permission was granted, even though he had been forced to endure a long, inscrutable stare from Tresham’s black eyes before being informed that if Lady Palmer deemed Heyward an unexceptionable partner for Lady Angeline, then who was
he
to argue?
    Lord! What would it be like, Edward could not help wondering, if he ever had to apply to the duke for permission to
marry
the sister? It did not bear thinking of, though he believed he had acquitted himself well enough on this occasion by staring back at Tresham with equal steadiness of eye.
    All of Edward’s female relatives were fairly twittering with delight when the matter became official. And it was not just the ladies. Augustine Lynd began cracking jokes about leg shackles and braying loudly over his own wit. And Overmyer began hoping that his gout—which was in his head more than it was in his legs, in Edward’s inexpert and unkind medical opinion—would allow him to attend the ball at Dudley House so that he could witness the first fateful meeting between his brother-in-law and his future countess.
    It was a relief to Edward to discover during a chance meeting on Oxford Street that Lady Sanford and Eunice were also to attend the ball, even though Eunice despised the frivolities of most social entertainments and was going only because she did not want to disappoint her aunt. Perhaps she would dance a set with him, Edward thought, even though he hated to dance. Even though he
could
not dance, in fact. His right leg and foot might
look
like a right leg and foot, but in reality they were a left leg and foot in disguise. Or so it always seemed when he attempted to perform the intricate steps of any dance yet invented.
    Perhaps Eunice would sit out a set with him, then, or stroll in the garden outside with him if it was a pleasant evening. She would not mind having to forgo the pleasure of tripping the light fantastic for half an hour.
    Meanwhile he hired a secretary to help him with all the work of being an earl in London with an estate in Shropshire still to run in absentia. And he applied all his energies to composing a maiden speech that would render all the other peers of the realm speechless with admiration when it was delivered in the House of Lords.
    He started to suffer from insomnia and sudden cold sweats and clammy palms.

Chapter 3

    W HEN THINKING AHEAD to her removal to London, Angeline had