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also promised to go with Anne, and a few select members of the committee on their search. If she had know Lord William would act as their escort, she would have invented a reason to decline.
     
    Her stomach churned at the thought of spending the day in Lord William's company. The unsettling feeling caused her to stumble and step on his foot. "Oh dear, how clumsy of me."
     
    He braced her arm with his hand and gave her a questioning look. Surely, he did not think she stepped on him on purpose? Oh, but of course he did. She wished she had a fan to smack him over his head.
     
    "Think nothing of it sweetings."
     
    "I am not your sweetings!" Cassie spit out. How dare he? The man itched her last nerve.
     
    He laughed. Laughed. A rich, warm, bold laugh that put her on the edge of a cliff where she felt herself tumbling heart first. How could she possibly spend an entire day with this man? Her strange and uncertain feelings reminded her of a trip she once took with her family on a sailing ship, and how the angry sea roared through her body causing her to be weak with nausea and rolling stomach cramps. Except this time the sea did not upset her constitution, but the man before her.
     
    "I apologize if I offended you Miss Chambers."
     
    The dance continued. How much longer would she have to endure this sweet torture? His eyes skimmed her face and landed briefly on her bosom. Her breasts throbbed like they had in her dreams at night, dreams that plagued her since meeting Lord William. The room suddenly grew hotter. Perspiration formed on her forehead and in the crevice between her breasts. She longed for the snapping cold of the February air.
     
    The dance came to an end. He bowed; she curtsied. He took her arm and headed towards the punch table. "Perhaps you should escort me back to my mother."
     
    "I thought perhaps you would like a drink."
     
    "No. I want to return to my mother's side, now, if you please." She did not intend to sound snappish, but she was on edge, teetering on a line where panic poised to snatch her at her throat.
     
    "Of course, Miss Chambers." A flicker of raw emotion passed over Lord William's face before turning back into cool, hard, stone. A mask. They both wore masks to disguise the growing frustrations between them. The man positively rattled her, and left her unsure of her own feelings. Would things have been different if she met Lord William before Mr. Parker?
     
    No. She was merely a vicar's daughter, a commoner.
     
    But he was a commoner too, despite his courtesy title. However, he was the son of a marquis, second in line for the title.
     
    Mr. Parker was also in line for a title, and was assured he would become the next Viscount Winnington in his lifetime. The viscount was an old man, in his seventies, near his maker's door. Yes, her Mr. Parker would inherit the title and she would become a viscountess, the mother of the next Winnington heir. And yet, she was a vicar's daughter, her father the son of a fourth son, the grandson of an earl.
     
    She never knew her grandfather. He died long before she was born. She only met her uncle twice before he cocked up his toes and left the earldom to his son. Granted, a little blue blood ran in her veins, but now it was far enough removed that she determined it did not count or matter.
     
    She knew she was fortunate Mr. Parker overlooked such a thing as her common birth. He did not care. He loved her. He wanted to marry her, despite the obstacle of convincing his uncle of her worthiness as his bride. He did not wait for his uncle's approval, but instead, he proposed to her, promising her the moon and the stars and a lifetime of love.
     
    She did not need the complication of Lord William. She had her Mr. Parker, and he was all she ever needed.
     
    ***
     
    William watched Cassie dance with Lord John, a young buck barely out of knee breeches. The pink of her dress added a blushing glow to her porcelain skin and face. The dress flowed against her womanly