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around card tables, murmuring only to raise the stakes while other people prowled in silence around them.
    Freddie wasn’t there, she saw at a glance. She knew he wouldn’t be the moment Leo had made his little speech about debtors’ prison. Freddie played for far higher stakes than she did, but he was not a reckless idiot, he would never gamble beyond his disposable income. However she had had no intention of letting Leo think he could dictate her actions. She circled the room briefly, as if checking each face and then came back to the doorway, expecting to find Leo still standing there, but he was gone. For a moment she almost wondered if she had imagined his presence, after all he was not of her circle, but perhaps Lord Carlshot had found it amusing to invite a fashionable artist to his gathering.
    Absurdly she was disappointed that Leo had not waited for her, and then, worse, she saw Rodney over on the far side of the ballroom, making his way towards her. Quickly she scanned the room for Freddie, if she was at least ensconced in conversation with him when Rodney reached her it would help with her deception. The ballroom had filled up though, and Freddie was rather short and she couldn’t see him through the black jackets of the men and the ladies’ brilliant dresses. She could see Leo though, taller than most men there and unusually still as he observed the seething mass of society around him. As if he felt her eyes upon him he turned and looked at her from across the room.
    For a moment it was as if they were the only two people there. Tara felt as if she could reach out and Leo would take her hand. ‘Where is Freddie?’ she mouthed. Perhaps Leo could lip read, or perhaps he had seen Rodney approaching and knew that her quest to find Freddie had become more urgent for his mouth moved in a slight smile. He jerked his head towards a refreshment table to his right and Tara saw Freddie helping himself to a bread roll. ‘Thank you,’ she breathed and knew Leo understood when he inclined his head in acknowledgement.
    Quickly she threaded her way through the crowd, aware of Rodney changing tack to follow her. ‘Freddie,’ she said a little breathlessly, finding him just on the verge of leaving the refreshment table.
    ‘Tara,’ Freddie said, taking her hand and kissing it at once. Out of the corner of her eye Tara saw Rodney closing in on them. She hadn’t a moment to waste.
    ‘How glad I am to have found you,’ she said, ‘before my dance card was completely filled.’
    Freddie shifted a little uncomfortably, ‘My dear Tara,’ he said, ‘nothing would give me more pleasure than to dance with you, but unfortunately I am committed to a game of cards starting in only a few minutes. I am afraid I shall have to forgo the honour. That is…’ he added ‘unless the tune being struck up now has not been spoken for?’
    ‘It has not!’ Tara said joyfully, seizing Freddie’s arm before he could change his mind. In truth she had not filled in a single slot on her dance card, but neither Freddie nor Rodney need know that; Tara had been troubled by a lack of spontaneous dance partners in the past. She had just time to nod hello to Rodney and the dance began.
    With more enthusiasm than grace Freddie partnered her in a lively country dance. She suspected he had not participated in this particular dance for years and surreptitiously hauled him into position from time to time. Freddie was out of breath when they finished, but he took it in good grace, bowing and kissing her hand as they swiftly parted, he heading for his promised game and she for the nearest retiring room.
    In contrast with the melee of the dance floor the room was quiet, and empty this early in the evening. Thick damask curtains shut out the night and a chaise longue and a cluster of chairs upholstered in matching material were artfully set out. Tara drew up one of the chairs to a small table bearing carafes of wine and lemonade and a plate of biscuits.