Or…
Maybe Tallywhite did know that Arbuthnot was his contact, and the whole thing was a plan to test George so that they could use him for future endeavors. Maybe George had just accidentally embarked upon a career in espionage.
He looked down at the punch in his hand. Maybe he needed… No, he definitely needed something with a higher degree of alcohol.
“What is this rot?” he muttered, setting the glass back down.
And then he saw her.
He stopped breathing. “Billie?”
She was a vision. Her gown was of the deepest crimson, the color an unexpectedly vibrant choice for an unmarried miss, but on Billie it was perfection. Her skin was like milk, her eyes sparkled, and her lips… He knew she did not color them – Billie would never have patience for that sort of thing – but somehow they looked richer, as if they’d absorbed some of the ruby brilliance of her gown.
He had kissed those lips. He had tasted her and adored her, and he wanted to worship her in ways she’d likely never dreamed possible.
It was odd, though; he had not heard her being announced. He was too far from the entrance, or maybe he had simply been too enmeshed in his own thoughts. But there she was, standing next to his mother, so beautiful, so radiant that he could not see anyone else.
Suddenly the rest of the world seemed like such a chore. He didn’t want to be here at this dance, with people he didn’t want to talk to and messages he didn’t particularly wish to deliver. He didn’t want to dance with young ladies he didn’t know, and he didn’t want to make polite conversation with people he did. He just wanted Billie, and he wanted her all to himself.
He forgot about Tallywhite. He forgot about pease, porridge, and pudding, and he stalked across the room with such single-minded purpose that the crowds seemed to melt from his path.
And somehow, amazingly, the rest of the world had not yet noticed her. She was so beautiful, so uncommonly alive and real in this room full of waxen dolls. She would not go undiscovered for long.
But not yet. Soon he would have to fight the throngs of eager young gentlemen, but for now, she was still his alone.
She was nervous, though. It wasn’t obvious; he was sure he was the only one who could tell. With Billie, you had to know her. She was standing proud, back straight and head high, but her eyes were flitting about, glancing through the crowd.
Looking for him?
He stepped forward.
“George!” she said delightedly. “Er, I mean, Lord Kennard. How lovely and” – she gave him a hidden smile – “unsurprising to see you.”
“Miss Bridgerton,” he murmured, bowing over her hand.
“George,” his mother said, nodding her head in greeting.
He leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Mother.”
“Doesn’t Billie look beautiful?”
He nodded slowly, unable to take his eyes from her. “Yes,” he said, “she looks… beautiful.” But it wasn’t the right word. It was far too prosaic. Beauty wasn’t the fierce intelligence that gave her eyes depth, and it wasn’t the wit behind her smile. She was beautiful, but she wasn’t only beautiful, and that was why he loved her.
“I hope that you have saved your first dance for me,” he said.
Billie looked over at his mother for confirmation.
“Yes, you may dance your first with George,” she said with an indulgent smile.
“There are so many rules,” Billie said sheepishly. “I couldn’t remember if for some reason I was meant to save you for later.”
“Have you been here long?” Lady Manston asked.
“An hour or so,” George replied. “My errand took less time than I’d anticipated.”
“It was an errand?” she said. “I thought it was a meeting.”
If George hadn’t been so entranced with Billie, he might have had the wherewithal to muster irritation at this. His mother was clearly fishing for information, or at the very least, attempting to scold him retroactively. But he just couldn’t bring himself to care. Not when Billie was looking up at him with shining eyes.
“You really do look beautiful,” he said.
“Thank you.” She smiled awkwardly, and his gaze fell to her hands, which were nervously riffling against the folds of her skirt. “You look very handsome as well.”
Beside them, Lady Manston was beaming.
“Would you care to dance?” he blurted.
“Now?” She smiled adorably. “Is there music?”
There wasn’t. It was some testament to how foolish in love he’d become that he did not even feel embarrassed. “Perhaps a turn about the room,” he suggested. “The musicians will begin again shortly.”
Billie looked to Lady Manston, who gave her approval with a wave. “Go,” she said, “but stay well within sight.”
George was jolted out of his dreamy haze for long enough to shoot his mother an icy look. “I would not dream of doing anything to compromise her reputation.”
“Of course not,” she said airily. “I want to make sure she’s seen. There are many eligible gentlemen here tonight. More than I expected.”
George grabbed Billie’s arm.
“I saw the Billington heir,” Lady Manston continued, “and you know, I don’t think he’s too young.”
George gave her a look of mild disdain. “I don’t think she wants to be Billie Billington, Mother.”
Billie choked down a laugh. “Oh, my, I hadn’t even thought.”
“Good.”
“She’s Sybilla now, anyway,” his mother said, demonstrating her talent for hearing only what she wished to. “And Sybilla Billington has rather a nice ring to it.”