He steeled his jaw, and jerked his attention away. “It is nothing. My family is motioning,” he lied. Wordlessly, they made their way back to his family and, of course, his sister paced relentless as usual. “You cannot keep the lady to yourself all evening,” Chloe chided. “Lord Primly is here to claim his set.” She motioned to blasted Lord Primly who stood in wait.
Jane beamed as the earl sketched a bow.
Bloody hell. The ladies seemed to adore Primly. Granted, he was an easy-going, mild-mannered chap, but did his wife have to smile at him in that manner?
“M-my L-lady,” Primly said with an arm outstretched.
With a last look for Gabriel, Jane allowed Primly to escort her back onto the dance floor. Gabriel stared after them as the orchestra struck up another waltz. His brother stuck a glass of champagne under his nose and he grabbed the glass. “Isn’t there some manner of etiquette and rules in playing two waltzes together?” he groused and then took a sip while from over the rim he stared at Primly, with his hands upon Jane. And this was far worse than bloody Mr. Wallace whom she’d been all frowns for.
“I suspect there is,” Alex drawled at his side. “But then, when one is a duke, I’m sure rules of etiquette in terms of dance sets do not apply.”
“I heard the duchess has always loved to dance and adores the waltz,” Imogen said with a softness in her expression. “And the duke orders orchestras to play those waltzes so they might be in each other’s arms.”
Gabriel shifted his gaze away from Jane and damned Primly with his…with his…hands, and glanced momentarily at the duke and duchess in question. Hard, unflappable and coolly aloof, nothing struck Gabriel as warm or sentimental about such a man. No, one would never take the aloof duke for the romantic sort.
Gabriel found Jane once more. His heart swelled. A loose golden tress wound down her back, the pink of her satin shimmered in the candlelight. But then, one would never say there was anything warm or sentimental about Gabriel…and he’d gone and fallen hopelessly in love with his wife, a mere stranger three weeks ago.
So, one never truly did know where matters of the heart were concerned. It had taken Jane to show Gabriel just how much he’d been wrong about in the course of his life. Just then Lord Primly said something that raised one of Jane’s unfettered smiles.
A growl rumbled up his throat.
“Stop glaring at Lord Primly,” Chloe scolded.
“I’m not glaring at him,” he said from the corner of his mouth. If he was glaring, it was certainly permitted with the way the man had his hands upon Jane.
“No, not a glare,” Alex said with far too much humor in his tone. “I’d say more a glower than anything else.”
At that precise moment, Jane stumbled and Primly caught her to him. He said something that raised another smile, a smile that should be reserved for Gabriel. And he suspected would have been if he’d merely been honest with himself and her. But now there was smiling Primly. Jane laughed and even in the crowded room with the din of the orchestra, the bell-like sound carried over to him. He snapped the delicate stem of his champagne flute. A servant rushed over to attend to the mess. “What are they talking about?” he muttered to himself.
His brother leaned over and spoke in a low whisper. “If I know Primly it is entirely scandalous, inappropriate—”
Gabriel turned a glare on him and his brother dissolved into a fit of laughter. He found Jane once more. He was bloody pleased that everyone was having a good time at his expense, but blast and damn, this being in love business was as trying as he’d expected it would be.
She laughed once more and he curled his hands at his side. What were they talking about?
Chapter 27
With Lord Primly’s stammer and his easy nature, Jane came to an almost immediate conclusion—they related more than she’d ever expected she would with a peer.
“Th-they judge a person quite unfairly d-don’t they, Lady W-waverly.” His was more a pronouncement than anything else.
She grew guarded and looked up at the earl as they made their way through the waltz. “Er—”