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“I suppose you will have to,” she smiled back at him, feeling confident in herself now. “If I am to host most of these balls, your shopping might come in handy.”

“It is a good situation. You get to do your charity work, and I get to see you in dresses like this.”

She blushed again.

“You’re being very nice to me tonight, do you know that?” she said to him. She wanted to tell him that he looked very handsome as well, but stopped short on account of her own shyness.

One day, she would get there.

“I don’t know what you mean by that. I think I’m always nice to you,” he shrugged. “Besides, you’re always beautiful, so it’s hard not to be.”

Her breath caught, but there was no time to ask him what he meant by that, because the first carriages were already rolling up the drive, and the house behind them had begun to fill with the particular hum and rustle of several hundred guests arriving all at once.

“Gregory.” She kept her voice low, for his ears only, as the first of the guests were announced. “He is here. I had his card sent round myself. He will come.”

“I know it.” His jaw tightened, but his grip on her hand did not loosen. “Listen to me now, because I will not have the chance to say it again once the room fills. When we find him, and we will find him tonight, I want you to go upstairs. Immediately. You will go to your room, and you will lock the door, and you will not open it for anyone but myself or Ronan, do you understand me? I do not care if the ball burns down around your ears. You go, and you lock the door.”

The change in his tone was immediate, and the flirtatious lightness from their conversation gave way to something more serious and dark.

She wanted to assure him that things would be fine.

“Gregory, this is my ball. I have planned every piece of it.”

“And I am asking you to trust me with the piece that comes after the planning.” His eyes held hers, dark and urgent. “Please, Phillipa. I cannot do what I must do tonight if I am also watching for you.”

“Do you really think something is going to go wrong?”

“I am not the optimist that you are,” he clenched his jaw. “So forgive me, I need to prepare for the worst.”

She wanted to argue.

Every instinct in her rose up to argue. But she thought of his face dark and ominous, the first time he had told her to stay away from this, and she thought of how frightened he had looked just now, beneath the careful black and silver, and she found that she could not, in the end, deny him this.

“I will go,” she said. “When you tell me to go, I will go.”

“Thank you,” he sighed. “I’m not trying to ruin your evening in any way, but you know that I have my reasons.”

“I know,” she conceded. “But I have a good feeling about this, you know. I’ve been anxious all this time, in the lead up to this ball, but now that it is finally happening, I have hope that it might just end up going exactly as we have planned.”

“I hope for your sake, and my own, that you’re right.”

The music began before either of them could say anything further.

“I suppose this is our cue,” he said, sheepishly. “Would you care for a dance?”

“You know I would never deny you,” she let him take her hand in his. It fit very well, despite the difference in size and it made her heart flutter.

Gregory led her out onto the floor for the first dance of the evening, as was expected of the host and hostess, and for a few minutes, at least, Phillipa allowed herself to forget entirely why they were there.

“You know, you’re quite the dancer,” she said to him. “I wonder why you don’t show off your skills more often.”

“I suppose I have more important things to do than that,” he replied, smiling though she could see that he was on guard.

For a moment, she just wanted them to enjoy themselves before the night unfolded in front of them.

“I want to savor this,” he said, low, close to her ear. “I find that I cannot, quite.”

“Then let us pretend, for three minutes, that there is nothing else in this room tonight.”