Free Her Saving Grace by Catherine Winchester

updating all the equipment, trying to streamline things.”
    “Good idea. My steward has been on at me to update our methods; father was very opposed to change, apparently.”
    “Oh, you should definitely look into it.”
    As they spoke, breaking away from the ladies slightly, Elizabeth and Damaris had their own hushed conversation, the former seeming to try and reason with her friend, while the latter glared at him, when she thought he wasn’t looking.
    “I’ll sort something out with my steward,” Franklin said. “He knows far more about the techniques than I do and could explain them better.”
    “That would be very helpful, thank you.”
    The quartet of musicians resumed their seats and Franklin looked towards Damaris.
    “I believe this is my dance,” he smiled at her.
    Her returning smile was warm and even a little grateful. He wished that she would bestow such a sincere smile upon him.
    Suddenly an impish thought occurred to him and he turned to Elizabeth.
    “Are you engaged for the next set, Mrs Franklin?” Married women were rarely asked to dance very much.
    “No.” S he smiled warmly at him.
    “Then m ay I request this dance?” He offered her his arm and she accepted without hesitation.
    If he remembered correctly, the next dance was a four couple , square cotillion, so it made sense for them to pair up with Franklin and Damaris. As was usual in this dance, he would dance with the woman opposite him as well as his partner, and Franklin would dance with his wife as well as Damaris.
    They took their positions and after honouring each other, Franklin took his wife’s hand and they circled around each other, returning to their starting position. Nathaniel then took Damaris’ and they circled around each other. He couldn’t help watching her as they danced but she tried to keep her gaze averted. The moment he did catch her eye though, she seemed unable to break the contact, even as he let go of her hand and stepped back into position.
    They stood still for a moment as the other two couples in the square danced, and he felt quite captivated by her eyes; none of the glass beads on her fine gown shone quite as well as her blue eyes did.
    They joined hands with those beside them to form a ring and did one rotation, the men then turned to their left and the women to their right, they then joined hands for half a turn, making their way in opposite directions around the circle. Still he couldn’t look away from her and as he took her hand to dance a half turn, she had a most unusual expression on her face, which if he didn’t know her so well, he might almost call vulnerable.
    They repeated the dance three times over before the music ended, and Nathaniel was very sorry when it did. Finally looking to his partner for almost the first time since the dance began, he escorted her to the side of the room again.
    “Thank you, Mrs Franklin.”
    “No, thank you, Lord Copley and remember,” she glanced around furtively then lowered her voice. “Her bark is always worse than her bite.”
    She gave him a knowing smile and turned to her husband as he approached.
    Feeling that he may have pressed his luck enough for one evening, Nathaniel bowed and then took his leave.
    ***
    Damaris had been out of sorts ever since she learned that Nathaniel had documents from Marissa, which the other woman had kept secret from her.
    It showed such disloyalty that it hurt her to even think about it, so she did her best to forget about it completely while at the dance, and skip over Marissa’s betrayal once she was home. She was only moderately successful at both but thankfully, Lilly didn’t appear to notice.
    “Did you find anything out?” Lilly asked as the carriage took them home.
    “Mr Evans saw my father that afternoon; his house is on the edge of town, so it appears that he left and was waylaid between here and his London club. There are a few estates on the London road, so I’ll visit them tomorrow and see if perhaps the