An Innocent Affair

XXVIII

"You ought to wear a bell, Claire," he murmured, unwilling tearing his eyes from Cressie to give his attention to Claire.

"I haven't been able to get away to speak to you. I do not know how Grace, or the dowager duchess do these sorts of affairs. They are entirely taxing." Claire shook her head as she dismissed the thought, before she returned to her point. "I did not realise it was her, not until the young Miss Delaney called her 'Cressie'. I did not recognise her!" Her blue eyes filled with sympathy as she placed her hands on Jem's arms. "This must be very difficult for you."

Jem did not know how to answer his sister. The fact that it was difficult, the fact that it was seemingly against some unwritten law that Jem could not simply walk across the ballroom and speak to Cressie infuriated him.

Jem turned back towards Cressie, and she had not moved. She was still standing with the other two mothers as they talked. Cressie seemed to be listening, though she was not contributing to the conversation.

"She is here as a chaperone to Miss Zara Delaney," Claire explained from behind him. "Miss Delaney must, of course, be a relative of her ... her husband's."

Jem said nothing.

"Jemmy," Claire said helplessly, "this will not do. Why don't you go upstairs to bed?"

"Because I am not eight years old anymore, Claire," Jem bit back. He was doing perfectly well torturing himself by looking upon the woman he'd let slip through his fingers.

Claire said nothing further, and Jem would make certain to apologise for snapping at her later when he was not so infuriated. But at that moment, he noticed the two women who were standing with Cressie periodically looking over at him, making rather unsubtle attempts to be nonchalant.

Were they speaking about him? Did they know who he was? How could they? Jem was not acquainted with anyone at this ball, and he had made no attempt to be introduced to anyone despite the questioning looks and glances he had received throughout the evening.

And then Cressie looked at him.

It happened so quickly, it caught Jem entirely off guard. Her brown eyes were looking into his directly for the first time in five years, and everyone around them might have disappeared.

He had observed so much that was missing from her already, but in the moment that she looked at him, Jem could see her. For a split second, Jem could see Cressie again. She knew him and he knew her. They knew each other in a way that would always remain between them.

Could this be the moment? Could he make a case to speak to her now? Could he feign some need to –

Before Jem could even finish his though, Cressie's brown eyes disappeared into the back of her head so frighteningly quickly. Her legs completely buckled beneath her and she crumpled to the floor in a heap of petticoats.

Everyone in the immediate vicinity became immediately alarmed. Ladies swooned as their gentleman admirers caught them and fawned over them. The chaperones Cressie had been standing with produced fans as they attempted to rouse her with the breeze, and Cressie's young charge reappeared with a terrified expression on her fair face.

"Cressie!" she exclaimed with a scream.

Jem launched from his position, practically pushing through the crowd in order to reach Cressie. "Send for a doctor!" he shouted over his shoulder to Claire, though at this point in time, he could not care who sent for the doctor, so long as one arrived.

Jem bumped into the mothers accidentally as he fell to his knees beside the unconscious Cressie. They made noises of discomfort, and a few remarks of, "Well, I never!" but Jem ignored them.