Clearly wary and confused with her strange and rather unladylike nature, the young man acted along and let out a large laugh as well. Looking around and not finding the climp anymore, Carina let out a sigh and let her fake smile fall. "Thank you, I shall now take my leave."
And as she tried to walk away, she got interrupted by the loud yell her brother had let out while coming her way, "Basset!"
Quickly growing confused about her brother's antics, she decided she shall stay and watch exactly what he was upto now, shouting some strange name like a madman in a room full of gentlemen and ladies. "Basset!"
"Bridgerton!" Carina nearly hurt her neck with the force she turned to the rude man from earlier, well that explains the madman behaviour. After all, birds of the same feather flock together.
"Come here, old friend! I heard news of your father." says Anthony as they shake hands.
"Deuce take it, you are no longer Basset.", says her brother, clearly teasing.
"I shall...", 'Basset' says, clearly unsettled by the topic at hand.
"Hastings! The Duke of Hastings, now known for evermore." exclaims the eldest Bridgerton, out of joy.
"The Duke of Hastings, is it?" says Carina, raising an eyebrow at the now familiar man.
"Right, Hastings, this is my eldest sister." introduces Anthony.
"Your sister?", the look of disbelief and confusion that can be seen on the Duke's face is oddly, rewarding for the Bridgerton girl.
"Carina, Hastings and I know each other from our days at Oxford, days we shall not soon forget." and now, it all makes sense. Of course, Carina knew of the type of man her brother was, especially during his younger years at Oxford. It is only right the people he befriends be of the same nature as him- full of themselves, rude, rakes and eccentrics.
"Yes. As I am well aware of the company you keep, brother, I am certain your days with His Grace were most civilized, indeed." Carina comments, keeping her eyes sharp, and eyeing the Duke in such a manner, she made it clear she did not mean a word of what she said.
"Hastings, we shall need to get together properly. I expect to see you at our club, then." says Anthony, clearly happy at the prospect of reuniting with an old friend.
"Indeed. Evening, Bridgerton. Miss Bridgerton." says the Duke, and with a nod, the two siblings were off, with Anthony leading the way to somewhere near the dance floor.
Turning around to catch a last glimpse of the infuriating man before leaving out of sight, Carina found him to already be looking at her with such intensity in his brown eyes, she could not help but lose her mind. Suddenly breathless, she quickly turned back and away from the stupid man.
The stupid man who made her so furious, she could not form a single thought in her mind just then. Only his stupid gaze and his stupid eyes, that looked at her as if she was the root of all evil in the world, yet the glimmer in those eyes told her that all of her evil, and yet he could never form any dislike for her. That stupid, infuriating man and his stupid, lying eyes.
What Carina was not aware of was there Simon was, exactly where she left him, still looking on to the direction she disappeared, thinking the very same thoughts.
All he could think was how he was a stupid man, who could not keep his mouth shut. Stupid man who could not for once, stop accusing innocent people. Stupid man who made a very stupid first impression.
Hell, why was Simon feeling stupid? It was the lady's- Miss Bridgerton's fault. Stupid woman, who bumped into him. So stupid she made him lose any coherent thought. A stupid woman with her stupidly beautiful face and her stupid words of fury! Stupid woman who somehow made him question his decisions with nothing but anger in her stupidly gorgeous eyes and insults on her stupid lips. That stupid woman and her stupidly charming nature.
Finally getting a sense of her mind, Carina noticed Anthony leading her near the dance floor, where she could see Daphne and their mama, conversing with some people. Instantly worrying about her sister and cursing the Duke to make her lose focus, she tried to think for some solution, only they had already reached them, and Anthony took Daphne's hand and excused her sister from the crowd.
Now walking towards the exit together, Carina felt defeated for there was no way she could create a scheme right then and there for the three siblings to turn back and re enter the ball. As if the fates were in her favour, they suddenly heard their mama coming behind them, calling out to the sisters, "Daphne, I believe Lord Wetherby is looking for you to dance, and Carina, come let me introduce you to some people. You barely socialised tonight!"
Clearly delighted and wanting to dance, Daphne let out, "Is he?", when Anthony interrupted her, obviously disgruntled about the man trying to court his sister,"If only it weren't time for us to retire."
"Daphne's anything but weary. I shall stay with her and Carina barely even talked to anyone.", says Violet, wanting her daughters to enjoy their first ball since coming out.
"That would be lovely." says a grateful Daphne, only to have her hopes crushed at Anthony's dismay. "Daphne... there is nary a gentleman here who would not take your hand. You must think about this like Carina does. The most perfect thing to do now is not to dance, but to leave them all wanting more. If-"
"That can only be done by having a dance, or conversing with them, by giving them a taste first, won't you agree, brother?" Carina cuts in sharply, turning to face Anthony,
"Well, yes but-"
"So it is decided then! Daphne shall dance and enjoy her first ball. We need not be so hasty to retire, or Lady Danbury shall have some words to say." she says, looking Anthony in the eye while her mama and sister were rejoicing and whispered threateningly, "You dare disagree and I shall tell Daphne about your ladybird soprano and the relations you have with her, the real reason you arrived late to the Buckingham palace!"
Heaven forbid, Carina had never seen her brother so angry, or it might be hurt, she would not know, but she figured she could deal with it if it means Daphne's happiness. If they were to follows Anthony's ways, she would end up a spinster with him scaring away all the suitors.
Through his teeth, he ground out while glaring at Carina, "Alright then, we shall stay some more. Come, Daff, I shall chaperone you."
"Oh! Mama, I suddenly feel so sickly! My head hurts, I need to lay down." cries out Carina. With all her scheming tonight, she could surely be successful as an actress, for she was so believable the frown on her mama's face was instant, and her mama can read her children like open books, "Oh, dear. Well, then we shall retire for tonight. Daphne can have that dance sometime else."
"No! Mama, I would hate to ruin your night due to me, especially Daphne's. She needs to stay here," giving her mama and Daphne a wink to not worry them, Carina continues, "I can go home alone tonight, no need to worry!"
"Sister, your health is more important than a dance. And surely, you can not be thinking of travelling alone when it is this dark outside. What if something were to happen?" Daphne gasps out, quickly catching on.
"Never, Carina Bridgerton, where are your manners?! You shall need a chaperone at this time of night. Anthony, accompany your sister home and make sure she is taken care of. I shall stay with Daphne." Her mother scolds, and now Carina knows where she got her skills from.
"Yes, mother." Says Anthony, and while he takes Carina's arm and leads her out without a fuss, she can see he dares not to believe she actually fell ill after her other schemes of the night. Getting in the carriage, it took all he had for Anthony to not burst out shouting at his sister.
"I shall visit you in your study tonight. There is something we must discuss." She says, her voice cold and indifferent. Cross with him, for what? He shall never know. Its him that should be crossed with her, she played games with him the entire night, "I am glad we atleast agree on that, sister!" He spat out, too angry to say anything else and trust to not break his patience.