Meet Me at Midnight

Chapter 1
Lady Victoria Fontaine threw back her head and laughed. "Faster, Marley!"

Below her, Viscount Marley tightened his grip around her legs and began spinning around even more recklessly. The other dancers fled to the edges of the ballroom despite the beckoning notes of the quadrille, their glares and envious whispers just a whirling blur. This would be the last time her parents kept her housebound for three days. Teach her restraint--ha! Chuckling breathlessly, she flung out her arms.

"Faster!"

"I'm getting dizzy, Vixen," Marley panted, his words muffled in her gown's rumpled green silk. He hefted her higher in the air.

"Then spin the other way!"

"Vix...damnation!" Marley lurched sideways, tottered, and dumped them both to the polished ballroom floor.

"Oops!" Vixen laughed again as her herd of admirers swooped forward to assist her to her feet. Poor Marley had to scramble out of the way to avoid being trampled. "Gadzooks, that was fun." She staggered sideways, blinking as the room continued to swirl and dip.

"Whoa, Vixen," Lionel Parrish crooned, catching her up against him. "You nearly showed off your unmentionables to the Duke of Hawling. We can't have you falling again and giving him an apoplexy."

"I feel like a whirligig, Lionel. Please help me to a seat."

With Vixen back on her feet, several of her herd took pity on Marley and pulled him upright, as well. He dropped into the chair beside her as they found seats at one side of the room. "Dash it, Vixen, now you've made me seasick."

"You need a steadier constitution," she said, laughing and out of breath. "Someone fetch me a punch, if you please."

Immediately half the herd scattered for the refreshment table, while the other half moved in to take their vacated places. The musicians rallied to begin a country dance. As the ballroom floor refilled, Lucy Havers escaped from her mother's view and hurried over to sit on Victoria's other side.