Chapter 4

"What about her?" Cynara asked Ashton, who was standing next to her in the crowded ballroom. He had his hands clasped behind his back, and had an air of brisk unaffectedness about him. Next to him, Cynara was the complete opposite, all her emotions showing on her face, her eyes quite obviously surveying everyone in the room, lingering a bit to long and with too much blatant appraisal over the spattering of pretty girls in the room.

"That is Miss Mary Turner," Ashton said without even a pause. Though Finley was probably the most proper member of the Stanmore family, which would normally make him the most socially acceptable, Ashton was the one who was deemed by society to be the unfortunate brother who could have really been a gentleman if not for his awful relations. Ashton had the sort of social flair that attracted people despite his family's reputation, and he was often engaged in society. Though he participated with ease, he didn't care about any of it. He would stick up for his brothers above his own reputation and place in society. He could lose all social standing, devastation to anyone else in his position, and be perfectly fine with it. Cynara liked him for this.

"She was a guest at a dinner party I also attended one evening, though I can't remember whose. She seemed nice enough, a bit bland, but then again, we are looking for someone for Finley," Ashton gave his brief account of the girl as he had been doing for a variety of different females for the past fifteen minutes.

"Do you think she would like Finley?" Cynara asked. The girl was rather pretty with dark eyes and hair, slender shoulders and an elegantly tall body.

"I happen to know that she is the eldest of five daughters, and her mother has been making perfectly clear that she is very eligible. She would not bring much dowry to a marriage, due to her father having to split it up, so I think the family would be very happy with her attachment to any one of the Stanmores, especially the eldest and richest of us." Ashton explained before he noticed Cynara scowling at him.

"I hate it when you talk that way," she complained, "As if marriage were a business transaction. Marriage is supposed to be between people who love each other."

Ashton looked at her curiously, "I am convinced, Cynara, that the place you come from doesn't really exist. It is too perfect to be true. I..." but he trailed off for a moment.

"What?" Cynara prompted him, "What do you mean by that?" and now she was painfully intrigued. Ashton always presented an easy, comfortable companionship, but this new side of himself, it was something that Cynara had never seen before. Worry, written across Ashton's brow was so foreign it was like seeing palm tree growing in the tundra.

"You act as though you could do anything you wanted. You could be yourself, and people wouldn't hate you. You don't believe that women are inferior to men and have never been treated that way, I can tell by the way you act. You judge people based on themselves, not their social standing or their wealth. You're so foreign, but not as though from a different country. I can't explain it." Ashton looked pensive and entirely inside himself.

If you only knew ... Cynara thought to herself. She felt as though she were seeing a side of Ashton that few people got to see, and she didn't know what to say.

"The way you speak of marriage, as though it should be for love and all other things don't matter," Ashton looked at her intently, "Was that the way it was where you came from?"

"Not all the time. Some people married for money, but not like it is here." Cynara knew that she was running a risk by talking about the future to Ashton, who didn't know her secret and couldn't possibly understand, but she was tempted. Ashton had shared something of himself with her, and now she wanted to share something with him.

And not only that, as much as she loved this world, there were things she just couldn't accept about it because that had not been the way she was raised. There were things she missed about her old home, and she couldn't resist the urge to talk about it and remember. "You could marry without your parents permission," she added, "It happens all the time. And no one would think it was unacceptable for a woman to propose to a man. No one would think it was unacceptable for an unmarried couple to live together."

Ashton looked at her incredulously, and not without a bit of discomfort. "Surely that isn't true?"

Cynara only nodded. "It isn't like there aren't any morals," Cynara added, "And there are always going to be people who judge and criticize you, but you don't have to associate with those people. You can always go someplace to find people who will accept you."

Ashton was looking at her intensely, and his mouth was perched open and Cynara could just tell something important was about to come out, but just then, Katherine and Wesley came up to them having just finished a dance. Ashton composed himself again quickly, and Katherine and Wesley appeared to be oblivious to his momentary discomfiture.

"What were you talking about?" Katherine asked, "Any prospects?" she looked at Cynara significantly.

Cynara didn't want to let it slip that they had been talking about something else when they interrupted, so she quickly said, "Mary Turner. Ashton seems to think that she is the best prospect, and she is pretty."

"Which one is she?" Katherine asked eagerly, stretching her neck out and looking over the crowded ballroom. Cynara gestured to the girl who was speaking to an older, hefty woman with a strong, broad face.

"She doesn't look like anything special," Katherine shrugged, "But I suppose if Ashton thinks that she will be compatible with Finley ... What shall we do now, Cynara?" she asked eagerly, grasping the other girl's hand affectionately.

Wes had been appraising the dark haired girl as well, "Nothing special?" he asked incredulously to Katherine. "She's very beautiful."

Katherine shot a quick look at him before turning her gaze back to Mary Turner, her eyes narrowing, "She's far to tall," she declared abruptly, "And her face is scrunchy. She's perfectly adequate, but never beautiful."

"I think she is beautiful," Cynara put in, and Katherine looked suddenly pained to have disagreed with the girl she so admired.

"Well, are we just going to stand her talking about her all night or are we going to put our plan into action?" he asked, looking at Cynara.

"Let's go talk to her," she said to Ashton, "You can introduce me. Why don't you two dance again?" she said suggestively to Katherine and Wes just as Katherine was about to follow Cynara, "How are old Wesley's dancing skills?" she asked Katherine, preparing to leave.

"Awful," Katherine pouted, and Cynara only laughed as she was escorted away by Ashton.

"I'm not that bad," Wes said happily, "I only stepped on your toes two or three times, though I did almost take out that bloke with the moustache." Katherine laughed despite herself. She might have felt badly about being rude to him, but she had never met anyone who took an insult more happily and heartily in her life, and now she found it quite fun to tease him. It was much easier to talk to someone who wasn't judging your every word and who wouldn't be insulted at the slightest provocation.

Katherine remembered back to earlier that evening, when they were waiting for the carriages to be prepared to take them to the ball. "You really got your hair all dolled up," Wesley had said to her, reaching out and bouncing a curl that had been strategically placed to lay on her cheek.

Katherine, not quite sure what to make of the statement, and taking it as an insult, had huffily replied. "Well what about your hair? It is such an odd length and strangely cut. I'm sure that I've never seen a man with hair like yours before. It is very odd." Katherine, sure that she had insulted him terribly, immediately felt both ashamed and more than just a bit proud. To her disconcertment, though, Wes had only laughed.

"Don't you like it?" he asked, "I'm surprised, I've only gotten compliments on my hair so far from the ladies."

Katherine, despite herself, felt a blush stain her cheeks because she did like it. She liked his hair very much and had even imagined running her fingers through its tousseled length, that was not too short and not too long.

Katherine drug her mind from the embarrassing memory, not wanting to blush again, and instead said, "In any case, I don't feel like dancing again."

"Good," Wes replied unabashedly, "I hate doing that lining up and walking around each other, that's not real dancing."

"What do you mean?" Katherine was confused, "If that's not real dancing, what is?"

"I'll show you sometime," Wes promised, "but not here, people would be scandalized," he looked around at the crowded ballroom while Katherine looked at him doubtfully.

"I'm perfectly certain that I have no idea what you could possibly mean," Katherine said, making Wesley laugh.

"What?" she asked, having no idea what was so funny, but secretly liking the fact that he laughed so easily.

"I'm perfectly certain that I have no idea what you could possibly mean," he mocked Katherine in high-pitched voice. "It's just the way you talk sometimes," he spoke normally again, "It makes me laugh."

Katherine felt as though she should be insulted, but all she felt was pleased. It was amazing how casual Wes was being with her after only knowing her for such a short time, but it was nice. She smiled inwardly to herself, shyly looking down at her feet.

"Finally I get away from the endless droning of that odious man," Charles said as he came up to Wesley and Katherine after elbowing his way through the crowd of people standing directly in front of them. He was referring to their elderly neighbor who always took it upon himself, with the best of intentions of course, to tell everyone around him how to better keep their health. If it were up to him, everyone would sit alone in their houses, never going out if their was even the slightest bit of wind or draft, never mind that he never took his own advise either.