Burn - Edmund Bridgerton II's story

Chapter 6 - Jack's Birthday (Part 1)

It was finally almost seven in the evening and time for the great ball. Eddie had bathed at length and got changed after the fencing and stood now in his dressing room looking at his festive reflection in the mirror. He had never felt particularly comfortable in an all black and white ball attire. He preferred jackets and waistcoats that were brown, deep green or blue, even red or yellow, anything that did not make him look like this silly penguin he was now dressed up as. He took a deep sigh, ran his fingers through his hair and lit a cigar while waiting for someone to come and call that the opening dance was about to start. His plan to stay away from Miss Amelia Fife seemed to have been working quite well so far, except from the small setback when he had seen her at dinner in the evening sun with flowers in her hair, looking like some enchanting forest nymph from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. But, apart from that, he had done a great job not gawking at her like an idiot, instead he had managed to keep his distance from her and had been able to concentrate on other things as well.

Yesterday he had even managed to shoot a large stag at the hunt, much to the delight of his proud parents, although afterwards the silliest feeling had hit him - he wished that Amelia would have been there to see it. Today the fencing had gone well too, until she had suddenly appeared there with Belinda and Caroline, which unfortunately made Eddie completely lose his focus again and get defeated in every match after that. He inhaled the smoke of his cigar deep into his lungs, but it did not help him relax as much as he had hoped to. Amelia still made him all tingly and wound-up, no matter how hard he tried to keep his distance from her... Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and a servant hooted that the dance was about to start, so he put away his cigar reluctantly and dragged himself out to the corridor. Before he knew it, he was already swirling on the dancefloor with Belinda. It was a tradition that the Bridgertons opened with the first dance of the ball, but nowadays they were so many that they had narrowed it down to the viscount's family and the Bassets.

"What an impeccable dancer you are, Lord Bridgerton." Belinda sneered, mimicking the shrill chirping voice of most highborn young ladies. Eddie chuckled and straightened his back.

"You too are a splendid dancer, Miss Basset." He replied, talking like a pompous old lord.

"Oh, I believe I have found you a perfect match!" Belinda suddenly exclaimed, sounding like herself again. "She is just like you in so many ways and I -"

"Not you too..." Eddie sighed and interrupted her excited monologue. "You sound like my father, who made an entire list of 'appropriate young ladies' for me."

"It is Miss Fife!" Belinda smirked, suddenly catching Eddie's full attention. "I have talked to her a lot these past two days and she has the exact same taste in music as you do, she even hates Bach! But it is not just the music! She is exactly as competitive as you are, she beat me in chess and apparently manages very well in the pall-mall, like a true Bridgerton almost. And I know she acts tough, but she seems really sweet on the inside, as funny as you and -"

"Miss Amelia is indeed wonderful, but I am sure she is a perfect match for Geoffrey Dorset, whom she is to marry. I cannot marry her because her family's reputation is tarnished, I cannot even dance with her tonight." Eddie blurted out, in a more disappointed tone than he had intended.

"You fancy her...!" Belinda gasped with a mischievous twinkle in her blue-green eyes.

"I did not say that...!" Eddie hissed, quickly looking around that no one had heard them, but luckily not. Daphne kept dancing on with Simon, Kate with Anthony, Miles with Caroline, Augie with Charlotte and David with young Lily, who seemed to be overwhelmed with joy for getting to participate in an actual ballroom dance, despite not being out in society yet. The Bassets' youngest son Edward, who was only fourteen, had apparently been left out of the dance completely due to his young age.