"If I thought it appropriate, Miss Zabini, I should have invited you myself—but I did not expect Mrs. Zabini the sort to be so...lenient with the young ladies under her charge," Fitzroy answered, chuckling in spite of himself.

Then again, Miss Zabini must be coming up upon her fourth or fifth season soon—doubtless the elder Zabinis would not have protested unless they knew it was Fitz himself doing the inviting. It was a shame, really, that she had remained on the shelf so long in spite of the company she provided—as the thought came to him, Fitz looked over his partner's shoulder, searching for the glare of some gentleman or another whose dance he might have stolen.