At length Jack cleared his throat. “I was surprised to hear you had come to London. What do you plan to do with yourself here?”
“I am not planning to look for a husband, if that is what you are wondering.” Lily instantly regretted her sharp response, as Jack flushed. “Forgive me, Captain. The truth is … I do not know. The Adlers have been very kind. But without Freddy, there was nothing left for me in Hertfordshire. So I came to London, and now all I feel is …” She couldn’t bring herself to say lost, but she felt it. “Freddy and I had plans, you know. What we wanted from our lives, what we would accomplish. Without him …” She met Jack’s eyes, her expression filled as much with anger as with sorrow. “Tell me, Captain, what is a woman in my position supposed to do?”
“Marry again.” It was not a suggestion but a statement of fact, accompanied by a sympathetic grimace. Clearly he did not like the thought of Lily marrying so soon after Freddy’s death any more than she did.
“As every concerned busybody I have met in the past year has made very clear. But I’ve no wish to marry.” She shrugged as well. “So here I am, for a change of scenery at least, with no more idea what I am good for than I had in Hertfordshire. But I must find something.” She looked away, her mouth twisting with cynical humor so she would not cry. “I had hoped for more time before wading into the murky waters of London society, but I suppose Serena’s ball is as good a place as any to start.”
“Which means I should take my leave, so I may return in a few short hours to escort you to dinner.” Jack stood, and Lily was afraid she had said too much. But he took one of her hands. “You will find your way without him, Mrs. Adler. I’ve not had the chance to know you as well as I would like, but I knew Freddy. And he would never have fallen in love with a woman who needed him for her life to mean something.”
Lily remained in the parlor after he left, staring around the house that was not her home, hoping very much that he was right.
Then her practical side reasserted itself, and she went upstairs to decide which of her gowns was least likely to get a scolding from Serena. “It is only a ball,” she told herself sternly. “Nothing bad will happen.”
CHAPTER 2
Secrets. Lily narrowed her eyes as she looked around the crowded ballroom. She could practically feel them in the air: the secrets, the gossip, and the scandal.
They were in the murmur of voices as couples floated across the dance floor, in the eyes of guests who looked each other up and down and turned to whisper to their neighbors. It was a glittering, beautiful, brittle world, one that took a certain amount of guile to navigate.
Lily took a deep breath. She’d had that skill once, and she had enjoyed it. Surely it was still there, ready to be used once more.
“A marvelous evening, is it not?” Serena materialized at Lily’s side with startling ease, bearing two glasses of wine.
“A dreadful crush.” Lily took one of the glasses and gulped a mouthful to steady her nerves. “You should be pleased.”
“Baffling,” a voice laughed behind them. “Why do ladies love a party where one cannot move without bumping into five other people?”
Knowing Jack was there made some of the tension in Lily’s shoulders relax, and she smiled as she answered. “Because otherwise men like you would call it dull and abandon us for some scandalous gaming house.”
“I have absolutely no acquaintance with the gaming houses in London,” Jack said. He looked so affronted that Lily was about to apologize when he grinned and added, “Not been in town enough, you know.”
Serena shook her head. “So here you remain, not doing your duty and dancing, I notice.”
“On the contrary, Lady Walter.” He bowed. “Will you honor me with a dance?”
“Captain Hartley, you are flirting.” Serena tried to look severe. “You ought to know Mrs. Adler cannot abide flirts.”
“But I was not flirting with Mrs. Adler,” Jack protested. “Is that a refusal?”
“Go on.” Lily took Serena’s glass and handed it to a passing servant. “The two of you will make a handsome pair, and you know you shall enjoy that.”
“I shall, shan’t I?” Serena beamed. “Do try to stay out of trouble while I am gone, dear.”
Lily murmured something that sounded like agreement as Serena swept away. Though she was not a shy person, there was something intimidating about the Walters’ ball, and Lily felt more inclined to hug the walls than she ever had before in her life. If she watched the dancers too long, all she could think about was the last time she had been one of them, winding her way through a country dance with Freddy. The memory was so clear it made her catch her breath, and she closed her eyes against the pain until a familiar voice spoke at her elbow.
“Mrs. Adler.” She opened her eyes to find Lord Walter watching her, his expression gentle as he bowed. “How goes your evening thus far?”
Lily raised her brows. “What can I say but ‘splendidly’ when my host is the one asking?”
“You could say ‘a touch overwhelming, as these affairs tend to be, especially after several years’ absence,’” the viscount said. Lily, caught off guard, felt her lips part in a surprised oh. “I told Lady Walter not to browbeat you into coming, but she has always had a mind of her own.” Lord Walter’s eyes rested on his wife, currently making her way down the dance floor, and he smiled fondly. “I saw you alone and thought I might help you become reacquainted with a few of the other guests. If you would like?”
Lily was touched. Lord Walter, as popular as his wife, with handsome wings of gray against his dark hair, had always been kind to her. “Whom do you suggest?” she asked.
“I believe there are several of your former schoolfellows here tonight,” he said, looking around. “I think Lady Walter said you have kept in touch with some of them? Mrs. Harlowe and her husband are just across the room.”
Lily turned to follow his glance, and her expression softened at the sight of the familiar face. Margaret Harlowe had been a dear friend since they were fifteen. The daughter of a respectable country gentleman, the great-niece of an earl, and expected to marry well, she had fallen in love with a sweet, round, red-faced peer’s secretary. Margaret had abandoned her social aspirations to marry the man she loved, a choice not many women would have made. Her husband, Andrew, was active in furthering his patron’s parliamentary concerns and likely to one day stand for a seat of his own. Lily had not seen either of them since the funeral, but Margaret had been a loyal correspondent and one of the voices urging Lily’s return to London.
The Harlowes were speaking with Isobel Harper, another former pupil of Miss Tattersy’s Seminary for Young Ladies. A few years ago, Lily would have been only too happy to avoid conversation with Miss Harper. Now, though, any familiar face was a welcome sight, and she gratefully took the arm Lord Walter held out to her. “I should love to join them.” She glanced sideways at her host as they made their way across the floor. “It is good of you to accompany me, though I know you should be attending to your guests.”
“You are my guest as well, Mrs. Adler.” His smile was gentle. “And I intend to see you enjoying yourself at least a little before I must excuse myself. Though I would much prefer to stay. The conversation that awaits me does not promise to be the most stimulating of the night.”
“The sacrifices we demand of our politicians,” Lily said solemnly. “And we do not even bother to pay them for their trouble.”
“A grievous oversight,” Lord Walter agreed, mouth twitching with laughter. “Ah, here we are. Ladies, Harlowe, how do you do?”
“Lily!” Margaret Harlowe seized her friend’s hands. “What on earth are you doing here?”
Mr. Harlowe’s greetings were less effusive than his wife’s, but equally warm. Even Miss Harper, whom Lily remembered as being cold and aloof, seemed sincere as she offered her own welcome. Settling in to talk with them—a conversation less intimate than the one she had shared with Serena earlier that day—Lily relaxed for the first t
ime that night.
Lord Walter stayed with them a few minutes before offering his apologies. “Parliamentary duties call. My secretary insists that I use the evening to speak with one or two other members. If you will excuse me?”
He had only been gone a few moments when Serena returned, Jack still with her. “There you are, Lily! I wondered where you had got to in this crush. Margaret, Mr. Harlowe, so delighted you could be here. Isobel, I do love that shade of blue on you. Was that my husband I saw leaving just now? Did he see me coming and make a hasty retreat?” She laughed at her own joke. “Your friend acquits himself admirably on the dance floor, Lily, once he deigns to do so.” Serena glanced at Jack and added in a loud whisper, “Though I was right, he is a shocking flirt. We must be careful introducing him.”
“You invited him,” Lily said dryly. Serena loved being flirted with. “Any responsibility for his shocking behavior belongs to you.”
“I say, that is hardly kind,” Jack protested. “Talking about a fellow when he is standing right here. That is what I call shocking.”
“As is the fact that Lady Walter has neglected introductions,” Margaret said with good humor. “Perhaps Lily will introduce us to her handsome friend?”
Lily saw Jack grin at the compliment and shook her head as she performed introductions, while Serena protested that she had been about to do that very thing.
Before much else could be said, a dandily dressed young man sauntered up, his cravat tied with elegant complexity and his hair mussed with stylish precision. He was dreadfully handsome, and Lily could tell with a single glance that he was fully aware of that fact. But she didn’t recognize him until he planted a kiss on Miss Harper’s cheek and greeted her with a careless, “Hello, sister.” Reggie Harper, she remembered, was Isobel Harper’s older brother. Lily thought she caught a scowl on Miss Harper’s face and was sure for a moment that she was about to pull away. But a moment later she was smiling again, so quickly that Lily wondered if she had imagined the other expression. Reggie Harper bowed to Serena. “Lady Walter. A most splendid soiree you have thrown for us this evening.”
“I am delighted that you think so, Mr. Harper,” Serena said. “I should love to stay and talk, but I must steal Lily and Captain Hartley away for a moment. If you will excuse us?”
Lily was only too glad to let Serena lead her away. She did not like the way Mr. Harper was eyeing her up and down, or the tone of his voice as he asked, “Who was that woman with Lady Walter?” when she was not quite out of earshot.
“Lord, how warm it is in here!” Serena fanned herself briskly once they were away from the other group. “I need a sip of your wine, Lily. Now, where did Mrs. Meredith swan off to? I wanted to introduce you …”
“There was a real reason you pulled me away?” Lily raised a brow as she handed over her glass. “And here I thought you simply wished to avoid the Harpers. I was surprised to see you had invited them.”
“Their uncle does so much work with the War Office that it would be impolitic not to,” Serena said. “Miss Harper still keeps house for him, you know. He is here somewhere … I must remind Lord Walter to speak with him before the night is over.”
“Their uncle is General Harper,” Lily added, seeing Jack’s confused expression. “Of whom I am sure you have heard.”
“General Alfred Harper?” Jack looked impressed. “Of course I’ve heard of him. The man’s a dashed hero.”
“Well, the uncle may be heroic, but I have never particularly cared for the company of his niece or nephew,” Lily said, fatigue making her words come out more sharply than she intended. She had almost forgotten how exhausting it was to be surrounded by so many strangers.
“Oh, Mr. Harper is harmless, for all his high opinion of himself,” Serena said. “I will grant that Isobel spent too much time bragging about her dowry when we were in school, but she always was embarrassed that her mother’s family was in trade, even if her father was a gentleman. In any case, you’ll find her much improved ever since her …” Serena dropped her voice. “Misfortunes. Jilted,” she added in a whisper to Jack. “Terrible scandal. Only a month before the wedding.”
“And her family did not sue for breach of contract?” Jack asked.
“It turned out that she did not have any dowry at all,” Lily said. “Suing would have reflected badly on them.”
“Now, now, Mrs. Adler, you mustn’t become one of those London gossips,” Jack said.
“I was answering your question!” Lily frowned indignantly before she realized he was teasing. “Oh, go be useful and dance with one of Lady Walter’s guests. Irritating man.”
“As you command. Perhaps I shall even manage to dance with two guests. I have a strong sense of duty toward my hostess, you know.” Jack grinned as he bowed to Serena, who sighed happily as Jack disappeared into the crush.
“How gallant navy men are,” Serena observed. “Well, as Mrs. Meredith has disappeared, whom shall I introduce to you?” Lily, overheated and tired, did not want to make conversation with strangers. She was about to tell Serena so when her friend continued blithely on. “Oh, but I think this set is about to end, which means I can finally catch a moment of Miss Oswald’s time. If you do not mind waiting while I spend a few minutes being political?”
Lily followed the direction of Serena’s lifted chin and saw a young woman in the middle of the dance floor. In the sea of mostly pale English faces, her dark skin and curly brown hair stood out. It was not unheard of, of course, for children of mixed heritage to make their way into the upper classes, but most of them were unable to enter London society unless they were like Jack, who looked as much like his English father as he did his Indian mother. “Who is she?”
“Miss Ofelia Oswald.” Lady Walter dropped her voice confidentially. “No one knows much about her, except that she has no mother to speak of, and her father was a Devonshire Oswald. He went into trade in the West Indies—” She paused. “Where young Miss Oswald is obviously from.”
“Do you know her well?” Lily watched Miss Oswald weave through the dance.
“Goodness, no. One can only imagine her to be quite vulgar. But Walter knows her father a little. She is staying the season with that dragon Mrs. Haverweight, who is some sort of aunt.” Serena eyed the dancing couples with a hostess’s critical eye. “Do you see the boy she is dancing with? That is Sir Edward Carroway, the new baronet. Who would expect to see a girl like that, whom no one in London ever heard of before three months ago, dancing with a baronet? But it seems she is fabulously wealthy. She goes absolutely everywhere, and of course no one wants to snub an Oswald. Which,” Serena added, “is why Walter charged me to be sure to speak with her this evening. You never know when a connection might prove fruitful, and she has an uncle who is quite political.”
As soon as the dance ended, Serena detached Miss Oswald from her bevy of admirers. The girl looked gratified to have been singled out by her hostess as Serena led her away from the dance floor, asking pleasantly about her evening and the interesting political uncle until they returned to where Lily was waiting. “Lily, this is Miss Oswald, who has taken London by storm. Miss Oswald, let me make you known to my dearest friend, Mrs. Adler.”
“How do you do, Mrs. Adler?” Miss Oswald’s curtsy was as elegant as her dancing. Lily thought her quite beautiful. Her brown hair, which needed no help to achieve the tight curls of current fashion, framed a face with a pert chin and wide mouth.
“Miss Oswald.” Lily inclined her head politely. She was not so many years older than the girl, and those hopeful eyes had the look of someone on the hunt for a friend. “Lady Walter tells me you are new to London. I am recently arrived myself, though a journey from Hertfordshire is not nearly as exciting as one from the West Indies.”
The girl smiled wryly. “The journey was quite an undertaking, to be sure, but the city itself does not feel so new as you might imagine. I have tried to convince Londoners that the West Indies are perfectly civilized, but they don’t seem to beli
eve me.”
“You’ll not find me in need of convincing,” Lily said as Serena laughed. “In fact, you must tell me all about the Indies sometime, Miss Oswald. If it would not make you too homesick, of course. I imagine you must miss your family dreadfully.”
“I do miss my father. But it is hard to be homesick in such an interesting place, and everyone has been so welcoming.” Her smile took in Serena and the entire ballroom, but it looked a little forced. Lily could imagine that London, while welcoming her beautiful face and her fortune, had not treated her with absolute kindness. “I was delighted, Lady Walter, to receive your invitation for tonight.”
After a few more pleasantries—and the sought-after confirmation that yes, her political uncle would be arriving in London soon—Miss Oswald excused herself, leaving behind her aunt’s direction and a polite promise to talk about life in the West Indies with Lily “whenever Mrs. Adler might wish.” When the girl was out of sight, Serena turned raised brows on her friend. “What did you think of her?”
“I thought her charming. Really, Serena, I cannot see why you would call her vulgar.”
Serena shrugged, unabashed. “Well, one hears things. And I do think her manner is a little too eager for real style. But what can one expect of a girl raised in tropical latitudes?”
Lily raised her brows. “Were we any better when we were young?”
Lady Walter smiled as she laced her arm through her friend’s. “You were. Lord, how I envied those icy nerves of yours when we were—oh, Lady Chartres! A moment, if you will. Excuse me, Lily, I shall be back as soon as I can but might not escape for some time. Try to mingle at least a little while I am gone?” Patting Lily’s hand, Serena unlooped her arm and went to join a formidably gowned matron with a bevy of daughters in tow.
The Body in the Garden Page 2
