by Ava Stone
“Definitely not,” Lila retorted from her spot on the bed. She rolled over so she was on her side, facing Tilly. “You’re not really thinking about it, are you?”
Tilly shrugged. “I visited Marisdùn yesterday morning.”
This made Lila shoot straight up out of the bed. “You what?”
“I visited Marisdùn.”
“But I thought you were afraid of the castle. Whatever possessed you to go no—” She stopped herself, and a sly smile came to her lips. Blast. “I suppose it didn’t have anything to do with Mr. Garrick, did it?”
If there was one thing Tilly was absolutely dreadful at, it was telling a lie. Or even hiding the truth. Especially from her sister, blast it all. Her cheeks flamed, and she turned quickly back to the window.
“Tilly,” Lila said, drawing out her name. “What happened?”
Tilly bit her lips.
“Come now! We made a promise the other day. Now you must share your secret.”
Tilly took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. She was never going to get away with not telling her sister, so she might as well go ahead and get it over with.
“Fine,” she said, moving from her spot against the window and plopping down opposite Lila on the bed. Then she told her all about her morning at Marisdùn, from the tour of the castle to the kiss in the priest’s hole.
“Oh, my,” she said, when Tilly was finished. “You’ve fallen in love, haven’t you?”
Tilly knew she had, of course, but it didn’t sound sensible or even probable, when she’d only known the man for two days now. “I-I don’t think we can call it love quite yet,” she replied, and then tried to laugh it off nervously. “Goodness, Lila, I only met him the other day.”
“And?”
“And,” she straightened her spine. “I think I would like to get to know him better before using that particular phrase. Which means…I wish to go to the masquerade this evening.”
Lila gaped at her, and then finally said, “No. Absolutely not.”
“But Anna is going, and we can’t let her go alone.”
“The two of you can keep each other company, then. I will not attend the masquerade, not for anything in the world,” she said, her voice catching in her throat.
She was clearly upset. Tilly had been so caught up with Sidney Garrick, she hadn’t realized that Lila wasn’t quite herself. But Lila wasn’t herself, and Tilly’s heart went out to her sister. “It’s Lord Quentin, isn’t it?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You made me tell you about Sidney.”
“You had something good to tell.” Lila shook her head. “Please just leave it at that.”
Why Lila was so stubborn made no sense at all. She ought to just tell Lord Quentin that she was the angel he was searching for and be done with it. She really ought to wear Mama’s old dress and…Lila was going to the masquerade and she was going to wear Mama’s old dress and that was that. But Tilly would never convince her on her own. She’d need Anna’s help with that. In the meantime, Lila could think she wasn’t going.
“Very well.” Tilly shrugged. ““Will you at least tell me how you got past Father last year?”
Lila opened her mouth to respond, and then shut it again. She shook her head. “No. I will not give you advice on how to sneak away to the masquerade. It’s too dangerous to be out at night alone.”
Footsteps outside the door drew Tilly’s attention, and she leapt from the bed.
“Where are you going?” Lila asked, a bewildered look upon her lovely features.
“Wait here,” Tilly told her, and then she stepped into the corridor and closed the door behind her. “There you are,” she said to her cousin.
Anna stopped in her tracks and glanced briefly over her shoulder. Clearly she was up to something, and Tilly hoped it would aid her own purposes as well.
“I need your help,” Tilly whispered to her.
“With what?”
“Help me convince Lila to go to the masquerade with us.”
Anna cocked her head to the side, like a confused animal. “I thought you weren’t interested in attending.”
“Well, I am now. But Lila is dead set against it.”
“I don’t imagine she’d enjoy it.”
“She enjoyed it last year, didn’t she?” Tilly shook her head. She had to use another tactic. “She has to go. Lord Quentin has to find her and realize that she’s his angel and—”
“His angel?”
“Shhh!” Tilly pulled her cousin down the hall, further away from the door to her bedchamber. “Last year, he danced with her, and he kissed her and—”
Anna gasped, but Tilly forged on.
“And he thought she was an angel. I’m not sure why. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we make Lila go with us. Once Lord Quentin realizes she’s his angel then he’ll fall desperately in love with her.”
“I’m fairly certain he’s already in love with her,” Anna replied.
“Well, of course he is. She’s just being stubborn about the whole thing, insisting he’s searching for a girl who doesn’t exist. It’s all nonsense and the masquerade is only one night. Tomorrow will be too late and then—”
“And then Mr. Garrick will be headed back to London.”
Tilly opened her mouth to agree, and then clamped it shut again. Anna wore a sly, knowing smile, blast her.
“What do you need me to do?” Anna asked.
“We must make it impossible for her to say no.” Tilly smiled. “I’ll prepare Mama’s white gown that she wore last year, so there will be no excuses.”
“I do hope she agrees.”
Tilly looked past her cousin to Father’s room. He wasn’t here—she’d heard him go out a while ago—but he’d surely be back for supper, and they’d need a plan. “I only worry about getting past Father.”
“That, my dear cousin, is no longer a concern.”
“Really? Why not?”
“Brighid,” Anna whispered. “She provided exactly what we need. I need only to add it to Uncle Walter’s tea this evening.”
Tilly swallowed hard over the lump in her throat. Was she really about to be an accomplice to drugging her own father for the purpose of attending a masquerade? Goodness, she had fallen far, hadn’t she? Anna never had quite as far to fall, so it wasn’t a terrible surprise that she’d cooked up this plan. But Tilly and Lila…if Father were ever to find out, neither one of them would ever see their beloveds again.
Or, the plan could work splendidly, and Father would be none the wiser. It was a risk that Tilly was most willing to take.
“Do you think it will work?”
“Of course! If Brighid prepared the tonic and sachet, how could it fail?”
“What on earth is going on out here?” Lila demanded as she flung open the bedchamber door.
Tilly and Anna exchanged a covert glance and then followed Lila back into the room. By nightfall, they’d all be on their merry way to the Marisdùn masquerade.
“I do not understand Miss Southward,” Thorn finally admitted.
After leaving her at the Caldwells’ he returned to Marisdùn to find Chetwey. He was easy enough to find since he rarely left Brighid’s side and she wasn’t allowed to leave her herbarium.
As he didn’t want to disturb the witch and whatever she was working on, he insisted Chetwey join him outside, in Brighid’s small garden.
“What don’t you understand?”
“Do you remember how I explained about her wishing to sculpt?”
“Yes, you were quite shocked,” Chetwey laughed.
“Well, I assumed the proper young miss was having improper thoughts. I mean, she seemed to practically undress me with her eyes.”
“Which I have pointed out, you have been guilty of, probably more times than I could count, in the past.”
“Yes, well. That wasn’t it. But much worse.”
“How so?” Chetwey asked, his head tilted, studying him with
interest.
“I was nothing but a specimen to her.” It was one thing to be offended when he believed she was simply admiring his body, as if the rest of him didn’t matter. To learn she wasn’t even thinking of him as a man, but a damned subject was further insulting.
“I don’t understand.”
“This,” he gestured to his body. “Was not of interest to her any more than a leaf would be to a botanist. Something to be studied.”
“How is that worse than being the object of desire?” Chetwey quirked his lips.
“I’d be no different to her if I were made of stone.”
“At least now you know she has honorable intentions toward your person.” This time his friend laughed and it was not well done of him.
“I’ll have you know that I am a gentleman, with a mind and a personality and feelings. Not some object to be undressed and studied.”
Chetwey continued to laugh, offering no sympathy whatsoever.
“I’ll have you know, that by the end of the masquerade, Miss Southward will learn that I am more than an object. But a man not to be trifled with.”
Quent headed back to Marisdùn, more annoyed when he arrived than he had been when he left Braewood. And the next several hours spent in his study did nothing to improve his mood.
Marisdùn still didn’t feel right. There still wasn’t any ghostly laughter filing the air. There weren’t any unexplained creaks or groans. And Quent hadn’t felt a ghostly breeze blow through his hair for a couple days. It was almost as quiet as a church…And that, of course, had his mind drifting right back to Lila Southward.
Kiss Lila.
Quent’s masquerade was only a few hours away. He had a castle full of Londoners. And an odor in the castle that he still hadn’t resolved, but all he could think about was how much he really, truly wanted to kiss Lila Southward. Damn Grace and her unsolicited suggestion.
Not that he hadn’t thought about kissing Lila well before Grace had suggested it, but hearing the words from someone else made the idea impossible to shake. Was he different around Lila? Had his sisters really noticed such a thing? And if he was different with her, what did that even mean?
Once upon a time, everything in his life had made some sort of sense. But ever since he’d returned to Ravenglass—
“Ah!” came Henry Baxter, the Earl of Kilworth, from the threshold of Quent’s study. “So this is where you’re hiding, is it?”
“I’m not hiding,” Quent grumbled, even if he might be hiding from the hordes of Londoners that had descended upon his castle. “I’m sorting through a few things.” And coming up completely empty.
Kilworth grinned as though he could tell Quent was lying. He probably could. Liars always did seem able to spot each other. “The, uh, stash of treasure you stumbled upon?”
That was as good as any other excuse, so Quent nodded. “Heard about that, did you?”
“Wolverly mentioned it in passing. Treasure can be a subjective word, however. Did you find anything of real value?” he asked, dropping into the overstuffed chair across from Quent’s desk.
“Perhaps. Looks like there’s a Roman officer ring from the 2nd Century.”
“Indeed?” The man’s eyes lit up. Of course, Roman history was a love of Kilworth’s too. They’d spent many bottles of whisky discussing the topic in the past.
“If it’s authentic.” Quent shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure if anything we found is worth anything at all. I sent the jewelry to the blacksmith for cleaning, but the fellow ended up dying in his forge. So I’ll probably just wait until I get back to London to have it properly cleaned and appraised there.”
The earl nodded as though that made the most sense. “Wouldn’t mind looking at the ring, if you don’t mind.”
“Don’t mind at all.” Kilworth had looked at just as many Roman relics as Quent had over the years.
“As for the rest, you know I have that fellow in Cheapside. The one that crafted that delightful parting gift I gave Catherine.”
It had been a very nice necklace too. Intricate design with delicate rubies. A very expensive send off for the man’s demanding ex-mistress. Though it was probably more economical than keeping the girl on. How Kilworth always ended up with lightskirts who possessed royal tastes, Quent had never understood.
“Actually,” the earl continued, “he recently crafted some very nice earbobs for me. So I’m sure he’d be happy to take a look at whatever it is you’ve found.”
“That would be wonderful.” Quent nodded in thanks.
“So—” Kilworth slid forward in his seat “—I know we were supposed to bring everyone we did last time, but I have absolutely no idea how to find the companions I had with me last year. I hope you don’t mind.”
The two paid companions he’d found somewhere between London and Ravenglass? There wasn’t any way that Quent’s angel was one of those women…And if she was, he’d rather spend the rest of his life not knowing the truth. “Not a problem at all.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” The earl grinned in response. “And I, um, haven’t spotted Lady Hope yet.”
And if Braden had his way, it would remain like that for an eternity. And truly, Kilworth should know better. He’d just referenced an ex-mistress and two lightskirts right before asking about Quent’s sister. He had no shame at all. Or perhaps just no decency. “She’s at Braewood, with my brother watching her every move.”
“One would think his marchioness could be counted on to distract him.”
“Normally,” Quent agreed, leaning back in his chair. “But she has spent the day with her friends from the district. And he has threatened to stick your head on a pike should you come within ten feet of any of our sisters. Might be wise to take him at his word on this.”
Kilworth smirked in response. “And what would be the fun in that?” Then he pushed out of his seat, tipped his hat in Quent’s direction and started for the door. “Hope you don’t plan to keep yourself locked up the rest of the day, Quent. So much to do in Ravenglass, I’m sure.”
Except the only thing in Ravenglass Quent truly wanted to do was find Lila Southward, slide his arms around her waist and kiss her for all he was worth. He snorted at his own stupidity. What the devil had happened to him?
It was all Lila could do to keep from crying. Lord Quentin seemed just as determined as ever to find his blasted angel, which stung quite a bit. Especially as it truly seemed that there was something between them, a spark, something drawing them together. But it must all be in her mind, which only made her feel worse about the whole thing.
And then to top that all off, she’d spent the whole morning with Callie and Daphne and listened to tale after tale about her friend’s new lives. It was one thing to hear about such things in letters and another to see the happy glow on her friends’ faces and the exuberance in their voices. She was happy for them, of course. She loved both Callie and Daphne quite dearly and always had. She wanted them to be just as happy for the rest of their lives as they were today, she just…Well, she just wished she had a fraction of that happiness herself, that the man she was in love with could love her like Lord Bradenham and Lord Wolverly did Callie and Daphne. But he didn’t, and each moment spent with her joyful friends was a constant reminder of that fact.
That night, she managed to get through dinner without falling into a puddle, not that anyone else noticed. Anna and Tilly both seemed to have their heads in the clouds, and that only made Lila feel more isolated from everyone around her.
As soon as she was able, she excused herself to her room, perfectly prepared to fall into that puddle of tears and console herself until sleep took her, but…
There on her bed was Mama’s shimmery white gown, as though it was waiting there just to tempt her to do something foolish. Lila’s heart stopped. What in the world?
“You’re coming with us,” Tilly whispered from behind her.
Lila gasped as she spun on her heel. “Heavens!” She touched her hand to her he
art. “You nearly took ten years off my life.”
“Sorry.” Her sister grinned sheepishly. “Didn’t mean to frighten you. But do say you’re coming with us tonight.”
“What’s going on in there?” Papa called from the sitting room.
“Nothing, Papa,” Tilly called back. “Sorry to disturb you.”
“How is your tea, Uncle Walter?” Anna asked from the other room, her voice so calm and even.
Papa grumbled something under his breath in response, but Lila couldn’t hear what it was.
Tilly grinned victoriously, holding up her thumb and index finger and whispered, “She gave him a little extra chamomile tonight. He’ll sleep like the dead.”
Extra chamomile? Lila gaped at her sister. What in the world were Tilly and Anna thinking? And then Mama’s dress and her sister’s earlier words hit her once more. You’re coming with us. They were going to sneak out and attend Lord Quentin’s masquerade.
Lila shook her head. They’d both lost their minds. “I’m not going to Marisdùn tonight.”
Anna appeared in the doorway just then and then shut it behind her. “Did you tell her?” she asked Tilly, excitement lacing her voice.
Tilly heaved a sigh. “She’s being difficult,” she whispered back.
Anna’s green eyes widened in surprise. “Why are you being difficult?”
Lila frowned at her cousin. She was not being difficult, no matter what her sister said. “I only went last year to help bring Callie back. There’s no reason to risk Papa’s wrath this year.”
“He’ll never know we’re gone,” Anna promised with a wry little smile.
Heavens! If Papa ever found out her cousin had given him extra chamomile to put him to sleep, Anna’s life wouldn’t be worth living.
“Besides,” Tilly broke into her thoughts. “Lord Quentin has been searching for you ever since last year’s masquerade. You have to go tonight, Lila. You just have to. It’s not even up for debate.”
Not this again. “We’ve already discussed this,” she said.
“You discussed it,” Tilly said. “You didn’t listen to me.”
