Hannah almost shuddered at the mention of an even more powerful man than Cole. Conveniently, the Duke of Suttenberg didn’t appear to know Hannah existed.
Alicia crossed the room and took Cole’s hand, smiling as he kissed her fingertips. “Thank you. I want this ball to be perfect.”
“You’ve certainly planned it to the most minute detail.” Cole’s eyes crinkled as he gazed adoringly at Alicia, the hard edges around him softening.
What would that be like, to be loved so deeply? All the men of Hannah’s acquaintance treated her either as if she were invisible or incapable of original thought.
As the couple stood in Hannah’s room, absorbed in their private conversation, Hannah strode into her dressing room, shut the door, and began her morning toilette of bathing and dressing with her maid’s assistance. By the time she emerged, her room stood vacant, but the couple joined her for breakfast, happily discussing details of the evening, asking for her input on occasion.
Alicia’s eyes sparkled and her cheeks flushed in clear delight. Hannah smiled at the sight of her sister so happy; she and Alicia had not always enjoyed such bliss. Through heartache of losing their parents and brother, and all the financial troubles that had dogged them afterwards, Alicia had taken care of Hannah like a little mother. Alicia deserved to find happiness.
Alicia stood. “I’m going to spend a few minutes with Nicky before I check the progress of decorating the ballroom.” She turned to Hannah. “Do you want to come? He’s probably awake from his morning nap.”
Hannah shook her head. “I’ll visit the nursery this afternoon.” Though she loved her tiny nephew, at the moment she couldn’t bear to look at the sweet, torturous reminder of what she might never have of her own.
For now, she’d turn her energies to getting through the ball without embarrassing herself or her family. Later, she’d deal with her other shortcomings.
After donning her favorite old pelisse and straw hat, Hannah picked up a basket and went to the renowned Tarrington Castle Gardens. The air smelled fresh and rich, and the golden morning shadows played hide-and-seek with the birds. The trees adorned themselves in the halcyon rust, burgundy, and amber they only wore for autumn’s brief reign before their inevitable surrender to winter.
Hannah scoured the area for the last summer roses. The maids would surely fill her room with roses from the hothouse if she requested, but she wanted to rescue the garden-grown blossoms before the frost damaged them. Too bad the lilacs had already gone for the year. Carefully selecting blooms, she snipped them and laid them in her basket. Serenity enfolded her in its matronly embrace, and by the time she turned toward Tarrington Castle, peace filled her soul.
Surely she’d do well tonight. She’d practiced conversing with Alicia’s friends, entertained a few gentlemen callers, and spent hours with the dance master. Moreover, she’d be wearing a mask so if she tripped or trod on someone’s toe, no one would know her identity.
Humming and swinging the basket, she strolled along a path skirting the main drive while birds flitted and twittered and fat bees buzzed. Hoofbeats clattered up to the front steps. A sudden breeze gusted, and Hannah reached for her hat to ensure it remained pinned to her hair. The rider, wearing a multi-caped coat, dismounted by the front steps. He paused, tugged his clothing into place, and tossed the reins to a stable hand who trotted to him.
Barely giving the stable hand a glance, the man said, “My visit will be brief.”
The stable hand caught the reins and patted the lathering horse. “Yessir.”
The visitor strode to the front steps. Hannah wrinkled her nose. Though his hat concealed most of his hair and shadowed his face, only the Duke of Suttenberg possessed such arrogant mastery, as if he viewed himself ruler of all the earth instead of only his own properties.
Though she’d planned to enter through a side door, Hannah followed him up the front stairs so she could better observe the full force of his snobbery. And if she were honest, catching a glimpse of his handsome face would be no hardship. As long as he didn’t turn his intimidating stare her way, she ought to manage to hold on to her composure.
He glanced over his shoulder. Her breath stilled. Though she’d spent time in his company four times—yes, she’d kept track—she was never fully prepared for his masculine allure. She’d seen plenty of gentlemen, including her brother-in-law, Cole. But the Duke of Suttenberg’s face never failed to turn her to a blithering pool of mush.
The duke cast a passing glance over her and intoned, “Inform your master I am arrived.”
Hannah’s mouth dropped open, and her face burned with one part humiliation and two parts anger. He didn’t remember her. Worse, he’d mistaken her for some house girl, a servant.
The butler opened the front door, drawing the duke’s attention. “Ah, Your Grace. My lord is expecting you.”
The duke entered without casting a second look at Hannah. Arrogant, thoughtless cad! That he would forget someone whom he should recognize by now spoke volumes to his conceit. Clearly, he viewed her as too far beneath his notice to have gone to all the trouble of remembering her face. True, she didn’t like being the center of attention, but neither did she want to be treated as if she were a patch of mud to be scraped off one’s boots.
As she ascended the steps, Cole’s and the duke’s voices boomed through the main hall as they greeted each other. She entered the main hall as Cole bowed.
“Your Grace. Thank you for coming. I would have gladly come to you.”
The duke waved away Cole’s words with a graceful motion of his hands. As they crossed the great hall toward Cole’s study, the Duke of Suttenberg removed his hat, revealing a glorious head of hair that bordered on black, and peeled off his gloves before handing them to the butler following him. “‘Tis of no consequence,” he said grandly, probably thinking himself so magnanimous as to condescend to call upon a peer of lower rank.
“May I offer you a drink?” Cole offered. The study door closed, shutting off their conversation.
Hannah nodded her thanks to the head butler, who closed the door behind her, and handed her basket to a passing maid. Just to prove she was not as thoughtless as the duke, she looked the maid in the eye. “Would you see that these are put into a vase of water and taken to my room, please... Mary, is it?”
“Yes, miss, but they call me Molly.” The girl bobbed a curtsy and took the basket.
“Thank you, Molly.”
A footman took her coat and hat and she thanked him. After firmly putting the arrogant duke out of her mind, Hannah busied herself with helping Alicia put the final touches on the ball. Noontime, as they sat at the breakfast table enjoying a cold lunch, Alicia sighed and glanced at the wall clock.
“Are you worried the ballroom won’t be ready in time?” Hannah asked.
“No, it’s well in hand. I only wonder when Cole will return. He went to the fields with the duke and hasn’t returned yet.”
“They went to the fields?”
“Apparently, the duke discovered methods to improve crop yield and has offered to help Cole with ours.”
“Everyone seems to think the duke is some sort of expert on everything,” Hannah grumbled.
Either Alicia failed to hear Hannah’s ire or chose not to comment on it. “He is wise beyond his years and always does everything exactly as he ought.”
Hannah made a face. “A true paragon.”
Alicia smiled. “I know you find him arrogant, but I’m sure he can’t help himself. I imagine any child who inherits the richest and most powerful title and property, second only to a royal duke, would grow up to be a man become accustomed to...”
“All the bowing and scraping?”
“A high level of deference,” Alicia corrected. “Everyone admires and tries to emulate him. He takes his duties very responsibly and has uncommonly exacting standards for himself, which is why he excels at everything.”
Hannah sniffed. “And views the rest of us as insects beneath his boots.�
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Her sister laughed softly. “Very well. I can see I cannot extol his virtues enough to change your opinion.”
“No, and it doesn’t signify; Cole was born heir to an earldom and manages not to be an insufferable bore.”
“True.” Alicia stood. “I believe I’ll lie down now for a few minutes before I return to check progress in the ballroom. I want to be well-rested tonight. You probably should nap, too.”
Hannah glanced sharply at her. But her sister seemed genuinely fatigued, so perhaps she meant the words sincerely rather than a prettily couched, overprotective statement about how Hannah ought to rest because “as we all know, you are rather delicate”—a statement that made Hannah fearful as a child, and frustrated as she grew.
Still, dancing until well after midnight would be fatiguing, not to mention keeping up with all the conversations and games that a large gathering required, so Hannah napped until her lady’s maid woke her.
“My lady wishes you to join her in her front parlor for tea. There are some gentlemen callers, the Buchanan twins and Mr. Hill.”
“Oh no. What next? I was careful not to encourage their attention.”
“Not enough, it seems, miss.”
She could dawdle long enough for the gentlemen callers to give up on her and leave. But no, Alicia was right; she needed to learn to overcome her shyness. Casting off the temptation to avoid the guests, Hannah dressed in an afternoon gown of white muslin with blue flowers, touched up her hair, and went to the main floor. As she headed to Alicia’s back parlor, male voices and booted footsteps echoed in the main hall.
“Ah, Hannah,” Cole called out to her. “Is Alicia having tea in her parlor?”
Hannah turned. Cole and the duke approached, both walking as if they owned the world. Hannah nodded as she lowered her eyes, her mouth drying.
Cole quirked a brow at the duke. “Care to join us for tea?”
“Thank you, no. I must return.” The duke passed a brief glance over Hannah.
Cole made a loose gesture. “You remember my wife’s sister, Hannah Palmer, of course.”
The duke blinked before slowly replying. “Yes, of course. Good afternoon.” He might as well have said, “No, I’m sure we’ve never met”; it would have been truthful.
In a single graceful motion, he swept off his hat, revealing midnight hair and that distinctive patch of blond on the left side that apparently marked members of his family for generations. He appeared to be proud of the unusual birthmark judging by the way he parted his hair in the middle of it. Briefly, he dipped his chin in a ducal version of a bow when greeting someone of low consequence.
Seething at his arrogance, Hannah sank into a very proper curtsy. In an act of uncommon boldness, fueled by ire, she offered a mischievous smile. “Delighted to see you again, Your Grace. I’m happy you’ve recovered from the strawberry incident.” There. She’d made her point without revealing any hint of annoyance that he’d failed to remember her, and she’d even spoken without stammering.
His gray-green eyes opened wider, and his head jerked back ever so slightly in carefully controlled surprise. Was that a touch of blush on his finely chiseled cheekbones? Surely not. No one as perfect as the Duke of Suttenberg would do anything so boyish as blush.
“Strawberries. Yes. I’m careful not to give them the upper hand.” His smooth baritone voice contained exactly the right amount of humor and arrogant savoir faire.
She might have been charmed by the almost chagrined smile now curving his beautifully formed lips if she weren’t chewing on his admission that he refused to allow anyone, or anything, to best him. Not to mention that he still gave no hint of remembering her. He stood almost as tall as Cole, but where Cole had an intimidating breadth of shoulder, the duke had a lean, graceful build. But they stood with equally commanding postures inherent to peers who were lord of all they saw and knew it.
Saucily she tossed her head. “I wish you all success in your endeavors to submit all strawberries to your whim.”
Cole glanced at her in surprise, as if he couldn’t imagine what had possessed her to speak so boldly. She could hardly believe it herself.
The duke’s gaze flicked over her face, still showing no sign of recognition, but every sign of unconcern, although he did seem to study her more closely. “Yes, well, a pleasure to see you... again.” He turned away from her dismissively and focused on Cole. “Until this evening, it seems, Tarrington.”
Hannah marched to the parlor without waiting to hear Cole’s reply. That duke! Insufferable, rude, arrogant... perfect people at the top of the social pyramid never seemed to have any tolerance for mere humans, nor would they do anything as lowering as engage them in conversation.
Still in a pique, Hannah entered Alicia’s parlor and tried not to glare at the trio of men who leaped to their feet at her arrival.
“Miss Palmer, how kind of you to join us,” Mr. Hill called out before the twins could say a word. The young widower bowed low, revealing a thinning spot on the crown of his head.
“How lovely you look, Miss Palmer,” one of the Buchanan twins exclaimed.
“Of course, you always look lovely, Miss Palmer,” the other rushed to say.
They bobbed alternating bows while Hannah tried to sort out which twin was Edmund and which was Eustace. There. Edmund’s face was slightly more angular and his chin pointed more than his brother’s. Eustace’s hair curled a little more over his ears. Both had barely reached their majority and probably had only started shaving a year or two ago.
“Gentlemen.” Hannah gave what would loosely pass as a curtsy and sat next to her sister. At least this time she’d managed not to trip like she had the last time guests had paid a call.
The callers perched on the edge of their seats. Alicia drank her tea, smiling as if enjoying a private joke.
“I was just telling Lady Tarrington how much I’m looking forward to the masque tonight,” Mr. Hill said. “I hope you’ll do me the honor of saving me the supper dance.” He offered her a bland smile.
“I believe she is planning to save the supper dance for me,” Edmund said.
Eustace cut in. “Surely you’d do me that honor, Miss Palmer.”
From an assortment of pastries, Hannah selected an Eccles cake and bit into its buttery, crispy outside to the current-filled inside. Though her usual shyness had faded with each encounter with the sweet boys, she still found it difficult to converse with people outside her family. Unless she was angry at an arrogant duke, that is.
Chewing gave her a moment to formulate a reply to the twins. “Since we are to be in masquerade, it is highly unlikely any of you will know me, nor I you.”
“I would know you,” Eustace said with an adoring smile. “I only need to look for hair the color of morning sunlight to find you.”
She smiled at his poetic turn of phrase but shook her head. “What if I wear a wig?”
Eustace deflated.
“I’d still know you.” Edmund puffed out his chest. “I’d recognize your figure and your walk.”
Hannah cocked her head to one side. “I might be wearing clothing from a different era, which would alter the appearance of my figure.” She took another bite of the rich pastry.
Edmund stubbornly shook his head. “I’ll still know you. And I plan to ask you for two dances. I wish it could be more.”
Hannah smiled. That’s all she needed—to dance more than two dances with one man in a single evening. People would think she was either “fast” or engaged to the man.
Next to her, Alicia shifted. “It sounds as if you all had better stand up with as many ladies as possible to be sure you have, indeed, danced with my sister.”
“To be sure, I will dance with every lady present until I’m certain I’ve found you, Miss Palmer,” Eustace said. “Well worth it.”
Edmund looked thoughtful and unconvinced that he might not recognize her despite a costume and mask. “I will, as well.”
Mr. Hill took out his snuff bo
x. “Gladly, I shall. I enjoy dancing and conversation.”
Hannah exchanged a knowing smile with her sister. Alicia had played that well. Now at least three gentlemen would dance with many partners in order to guarantee they’d found Hannah.
Mr. Hill carefully placed and sniffed his snuff. “I entertain a great deal, as you know. My late wife, God rest her soul, was a brilliant hostess. I’m sure you will be too, Miss Palmer.”
Hannah held out her hands. “Ah, no. I prefer a quiet life.”
“Nonsense,” said Mr. Hill. “All pretty girls like you enjoy dinners and parties and balls.”
Hannah stiffened but hoped her smile remained in place. She finished her pastry and sipped the last drop of her tea. She glanced at the gentlemen as she set her teacup on its saucer. She missed. It fell, landing with a thud on the carpet. Hannah cringed. At least the cup hadn’t broken, and no tea spilled.
All three men leaped to their feet. Edmund got there first. Kneeling, he handed the cup to her.
“Thank you.” Her face heated. Would she always be so clumsy in the company of others?
Then Edmund shot his brother a triumphant smile. Her embarrassment turned to annoyance. He didn’t care to aid her; he only desired to beat out his brother for her favor. Were all gentlemen so competitive that they wanted to win, regardless of the prize?
And moreover, why did gentlemen either view her as a forgettable, possibly invisible, minor nuisance or a delicate flower without the strength to do anything more strenuous than lift a teacup? And heaven forbid she have likes and dislikes different from other “pretty girls” her age.
Cole entered, greeted everyone, and went to Alicia. He kissed her offered cheek and sat next to her, devouring tea and scones as if he’d missed luncheon.
Eustace glanced at the clock and stood. “We don’t wish to overstay our welcome, Lady Tarrington. Thank you for seeing us. Miss Palmer, I look forward to seeing you tonight.”
Edmund also stood. “Yes, thank you. I’m sure you’ll be the loveliest two ladies at the ball.”
Timeless Regency Collection: Autumn Masquerade Page 9
