Dressed for Death

by Julianna Deering

  “What do you mean?”

  “She’s got something to tell him, and he’s not going to like it.”

  Drew sat on the bed. “And she didn’t give you a clue about what it was?”

  “I’m afraid not. There were a couple of times after that when we were talking and I thought she might want to tell me more, but she didn’t. She said she’d wait until the party was over before she tells him. I suppose that’ll be tomorrow. I really hope it’s not as bad as she thinks it is.”

  He took her hand and drew her close. “I don’t know what it is she has on her mind, but it’s not uncommon for people to imagine their failings are more devastating than they actually are.”

  “Not that either of us would ever do that.”

  He feigned outrage. “Certainly not.”

  She laughed and then sighed and leaned against him. “She loves him so much. I know she doesn’t want to lose him.”

  “He loves her, too,” Drew responded. “I imagine they’ll figure out how to deal with whatever it is. Together.”

  “But if it’s very bad . . .” She laughed abruptly and twisted away from him. “No, I’m not going to borrow trouble. They’ll have to work it out between them, as you say. All we have to do is get changed. Hurry now.”

  “Right.” He got to his feet and straightened his coat. “I’ll be back in just a moment.”

  She huffed. “Drew, you really must get changed. We need to be there in plenty of time. Mrs. Cummins will expect us to be in the first group of dancers.”

  “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll be back before you and Beryl have even gotten started. Anyway, there may not be any dancing tonight after all.”

  She gaped at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I have to go see a man about a dog,” he said with a wink. “If anything comes of it, I’ll let you know.”

  Before she could say anything more, he was gone.

  Four

  The good weather held, though there was a steady wind off the water and the evening turned rather cool. True to his earlier edicts, Cummins would not allow automobiles inside the park gates. Instead, he had two barouches ferrying guests down to the house, complete with two liveried torchbearers running ahead to light the road. But the moon hung bright and round as the bottom of a copper kettle in the clear night sky, illuminating the front lawn and making their lights almost superfluous.

  Drew stood at the upstairs window overlooking the drive and watched the guests arrive, the ones who hadn’t stayed at Winteroak for the week. There were gentlemen in satin knee breeches and long-tailed coats with their flattened opera hats tucked under their arms, and ladies in their finest ball gowns with their hair done up in the classical Grecian style, adorned with jewels and ribbons and feathers.

  “And where is your lady fair?”

  Drew turned to see Nick coming up beside him, looking particularly dapper in a white satin waistcoat with gold embroidery.

  “Madeline and her maid drove me out of our room because I was abominably in the way. They’re not used to doing all their preparations in such close quarters. What about Carrie?”

  “I told her I’d meet her here and then we could go down to the ballroom together. How many do you think they’re having tonight?”

  “Oh, it will no doubt be a full house, if I know Cummins.”

  Drew watched a particularly tall lady in orange silk and ostrich feathers being handed out of the carriage, followed by a man in period regimentals and an elderly gentleman in a powdered wig.

  “Old Cummins certainly knows how to throw a proper bash,” Nick said. He straightened his shoulders and adjusted the lace at his wrists. “Everything shipshape and Bristol fashion?”

  “Very nice. The lovely Miss Holland will be charmed, though I doubt any manner of adornment will have a positive effect on her brother.”

  “No fear. Every time I think he’s decided I’m not Jack the Ripper, he catches me and Carrie together and it sets him off again. Not that he says anything, mind you. I suppose she’s warned him off on that, but it’s hard to enjoy a nice party when you know someone would rather drown you in the ornamental fountain than have you speak another word to his sister.”

  Drew stifled a chuckle. “I think he’s rather to be congratulated for taking his chaperoning so seriously.”

  “Yes, I suppose,” Nick said, disconsolately. “But it’s not as if I’ve given him any cause for alarm. Carrie and I have done nothing but talk.”

  “Well, buck up, old man. I don’t think he’s as set against you as you think. I know he’s had a ripping time with the little mystery of the pearls, and from what he tells me he’s perilously close to figuring out our little riddle.” Drew made a woebegone face. “Better than I have.”

  “The girls did make a deuce of a puzzle for us, eh? And Will does seem to be enjoying it. And when his sister’s not the topic of conversation, I don’t think he minds me too awfully much. Most of the time. He’s not a bad kid.”

  “No. Not a bad detective, either. At least you’ve been able to spend a bit of time with Carrie while he’s sleuthing.”

  Nick grinned. “Don’t think I don’t know it was you and the missus who arranged it all by getting Mr. and Mrs. Cummins to invite her.”

  “We couldn’t miss the chance to see you primped up like Beau Brummell for a week.”

  Nick snorted. “You should talk.”

  “Well, at least I don’t have to suffer alone. And the ladies seem to like it.”

  The corner of Nick’s mouth twitched. “Doesn’t hurt, eh?”

  Drew glanced over his shoulder and then lowered his voice. “Just between you and me, how are things progressing? May we expect an announcement in the near future?”

  Nick looked out over the drive, watching the carriages once more. “No.”

  Drew blinked, certain he hadn’t heard properly. “No? Don’t worry, I won’t say anything to Madeline, not that she doesn’t know already, but you can tell me. I won’t even devil you over it.”

  Drew smiled, but Nick only winced.

  “I hadn’t thought it all out before she came.” He shrugged helplessly. “I suppose I was too much in love to think straight. But what’s she going to do with someone like me? Her family has money. Good breeding. All that. I’m just an estate agent. Not even that. I’m an estate agent in training, God help me. What can I offer her but a life halfway round the world from everything she knows and everyone she loves?”

  “Perhaps she likes the idea of moving here. Or perhaps she just likes you. As Miss Austen says, ‘What have wealth and grandeur to do with happiness?’”

  “She also says, ‘A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.’”

  Drew shook his head. “You’ve been around those ‘large incomes’ all your life, old man. You and I both know the rich are no happier than anyone else. But why don’t you trust Carrie to know her own mind about such things? Every girl in the world isn’t a ruthless mercenary.”

  “But that’s just it,” Nick said. “She’s always had everything she wanted. She doesn’t really know what it’s like to live a bourgeois sort of life. Suppose she marries me and then decides it’s not so romantic to live in a garret after all?”

  Drew laughed. “Are your quarters at Farthering Place so bad?”

  “No, no, that’s not what I mean at all.” Nick growled low in his throat. “Oh, blast it all, you know what I mean. How can I possibly marry a girl and ask her to take permanent residence in someone else’s home, no matter how grand it is? It’s not as if we’d be in service there.”

  “No, of course not.”

  Drew considered for a moment. Nick’s parents had been butler and maid at Farthering Place. Nick himself had been born there and lived there all his life. But as a married man and likely with children coming eventually, it wasn’t quite practical for him to stay where he was. And, yes, Madeline and Carrie were great friends, but there was such a thing as too much closeness, especially for young ladie
s striving to establish themselves as wives.

  Drew smiled. “I know the very thing, old man. When you and Carrie get married, you’ll have to leave Farthering Place.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “No, no, there’s nothing for it. I’m sorry, but as you say, you can’t ask a girl to marry you and then just stuff her into the attic next to the old bureaus.”

  “I know,” Nick repeated, shoulders slumping. “If we were to marry. Well, never mind.”

  “What do you mean never mind? You and Carrie are absolutely dotty about each other, aren’t you?”

  “I know I am about her.”

  “Well then, how can you not marry?”

  Nick’s jaw tightened. “Look here, Drew, you and your family have been good to me all my life. You’re more than generous with my salary, especially with providing room and board as well, but you and I both know it’s not enough to keep a wife. Not in anyplace Carrie deserves. How’s that any way to start a life together?”

  “Madeline didn’t think Rose Cottage was so terrible,” Drew said. “Even her aunt Ruth couldn’t find anything much to complain about while she was there.”

  Nick’s brow wrinkled. “Rose Cottage?”

  “Madeline and I thought that, if you do actually get married, a life estate in Rose Cottage might not be so shabby a wedding gift. You could run Farthering Place from there, couldn’t you?”

  Nick turned his head a bit to one side as if he hadn’t heard properly. “Rose Cottage?”

  Drew nodded. “You know, the quaint little dwelling beyond the back garden? Green door? Roses growing up the walls? I’m sure you’ve seen it back there a time or two while you were performing your duties.”

  “Don’t be an idiot. Of course I’ve seen it. But you’re—”

  “Madeline tells me it’s sweet, but I’ll let you and Carrie judge for yourselves.”

  “You’re saying you would give Rose Cottage to us? I couldn’t possibly—”

  “Purely selfish on my part,” Drew interrupted. “Can’t have you and the bride moving off to Timbuktu. Once old Padgett retires, who’ll manage the estate for me? The whole place would fall to ruin.”

  Nick laughed half under his breath. “It’s more than good of you, Drew, but it’s far too much. Dad would bust a garter.”

  “Denny’s your father, not mine, and though he’s a top-notch butler, I can’t have him taking on airs, can I? No, I really must be my own master in this. Besides, Madeline will be dead vexed with me if I don’t make the offer.”

  “Look here—”

  Drew held up his hand. “That’s all I have to say on the matter. If a sweet cottage in the Hampshire countryside isn’t enough to overcome her objections to you personally, I fear your cause is a hopeless one.”

  “Well there is that,” Nick said. “Best hold off on signing any papers until she and I at least have an understanding.”

  “Fair enough. I wouldn’t have said anything at all yet, but I didn’t want you to give up the fight just for want of adequate housing.”

  Nick chuckled. “I won’t hold you to it. I might be wishing on too distant a star as it is.”

  “Judging by young Will’s scowling, you’re closer than you think.”

  Nick started to say something when a light came into his eyes. “There she is. Excuse me.”

  Carrie stood at the top of the stairs, a vision in an empire-waisted gown of emerald silk and Mechlin lace, with her red-gold curls framing her sweet face. Nick darted up the stairs, seized her hand and pressed it with a fervent kiss. Smiling, he tucked her arm in his and escorted her down to the ball.

  “Don’t they look wonderful together?”

  Drew turned to find Madeline at his side, slipping her arm through his. Instead of the muslin dress and Spencer jacket she wore during the day, she had on a gown of pale blue and ivory-striped silk and long white gloves. Her dark hair was swept up and secured by a gold-and-diamond tiara, and around her graceful neck, in place of her missing pearls, she wore the diamond pendant that had once belonged to his great-grandmother. He was certain she hadn’t any idea how perfectly charming she was.

  He bowed over her hand and brought it to his lips. “You honor me, madam.”

  She curtsied, periwinkle eyes sparkling. “And you me, sir. Now, shall we join the others?”

  “As my lady pleases.”

  He escorted her down the grand stairway, but she stopped halfway down.

  “Don’t stare at me,” she whispered, her cheeks turning pink. “Can you see my petticoat or something?”

  He put his free hand over the one on his arm. “All I see, my darling, is the most gloriously beautiful and scandalously intoxicating woman in all the world.”

  She glanced to one side and then the other, then stood tiptoe and touched her lips to his. “You’ve been up to something.”

  “Me? Madam, I protest. I am the very ideal of the complete Regency gentleman, from my exquisitely tied neckcloth to these ridiculous silk stockings and satin knee breeches. Really, the things I do to prove my undying devotion.”

  “You’re my ideal of the complete Regency gentleman,” she said with another slightly more tantalizing kiss. “And since I’m sure you haven’t been gambling, drinking, or womanizing, that means you’re up to something else.”

  He made a low harrumphing sound as if he were a disgruntled member of Parliament.

  “Behave,” she whispered when they had reached the ballroom. “Oooh, isn’t it glorious?”

  It truly was. Over the course of the week they had grown used to seeing people in their period costumes, yet this evening was different. Muslins and buckskins were nowhere to be seen. In their place were silks, satins, embroidered velvets, and rich jewels. Ladies in diamonds and fantastic headdresses walked beside men carrying opera hats, men whose cravats were so high and stiff they could scarcely turn their heads. Liveried servants lined the walls, and a very correct butler in a solemn powdered wig announced the guests as they arrived. In one corner a violin and pianoforte played “The Soldier’s Adieu,” accompanied by bass fiddle and flute. It reminded Drew of his upcoming fate.

  “I don’t suppose you’ll allow me to excuse myself from the dancing. If there is to be dancing, I mean.”

  “No mysteries,” she said sternly. “Not now. Either tell me where you went earlier or don’t talk about it.”

  “Oh, very well. I don’t know what I’m talking about anyway. Could be nothing. But must I really—”

  “Yes. You promised. No complaints.”

  “Yes,” he sighed. “Yes, I did.”

  “You’re complaining.”

  “I was agreeing,” he protested.

  “While making it clear you don’t agree.” She looked up at him through her lashes, well knowing that would be more persuasive than a scolding. “You dance so beautifully.”

  He sniffed. “‘Every savage can dance.’”

  “Don’t be grumpy Mr. Darcy now, Drew. I thought you enjoyed it.”

  “I do, when it’s a proper dance where I can hold my wife close, not all this hopping about in these ridiculous shoes that look like something you should be wearing.”

  “It’s just for one night. Tomorrow you can go back to your regular clothes, which will also look quite ridiculous in another hundred years.”

  “Not, my dear, if I am wearing them.”

  “Oh, there you are.” Mrs. Cummins hurried up to them, the feathers in her headdress bobbing alarmingly. “Forgive my overhearing, but you mustn’t fail me now, Drew. You simply mustn’t.”

  He laughed. “Wouldn’t dream of it, ma’am,” he drawled and then kissed her hand. “Merely deviling the old ball and chain.”

  Madeline made a face at him.

  “Oh, don’t tease now,” Mrs. Cummins said. “It’s really a disaster. Those two friends of Alice’s, that Violet and Georgie, what do you think they’ve done?”

  Drew glanced at Madeline. “What have they—?”

  “They’ve left,” Mr
s. Cummins said with an emphatic and indignant dip of her chin, her lips tightly pursed. “Gone off without so much as a by-your-leave. Sterling said it was for the best and that I mustn’t mind, but I’m sure he knows something about it, no matter what he says. A woman can tell these things.”

  “That’s very odd,” Madeline said. “Why would they—?”

  “Now, darling, it’s not as if we were great friends of theirs. They seemed rather more likely than not to make some sort of scene before the evening was over. Forget about them.”

  “But Drew,” Mrs. Cummins moaned. “Now we have only six couples for the dances, and everything’s spoilt.”

  “Now, now.” Drew took her arm, giving it a soothing pat as he did. “It’s not as bad as all that. We can still do the dances, just four couples at a time. We’ll all switch out, and no one will know the difference.”

  She blinked, her face relaxing. “Do you really think so?”

  “I promise it will be fine. And you promised to stand up with me for the country dance. Now don’t forget.”

  That coaxed a smile from her. “I won’t. Oh, there’s Tibby. I must tell him. Do excuse me.” She hurried away to the far side of the room, talking urgently to her son.

  Drew made another formal bow. “Shall we, ma’am?”

  “Why do you think they went?” Madeline asked, taking his arm again. “They were terribly silly girls, but I didn’t think anything would make them leave before the grand ball. They were really looking forward to it.”

  He shrugged. “I think Mr. Cummins is right, darling. It probably is for the best. Now, shall we go find Nick and Carrie and make sure Will isn’t being overwhelmed by the unfortunate Miss Dornford?”

  She didn’t move when he took a step forward.

  “What is it?”

  “You knew about this,” she said, her voice low. “You knew they were going to leave and that the dancing would be ruined, didn’t you?”

  “Madeline—”

  She gave him a look, and he blew out his breath.

  “This isn’t the time or place for it, darling. I promise I’ll tell you all about it, but not now. It’s not exactly suitable for a jolly occasion like this, eh?”