Aunt Georgina clucked, changing the subject once more. “Now, did you see Mrs. Hapworth and her horrid feather? I wanted to rip the thing from her hair and toss it in the fire.”
I tuned out their conversation, finding myself confused by Lord Cameron’s presence. It was not exactly the thing to inquire about why someone chose to visit another. But really, what would he have to speak to Aunt Georgina about? He had only met her yesterday.
“And you must meet my new housemate.”
I glanced up to catch surprise flit over Lord Cameron’s face.
Aunt Georgina laughed with abandon. It startled me in its intensity, but a quick glance at Lord Cameron assured me he thought nothing of it. Mother was correct, though I hated to admit it. Aunt Georgina was an eccentric.
“I did not mean Elspeth, silly boy,” she continued. “I meant the dog.”
“The dog has a name, Aunt,” I said, pulling Coco closer.
Lord Cameron smiled at Coco endearingly. “She is well behaved, but I would keep her away from large dogs or squirrels.”
Aunt Georgina stilled imperceptibly. “You speak as though you know her.”
“Indeed, I do. I assisted in her rescue, as a matter of fact.”
Silence took the room. Aunt Georgina eyed Lord Cameron suspiciously, and then me. After a long, slow sip of tea, she asked me, “Why was that not in the papers? I had thought I was able to keep tabs on your activities thus far.”
As a matter of fact, that was a valid question. It had not been in the papers at all. “I can only assume whoever has been informing on me was unaware of the episodes in the park.”
Her thin eyebrows shot up. “There was more than one?”
“As Lord Cameron suggested,” I said, tearing my gaze away from Aunt Georgina and looking to the man himself, “I would avoid large dogs and squirrels.”
Chapter Thirty
“Preparing my hair has never taken so long before, Molly, is everything all right?”
She shot me a look through the mirror. She knew something I did not.
“What is it?” I demanded.
She shrugged. “Your mother requested extra plaits.”
That would explain all of the loops.
“Do you know why she felt a sudden need for additional plaits? Your normal creations are quite extraordinary.”
She glowed slightly under my praise. “I gather that the Season is more than half done and it is time to reveal your potential.”
I peered at her, my eyes squinting. “Those are not your words.”
“No, miss. They aren’t.”
At the completion of my toilette, I turned to bid Coco farewell before departing, only to feel the sting of disappointment at the empty hearth. Perhaps Aunt Georgina was planning on going out that evening and would say farewell to Coco, snuggling her in the process.
Or perhaps Aunt Georgina planned a night at home and could keep Coco’s company for the duration. Coco’s new home just may suit her better than her old one. What a dismal thought.
Father helped me out of the carriage and turned back for Mother’s hand. We mounted the steps with slow precision. Considering how we appeared from the outside, it was undeniable that we should seem the perfect family. Mother had been a beauty in her youth and though the years had added lines to her face and rounded her figure, she was still very handsome, particularly with Father and his dashing smile beside her. Of course, the picture was not complete without their dutiful daughter following close behind them.
It was impossible not to love them, I admitted, but equally difficult not to resent them.
I scanned the ballroom when we made our entrance but did not land on either Freya or Rosalynn. Disappointed, I smiled at Lord McGregor while he approached and accepted his dance. I was eager to be away from the throngs for a moment with a safe dance partner for whom I was positive felt no feelings for me.
“You wound me, Miss Cox.”
“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow in inquiry.
His face was devastated, but his eyes told a different story. “I caught you searching for someone when you first arrived, and your lack of excitement at my approach validated that I was not the lucky man.”
“Who is to say it was a man I was looking for?”
Lord McGregor gave me a knowing look, amusement lurking in his smile. “Lady Rosalynn has not yet arrived.”
“I came to the same conclusion.” I took his hand and the instruments began to play. Lord McGregor expertly led me around the floor, a companionable silence taking residence between us. I much enjoyed the waltz and found it was exceedingly more enjoyable with a partner who did not have leering eyes or wayward hands like some of the others in the past. I was grateful to realize Lord McGregor and I had settled into a cheerful camaraderie, the awkward incidence in front of my house now long past, and, hopefully, forgotten.
We had nearly reached the end of the dance when he spoke. “Have you seen her since last evening?”
He must have meant Rosalynn, for we had not talked in the interim. “No, but I can see that you are worried. May I inquire why?”
His throat worked and he swallowed, his glance flitting behind me. “She was quite upset. I was hoping she...that someone had checked on her.”
“And you could not?” I probed. The dance came to a close and we stopped right in the center of the room.
Lord McGregor looked harassed and I regretted my final words for a moment before I glanced over his shoulder and saw my mother’s gaze trailing my father as he left the room. He had done his time by her side and was off, as he usually was, to find the gambling room for men only. Men. They could be so selfish and egotistical. Everything in life revolved around them.
Except, at that moment, Lord McGregor worried over Rosalynn, and for the life of me, I could not find an ulterior motive.
He picked up my hand and escorted me toward my mother.
“Really,” I said, genuine curiosity overriding my good manners. “What is it that has you so concerned?”
He turned pained eyes on me and suddenly it all clicked, and I felt so utterly stupid for never before connecting the pieces.
“You love her,” I said simply, though perhaps not quietly. His arm stiffened under my hand and I was grateful the people near us did not seem to have caught my words.
“I would thank you to keep your accusations to yourself.”
I snapped my mouth shut. It was neither the time nor the place to delve into the finer points of Lord McGregor’s feelings, nor how utterly unsuitable and unrequited they were. Did he know about Rosalynn’s pact and the binding Promise Juice? Was he aware that his was a hopeless cause?
We reached my mother and no sooner had he bowed than he turned to disappear. I was sure I had made him angry. Though at me or himself I did not know.
“Elspeth,” Mother said in her sickly sweet tone. “I have a man here who would like to meet you. His name is Mr. Wendel and he comes from America.” She emphasized the final word as if it was an exotic location and not a colony of our cast-offs.
I turned to the gentleman, handsome in a black jacket and subtle ivory waistcoat. His hair was fair and long, and his eyebrows were bushy and full of expression.
I curtseyed. I had yet to meet an American before. And from the stories I had heard, he was not what I had imagined.
“A pleasure to meet you,” he said, bowing. His voice held a weird tinge to it, and I found myself praying I would not be asked to dance.
“May I request the next set?” he said.
“Yes,” I replied, swallowing a sigh and placing my hand on his outstretched arm, allowing him to lead me out to the quadrille. My eye caught a daring red gown at the entrance of the ballroom and I turned sharply when I recognized the glossy, dark hair which accompanied it. Rosalynn.
The set of dances was pure and utter torture. I moved about the floor watching Rosalynn flit from person to person, sparkling and smiling while she flirted and laughed, unabashed at her utter disregard for Society
’s rules.
What was her mother going to say?
It occurred to me that it was perhaps irrelevant what her mother thought, for her mother was no longer in London. According to the uncomfortable argument between her and Lord Cameron the evening prior, Lady Clifton had returned home.
When Mr. Wendel returned me to my mother, I thanked him heartily and turned away before he could request anything further. My back was apparently enough of a dismissal and one that, thankfully, Mother had not noticed.
“May I go and search for Rosalynn?”
“You must dance, Elspeth,” she reminded me, flipping open her fan and lazily airing her face. “The Season has not yet ended and you must dance every single dance.”
“That was not the agreement,” I reminded her. “I am to say ‘yes’ to every request. There is no requirement that I must fill the dances myself.”
Her beady eyes lifted over my head and a throat cleared behind me. I squeezed my eyes closed for a moment, hoping whomever had approached had not heard the last of our conversation. I turned.
“Rosalynn is dancing just now,” Lord Cameron said, taking my hand and bowing over it. “Will you join me for this set, Miss Cox?”
Nodding, I followed him away from my triumphant mother. We lined up for a minuet and he gazed at me a moment, his face a work of stone. I was sure he was going to say something but his mouth remained firm. It was perhaps the first dance we shared in which we remained silent throughout, and I found my nerves winding more and more as the music dragged on. The minuet ended and a country dance began. The intensity of his gaze burned and I could not smile for the trepidation that overcame me.
He had explained why I could not go in search of Rosalynn when he approached me. There was zero doubt in my mind that he had heard the whole of my remarks, finally discovering the secret I’d been holding close to my heart. It was what he planned to do with the information which terrified me.
Our song came to a close and we bowed. I turned abruptly and hastened toward the door that led to the hallway. My plan, though hazy, was to locate a servant and request direction to the ladies retiring room.
I was successful and slipped inside the room safely, but not before I caught sight of Lord Cameron entering the hallway, his eyes searching, and landing on my own through the closing door.
Chapter Thirty-One
The room was empty. I paced the length of it, sidestepping the sofa and circling back. My mind had filled to its brimming point and I was trying to make sense of everything that had been revealed, whether to me or someone else.
Rosalynn, the object of Lord McGregor’s romantic feelings, had shown up in a bright red dress. And her brother, unwittingly, had eavesdropped on the very secret I depended on remaining secret to protect myself throughout the rest of the Season.
I simply needed to compartmentalize and undertake one thing at a time.
Starting with Rosalynn.
I peeked my head through the door and the hallway was clear. I tilted my head and listened for a moment, smiling at the thought of Coco copying me if she had been standing beside me.
Silence. I stepped through the door and jumped when Lord Cameron materialized from the other side of it. Drat. I had not seen him.
“What has you smiling?” he asked.
I gave him an exasperated look. He had no right to question me on anything personal at the moment.
He leveled me with a gaze that I read instantly; he was not going to play games with me. In retrospect, he never really had.
“Please do not repeat what you heard,” I asked, ashamed slightly at the pleading in my tone.
He reared back slightly. “Of course I won’t repeat it.”
“Then why did you follow me out here if not to try and glean more information? Is that not what you’ve done from the moment you learned I possessed a secret? Heaven forbid I deigned to hide it in the first place.”
His eyes brightened and his hand came around my forearm, pulling me further away from the ballroom and around a corner.
“That is the secret I tried to pull from you at that dinner?”
Was there a point in trying to hide it now? He had, in a sense, promised me no nonsense. I owed him the same. “Yes. It is part of a silly bargain and I am more than halfway through it.”
“And what do you receive at the end of it?” He looked so eager, so hungry for the knowledge that I nearly swallowed my words.
Instead, I blurted it out, unheeding the small warning bell within. “My independence. My financial independence, I should say. And the opportunity to govern myself.”
He was unconvinced. “Your father will never allow that.”
“He has already agreed to it.”
Lord Cameron looked impressed. “That is, perhaps, worth losing the ability to turn down dance partners.”
“No, sir. It is not only dance partners. It is any request by an eligible male.”
“Any request?”
I lifted one shoulder. “If I want my freedom before I am thirty years old, then yes.”
His eyes took on a dark gleam as he raked my face, stepping slightly closer. The hallway suddenly seemed small and overly chilly, made worse by the goosebumps traveling up my arms. I realized just how far I was from society, and how utterly alone I was with a man. My heart raced. It would be dreadful if we were discovered alone.
“So if I were to ask you to walk in the park with me, you would be required to oblige?”
“I was.”
“And if I were to ask you to dance the waltz with me, you would absolutely say yes?”
I nodded. He seemed to be moving closer, though I did not see how. His hand came to rest lightly on my elbow and my breath became shallow and rapid. If I moved it would break the spell.
His voice lowered. “And if I begged a stolen kiss, you would not turn me away?”
My breath stopped altogether, snatched away by his intense chocolate eyes and his fingers grazing the bare skin of my arm between where my glove ended and sleeve began. A shiver raced down my arm and I swallowed a lump, searching his gaze while he searched mine. I leaned forward.
His head bent and he laid his lips on mine, soft and warm. My eyes drifted closed. I forgot to worry about my revealed secret as Cameron kissed me, one hand gliding behind my neck as the other slid behind my back, pulling me toward him.
My arms remained limp at my sides and warmth raced through my body, my heart beating rapidly. He pulled away. My eyes remained closed and I commanded my heart to calm, the smell of his shaving soap lingering and enticing my senses. I opened them slowly, startled to find a fierce expression overtaking his usually congenial face. I tried to step back but he tightened his grip around me.
“Do your parents know how foolish you are?” he said, his voice deep and dangerous.
Stunned, I tried to step back again. But still, he would not release me.
He lowered his voice. “There is a vast difference between accepting a man’s hand in a dance and allowing him the privilege of ravishing you.”
“Unhand me,” I said, furious. I put my hands to his chest to push him away but he held on firmly.
“Do you think if the wrong kind of man got you into an embrace, he would simply unhand you because you requested it?” He was spitting fire. “You do not simply say ‘yes’ to every single request. Not only is it foolish and unsafe, but it is utterly senseless.”
With my hands rising and falling quickly against his chest, I managed to spit out, “I can see that now.”
Instantly he released me. My euphoria had not only been beaten down but further stomped on and coated in mud. Fire blazed within me. I locked in on his gaze as surely as he had mine.
“Do not ever touch me again,” I said through bared teeth.
I stepped around him and down the hall, glad he remained behind and I had a moment to correct my face before returning to my Mother. I had been so utterly stupid. He was not worth risking my reputation for. I entered the ballroom to the lo
ud sounds of a boisterous country dance and located my mother straight away.
“Where have you been?” she said from behind her fan.
“The retiring room. I feel unwell. May we go home?”
My face must have been enough evidence, for she raked me over with a look before nodding. “I’ll send a man for our carriage, and another for your father.”
She turned away to summon the footman standing at attention near the wall and I caught Lord Cameron’s gaze as he stepped through the door. Though his lips were fixed in a firm line, his eyes were soft and laced with what appeared to be regret. I found I could not tear my gaze away while he stepped along the wall toward his sister. Mother returned, a word from her dragging my attention back and I followed her from the room.
It was clear I could never trust Lord Cameron again. I could live with that. Though if I were to consider the entirety of the episode, I found myself pondering my chosen life path, and wondering if I could live without kissing as well.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Freya was missing. Not in the sense that nobody knew where she was, but she had disappeared from Society functions and her butler delivered a practiced spiel when I tried to visit, relaying that she was not home for visitors.
But I was not simply a visitor. I was her dearest friend.
When the Hurst butler turned me away for the sixth day in a row, I requested my coachman to drive me to Rosalynn’s home instead. The morning was drizzly and cold, and I tucked the newspaper clippings into my reticule to keep them safe and dry from the wet London weather.
I mounted the stairs with no little apprehension. I had yet to see Lord Cameron since the ball the week prior, and I was afraid for what I would discover when I did see him. The butler opened the door and ushered me into the hall, saying, “She is in the music room, Miss Cox.”
I nodded and followed him, chasing the music that bled down the hall. Rosalynn was in a daze when the butler opened the door to announce me. Her eyes closed, she played the pianoforte by memory. I held a hand up to halt him and he backed away. I let myself inside and settled on the sofa, relaxing into the rhythm of the intricate piece I had not heard before.
Love in the Bargain: A Sweet Regency Romance (Women of Worth Book 1) Page 15
