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Alden winced. The ball. If not for the ball, they would all have more time to sort the frustrating situation in front of them. But nearly a hundred guests were eager for the ball, if not to make a match with him, then to find other matches, and simply to enjoy themselves.

Lady Gladys turned to leave him with those words. Alden was more than happy to let her have the last word and to appear to have the upper hand as she left the room. He turned away before she had fully departed, rubbing his chin and wracking his brain to discover a way out of the conundrum.

Everything hinged on the opinion and personality of a man he’d never met, a man who lived in another country, miles away, and had not been heard from for weeks. If only he knew Hethersett’s thoughts on the whole thing, he could know better what to do himself.

“Ah, Alden. There you are.”

Alden glanced to the doorway just as Waldorf strode into the room. Immediately, Alden’s heart expanded with ideas and possibilities.

“That damn woman and her cat are a nuisance to all good society and should be tossed out at once,” Waldorf began, marching over to him.

Alden ignored the complaint, grasping his cousin’s arm when he came near enough. “Waldorf, I need you to do something for me.”

Waldorf snapped his mouth closed over whatever remained of his complaint against Lady Katherine. “What do you need now?” he asked in his usual, curt manner.

“I need you to find out what has become of Lord Hethersett,” Alden said, squeezing Waldorf’s arm.

“I’ve already discovered everything I can about the man,” Waldorf said with a frown.

“Yes, but do you know where he is?” Alden asked. When Waldorf did not immediately answer, he went on with, “Bernadette wrote to him weeks ago, and he has not replied. She says that is unusual. I need to know where the man is and what his opinion about granting Bernadette an annulment is. I need to know before the ball tonight, if that is possible.”

Waldorf laughed without humor. “You do not ask much, do you.”

Alden sighed impatiently. “Please, cuz. This is a matter of life and death. Lady Gladys swears to me that Hethersett has a violent temper and that he will not take kindly to his wife loving another. I need to be certain that Bernadette is not in danger. If necessary, I will take her away to South America to avoid Hethersett’s wrath.”

Waldorf fixed Alden with a long, disapproving stare. “I swear to God. Father’s dictate that we marry or face the curse has done far more harm than good. It has created rush where there is none and has turned you and Cedric into absolute buffoons.” He paused, then said, “I would say it has turned Lawrence into a buffoon as well, considering how he’s been following that dreadful Welsh woman around since he arrived, but Lawrence was already a buffoon.”

“Waldorf, please,” Alden said, trying to ground his cousin in the urgent problem before them.

Waldorf sighed and rubbed a hand over his face and his ridiculous whiskers. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll see what I can discover in the impossibly short time you have given me.”

“Thank you,” Alden breathed out, more relieved than he expected to be. He loved and trusted his cousin. If anyone could save him and Bernadette, it was Waldorf. “I will owe you a favor after this.”

“Yes, you will,” Waldorf said before turning to leave.

Alden left just behind him, returning to the breakfast room, where the morning meal was well under way. Bernadette appeared to be holding court in some way at one end of the table, looking like the perfect hostess, the perfect lady of the house. She glanced up at Alden and smiled freely for a moment, as if all were right with the world and they were assured happiness and peace.

Then her expression fell, just as the mamas noticed his arrival and began jockeying for him to sit near their daughters. Alden hated to see anything but joy in Bernadette’s eyes. One way or another, before the end of the day, he intended to resolve things so that the two of them could have the happy ending they deserved.

Chapter Nineteen

Bernadette spent the entire day rushing around, assisting with final preparations for the ball, making certain all of Alden’s guests were entertained and happy, and avoiding thinking about the way her life and everything she’d known for the last ten years was about to change.

“You cannot despair entirely,” Kat said as the four friends dressed for the ball together in Bernadette’s room. “It is merely a ball. No commitments are required tonight.”

“You have noticed that Bernadette has packed her things, have you not?” Minerva asked from where she sat on Bernadette’s bed, cuddling with Napoleon.

Napoleon was more interested in watching Egbert, who had perched on the end of Bernadette’s vanity as if he were as excited about the ball as the rest of them. Bernadette had added watching the two of them to make certain Napoleon did not decide to eat Egbert for supper to the list of things she needed to remain aware of that night.

“Is that what all of these trunks are?” Muriel asked, rising from the trunk she’d been sitting on, since there weren’t enough chairs for them all.

Bernadette glanced from her trunks to her friends. She’d made a few decisions that afternoon, between calming Lady Ursula’s hysterics when she discovered that there were, indeed, alligators in the terrarium, leading a class in making the feathered masks that were encouraged for the ball that evening, and overseeing the final decorations in the network of marquees and tents where the ball would be held in the garden.

“I am leaving after the ball this evening,” she announced to her friends.

All three of them gasped and turned to her, dropping what they’d been doing.

“Bernadette, dearest, you cannot give up so easily,” Kat said, setting down her hairbrush and crossing to Bernadette. “You cannot let that ghastly Lady Gladys win.”