Page 94

“ C assandra!” Fiona greeted her friend as soon as she entered the Basildons’ ballroom with Prudence at her side. It felt good to have Prudence back, as if nothing horrendous would befall Fiona as it had at the queen’s drawing room the day before.

Cassandra stood near the wall. Her aunt, whom Fiona had met briefly at the Edgemont ball, was deep in conversation with another lady nearby.

“Fiona, I’m so glad to see you. I worried you may not come tonight after what happened yesterday. But then I decided that was silly because you would never let such a thing affect you that much.” Cassandra’s brow puckered. “Are you all right?”

Fiona laughed gaily. “More than. Think of the story I have to tell for the rest of my life.”

“What did the queen say to you? Everyone was dying to know.”

“If I tell you, do you promise not to share? I’d rather people continue to guess.” She winked at Cassandra, who grinned.

“I do like how you think. It is no wonder we are friends.”

“As it happens, she told me I was having the adventure of a lifetime, and she’s right. A country girl like me having a London Season. Who could have imagined that? I took it quite to heart and informed Lord Overton last night that I would not be rushed into marriage.”

Cassandra’s dark brows climbed her forehead. “Did you? What did he say?”

“He agreed.” Fiona glanced toward Prudence. “However, he also said that after tonight, I shall be taking a break from accepting invitations for the next week or two.” Fiona pushed her lips into a brief pout.

Cassandra looked crestfallen. “That is utterly unfortunate. Events like this won’t be the same without you.”

“He said we can still take all the outings we planned. I do believe he is relieved to not concern himself with me, since he’s focused on finding his own wife. At least that’s what Prudence and I deduced.”

Prudence nodded in agreement.

Cassandra’s eyes lit with mischief. “Do you know what I should do? I should flirt with Overton and make a courtship seem imminent. My brothers would have fits.” She laughed, then tapped her finger against her lip.

“So tempting.” Blinking, she focused beyond Fiona.

“Speaking of brothers, here comes Lucien. You haven’t met him yet, have you, Fi? ”

Pivoting, Fiona saw Lord Lucien coming toward them. “I have not.” He looked more like Cassandra than like their brother, Aldington. Dark-haired and dark-eyed, Lord Lucien moved with the predatory grace of a cat stalking a bird.

At that moment, Cassandra’s aunt turned from the woman she’d been speaking with.

“Lucien, since you’re here, I may take myself off.

” She waved to Cassandra. “See you later, dear.” Her gaze landed on Fiona and then Prudence with a bit of surprise.

Apparently, she hadn’t noticed their arrival.

“And your friend is here with her companion. Yes, you will be quite taken care of. Splendid.” Smiling, she left in the company of her friend without waiting for anyone to respond.

“I see Aunt Christina is as helpful as ever,” Lord Lucien noted with a wry shake of his head.

“Always,” Cassandra drawled. “Lucien, allow me to present my dear friend, Miss Fiona Wingate.”

Lord Lucien took her hand and bowed elegantly.

He did not press a kiss to her glove, which Fiona would not have minded.

In fact, she would have found it thrilling.

There was something rather magnetizing about him.

But he was also her newest, dearest friend’s brother, and she would cease to think of him as attractive immediately.

“I have heard a great deal about you, Miss Wingate,” he said, his deep voice rippling over her.

“Have you?”

“Overton is a close friend.” He looked toward Prudence. “Good evening, Miss Lancaster. You are looking well.”

“Thank you, my lord. It’s nice to see you.”

Prudence knew Lord Lucien? Fiona was dying to know how, but she’d have to wait to ask her about that.

“Lucien, it’s good that you’re here,” Cassandra said. “I’ve been wanting to speak with you about the Phoenix Club assemblies.” She glanced toward Fiona. “I would like to go but, as you know, Aunt Christina is not a member. Neither is Miss Wingate’s sponsor, Lady Pickering.”

Lord Lucien gave her a bemused look. “I know how desperately you want to come to the club, but I can’t extend invitations to either one of you.” He cast an apologetic glance toward Fiona.

“Have you even invited Aunt Christina?” Cassandra asked.

“No,” he said slowly, stretching the tiny word out. “She would likely decline.”

Cassandra took a step toward him, her expression pleading. “Will you please try? She likes you. She might surprise you.”

“Father won’t like it. Neither will Con.”

“Since when do you care what they like?”

His lips spread in a devilish smile. “Never.”

“I’m actually surprised you haven’t invited her just to annoy Papa. And Con.”

“You make an excellent point.” He cocked his head. “Why haven’t I?” He narrowed his eyes playfully at his sister. “You’ve always been far too smart.”

Cassandra notched up her chin in faux haughtiness. “So you tell me.”

Their warm and easy sibling banter teased an ache inside Fiona. She hadn’t ever had siblings, of course, and she couldn’t even say she’d had a close relationship with family. Seeing them, she realized she wanted that—a connection with others. A family.

Perhaps marriage wouldn’t be such a bad thing, not that she’d ever thought it would be. But perhaps it wouldn’t be detrimental to consider it sooner than later. Yes, she would keep an open mind, just as she’d told Overton she would.

“Fiona, you will come as our guest once Aunt Christina accepts the invitation,” Cassandra said brightly.

“You’re confident.” Lord Lucien shook his head. “But then you always are. However, that doesn’t mean you’re always right. Do not be surprised if Aunt Christina does not want anything to do with the club.”

“I find that difficult to imagine. Why would anyone—especially a woman—decline an invitation? I’d give anything to be a member.”

“So you tell me at every opportunity,” Lucien said wryly.

“Perhaps if you didn’t tell me how delightful and wonderful it is, I wouldn’t be so keen to get inside.

” Cassandra looked to Fiona. “You should have heard him while he was decorating the club before it opened, always discussing an expensive wallpaper or the marble he’d ordered for a fireplace or the massive painting of Pan hosting a bacchanalia that he commissioned to hang in the entry hall.

He made sure I was positively seething with envy. ”

Lucien grinned. “It’s a brother’s duty to torment his younger sister. You forgot to mention the sister portrait featuring Circe and her nymphs as Odysseus’s men bow to them in the ladies’ foyer.”

“I’d love to see that,” Fiona said, more eager than ever to get into the Phoenix Club.

Lord Lucien’s gaze strayed for a moment, and he lifted his hand to someone in greeting.

A blond gentleman strode toward them. He was tall and slender with a soft, hesitant smile. “Evening, Lord Lucien.” His attention flitted toward Cassandra, Fiona, and Prudence.

“Good evening, Lord Gregory. Allow me to present my sister, Lady Cassandra, Miss Wingate, and her companion, Miss Lancaster.”

Lord Gregory bowed to each of them in turn, starting with Cassandra as propriety dictated. However, his gaze settled on Fiona. “Would you care to dance the next set, Miss Wingate?”

Fiona was surprised that he asked her instead of Cassandra.

She was prettier and possessed a much higher rank.

Surely that mattered to a lord? She had no idea of his actual rank.

Lady Pickering had encouraged her to spend time looking through Debrett’s, but Fiona found reviewing people’s titles and trying to recall their names far less entertaining than, say, poring over a map and recalling the names of countries and cities and rivers and so on.

She inclined her head toward Lord Gregory. “That would be lovely, thank you.”

“In the meantime, shall we promenade?” Lord Gregory asked pleasantly.

Part of Fiona didn’t want to leave her friend, but she was also feeling more confident about her dancing skill and wanted to see if she’d actually improved.

Or perhaps she supposed nothing could be worse than what had happened the day before at the queen’s drawing room.

“Yes, let’s.” She curtsied to Lord Lucien and Cassandra and nodded at Prudence before taking Lord Gregory’s arm.

“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Wingate,” Lord Lucien said as they departed.

The Basildons’ ballroom was much larger than the Edgemonts’ had been, but then their house was bigger overall too. Hundreds of candles illuminated the space and mirrors probably made the size seem more impressive.

They started on a circuit of the perimeter. Fiona wondered if she would see her guardian.

“You’re a friend of Lord Lucien’s?” Fiona asked. “Lady Cassandra has become a dear friend to me since I came to London.”

“I don’t know him well, no. We’ve only recently become more directly acquainted. He attended Oxford with my older brother.”

“I see.”

“I still don’t have an invitation!” a lady declared in an impossible-to-ignore shrill tone as they passed her. “I can’t believe you do!”

Fiona glanced toward the woman who’d spoken. In her late thirties, her face was quite florid and her expression outraged.

“I’m sure yours will come soon,” the other woman, who stood in profile to them, soothed in a calmer, quieter voice.

“I wonder if they’re speaking of the Phoenix Club,” Fiona said as they left the pair of ladies behind. “It seems to be quite the rage.”

“It does indeed. I was recently invited, actually.”

Fiona tipped her head to look up at him. “Were you? Well done.”

He glanced down at her with a wry smile. “I didn’t do anything.”

“And did you accept?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I only received the invitation yesterday. Lord Lucien did search me out at Brooks’s last night to ensure I received it.”