Page 17 of A Wish Upon an Earl (A Maypole in Mayfair #3)

Chapter One

L iam Barrow, the Viscount Thornton, was trapped in a sea of fools.

“Careful there,” his old chum Harlow said…just before a peacock crashed into Liam’s head.

“Told you.” Harlow chuckled, an unapologetic grin just visible beneath his ridiculous horned mask.

Liam took a step back, but the peacock feathers were relentless. It wasn’t a real peacock, obviously, just another one of the costumed fools at this masquerade.

A real peacock would have been preferable.

A real peacock he could have shot.

Liam brushed oversized colorful plumes out of his face as a young woman turned to face him with a brilliant smile. As if the fact that they were currently standing together in this crush of people, each more ludicrously dressed than the next, was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

“I beg your pardon,” she said with a little curtsy, likely the most she could manage as hordes of partygoers jostled past. Her cheeks were rosy—either from the heat of the Marquess of Ashburn’s ballroom, or because she’d just run into a viscount, feathers first. Her brown eyes seemed to dance with laughter and excitement. “What is your costume supposed to be?”

“A viscount.” He didn’t try to hide his irritation, and the words came out on a growl. A sane person would have gone running.

An intelligent person would have made her excuses and fled.

This young chit merely beamed up at him with that sweet, innocent smile. “Well, that’s not very sporting.” She arched a brow. “Don’t tell me you’re actually a viscount.”

“I’m afraid he is.” Harlow was having far too much fun. His wide grin was filled with glee that someone was daring to tease his fearsome friend.

She arched her brows, her gaze still on him, seemingly not even the slightest bit cowed by his glower.

Clearly he was losing his touch.

“You’ve dressed up as yourself?” she asked, all wide-eyed innocence. “Oh dear, how very unimaginative.”

Liam narrowed his eyes at her teasing. She was teasing…wasn’t she?

Her smile broadened, revealing two perfect dimples and a flash of teeth. His exasperated sigh was lost in the shouts of laughter around them.

Oh yes, she was definitely laughing at him.

They both were.

“Amazing,” Harlow said, matching her wide eyes with a look of exaggerated shock.

“You’ve only just met Thornton and you already have him pegged.

” Harlow leaned in toward the young lady and donned a stage whisper that could well be heard over the crowd.

“I’d say unimaginative is the nicest way I’ve heard it phrased. ”

Her laughter was melodic and light as her gaze finally left his so she could turn that ridiculously happy grin on his idiotic best friend, her gaze resting on his horned mask. “Don’t tell me you’re truly a devil.”

Harlow laughed, clearly amused by the little imp.

Of course he was taken with her. Birds of a feather and all that. No pun intended.

“Unfortunately, I’m all too human,” Harlow said. “Merely a fan of Faust.”

Up until that moment, Liam had believed no one could possibly look more exuberant than this silly little peacock. He’d been wrong. The mention of Faust had her eyes lighting with rapture. Her pretty pink lips parted and those dimples deepened. “You’re Mephistopheles!”

Harlow executed a chivalrous bow. “At your service.”

Her answering laughter had Liam frowning. Something about the sound was…well, not off-putting, necessarily. More like disarming .

The orchestra started up on the far side of the room, and the crowd around them seemed to take that as their cue to move en masse.

A group of loud revelers jostled behind the girl, and with a lurch, she was falling toward him. Instinct had him reaching out to save her, and next thing he knew, he had a mass of feathers and dark brown curls in his arms.

“Oh!” She took a quick step back the moment the raucous group passed, and her admittedly adorable dimpled cheeks were even decidedly pinker than they had been a moment before.

Curse it. He hadn’t meant to take liberties, and he certainly hadn’t intended to make her uncomfortable. His voice came out a big gruffer than intended. “You shouldn’t be unescorted in this crowd.”

Her brows hitched up in surprise. “Oh, I do have an escort. It’s just…” She looked around her, and he wondered if she had any idea how ridiculous she looked.

A petite little thing, the girl came no higher than his chest, and every which way she turned she was faced with shoulders, backs, and bosoms. “I seem to have gotten separated from my friends.”

She didn’t look nearly as concerned about this as she ought, in Liam’s opinion.

He opened his mouth to inform her of all the dangers that could potentially befall a young, unescorted, naive beauty like her, but Harlow—ever the charmer—beat him to it.

“What my taciturn friend here means is that you might very well be crushed underfoot in this crowd.” He offered her an arm in another ridiculously gallant gesture, and Liam rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics. “Might we offer safe passage, m’lady?”

Liam did not have time for this.

He definitely didn’t have time for her, even if his protective instincts told him that Harlow was right.

He ought to see her safely to her escort.

But finding her irresponsible friends who’d lost her in the first place could take ages in this crowd, and he was meant to be in the library on the far end of this large manor ages ago.

“I’m sure they're close,” the young lady was saying. “There’s really no need.”

Harlow argued. Liam did not. He was already tense with frustration thanks to this crowd that was keeping him from his duty.

It was the only reason he’d accepted the invitation to this house party, and as soon as his work here was done, he and Harlow and his cousin Louisa could go back to his home in London.

“But I insist,” Harlow said.

Liam eyed his friend. Stop insisting . He couldn’t say that aloud, of course, but as lifelong friends surely Harlow could sense his impatience…

“Please, allow us to take you to your friends,” Harlow continued.

Or not. Liam heaved a sigh. He would have pushed and shoved his way through the wave of masked revelers still piling in near the front hall if doing so wouldn’t have drawn undue attention. As it was, he and Harlow were forced to plod their way through, shuffling along at a snail’s pace.

“Oh!” The young lady craned her neck, which sent the ludicrous array of plumage about her head bobbing dangerously in his direction. “I see them just over there.” She lifted a hand and gave an enthusiastic wave.

He followed her gaze and, considering he had a vast height advantage, he saw that she was, in fact, waving to a cluster of young dandies who were laughing obnoxiously among themselves and entirely unaware of the young lady pretending to belong to them.

He stared down at her with a furrowed brow, briefly debating whether he ought to confront her with the lie or let her go.

She found an opening in the crowd and departed before he’d decided. Harlow opened his mouth, but Liam stopped his protest with a hand on his friend’s arm. “Let her go. You and I have more important matters to attend to.”

“Yes, yes,” Harlow said with a world-weary sigh. “Why enjoy the company of a charming young lady when we can go court danger for no pay and little recognition.”

Liam gave a huff of amusement as he forged ahead against the sea of people that stood between him and his mission. “I told you, you didn’t have to come.”

“And allow you and Louisa to have all the fun?” Harlow shot back.

“Louisa has nothing to do with this. She merely refused to stay behind once she heard there’d be entertainment and fun to be had.”

“Yes, you certainly look as though you’re enjoying the entertainment,” Harlow drawled.

He shot his friend a sidelong look, and his eyes caught on the ridiculous mask.

Ridiculous though it might be, it did hide Harlow’s features. He winced as he realized some of his troubles this evening would have been avoided if he’d taken Louisa’s advice and worn a blasted mask like most of the other men here tonight.

“So what’s with the cloak-and-dagger mission, anyway?” Harlow asked. “I thought you were done with the military part of your life.”

“I am. You know I am.” As a child, he’d always thought the military would be his lifelong career.

His uncle had been the viscount then, and Liam’s cousin had been the heir.

But only one year into his service to the crown, his cousin had fallen ill and died.

His uncle had called him home to learn all he needed to for that time when he inherited the title.

The time had come two years ago. And while Liam did not resent this new life, he remembered his brief career in the army fondly and prized the friendships he’d made there.

And when one of those friends, Captain Andrew Miller, reached out to ask for his help to obtain some encrypted intelligence…well, the least he could do was see it through.

Which was why he was here. At a blasted house party. Surrounded by the sort of gently bred dandies and chits who made him wonder how the British empire still existed when these twits were at its helm.

When they reached the front hall, Liam turned to his friend with an outstretched hand. “Lend me your mask.”

“You want my mask?” Harlow’s surprise was easy to understand.

Liam may have mentioned once or twice—or a hundred times—how ridiculous he found these masquerades. “I’ll give it back in a moment. I just want to cut through this crowd without calling attention to myself.”

“And what about me?” Harlow asked.

But his old friend was already untying the mask.

“You’re only coming along as a lookout,” he reminded his friend. “I won’t go dragging you into danger?—”

“I thought you said there was no danger involved in this mission.”

“There likely won’t be,” Liam said as he took the mask and donned it. “But even so, the captain tasked me with retrieving this message, and I mean to see it through personally.”

“Very well,” Harlow said as they once more plunged into the fray. “But do you even know what you’re looking for?”

“Not precisely.” The details he’d been given were few, but he supposed spying was like that. “I know where the missive is hidden.”

“I hope someone else doesn’t beat you to it,” Harlow said.

Liam scoffed. “It’s not likely any other guests are going to be forgoing this madness to loiter in the manor’s library, now is it?”