Page 19 of An Earl Like You (Games Earls Play #6)
He was thinking about the kiss. She knew it as surely as if he’d said so aloud. Warmth flooded her cheeks, and the next thing she knew she’d mirrored his actions by taking a step toward him, until they were so close she caught the faintest hint of bay from his cologne.
The scent, warmed by his skin, was…God above, but she wanted to roll around in it, bathe in it.
“Hattie, I need to tell you?—”
“Lord Windham! Yoo-hoo, Lord Windham!”
They sprang apart. There, bearing down on them like a runaway carriage was Lady Tremblay, a footman loaded with paper wrapped parcels trailing in her wake. “Lord Windham, what luck! Laetitia, wherever have you disappeared to? Do come here, dearest, and bid Lord Windham a good after?—”
She broke off as she caught sight of Hattie, her smile transforming into such a fierce frown Hattie took an instinctive step backward. “Lady Harriet. I didn’t see you there.”
“Lady Tremblay.” Hattie dipped into a polite curtsey.
“My, you do have a habit of turning up when one least expects it, don’t you?” Lady Tremblay didn’t wait for a reply, but turned to Cass with a flounce, a bright, false smile on her face.
“We’ve just had Laetitia’s final fitting, and I daresay you won’t be able to take your eyes off her at Lady Dumfries’s ball, my lord. But then she is the season’s belle.” Lady Tremblay glanced at Hattie, her eyes narrowed. “No other young lady compares to her.”
“My goodness, such an exaggeration, mamma!” Lady Laetitia appeared suddenly, emerging from behind a display of gloves tucked into one corner of the shop. “I doubt Lord Windham will even notice me.”
“Don’t be absurd, Laetitia. There isn’t a gentleman in London who hasn’t noticed you.” Lady Tremblay inserted herself between Cass and Hattie and lowered her voice. “I won’t give away the surprise by telling you the color of her gown, but it’s the height of fashion, I assure you, my lord.”
“Then I’d be wise to solicit Laetitia’s hand for the first two dances, before some other gentleman cuts me out.” Cass offered Lady Laetitia a gallant bow, but all the animation that had been in his face moments before had fled, and his eyes had gone dull.
Neither Lady Laetitia nor her mother seemed to notice. Lady Tremblay shot Hattie a triumphant glance before turning back to Cass. “How gracious you are, my lord. Laetitia will be pleased to dance the first two dances with you, won’t you, darling?”
“Of course, mamma.” Laetitia lowered her eyes modestly, but there was a satisfied little smirk playing about her lips.
“Very good. Now that’s settled, I’ll take my leave. Lady Harriet.”
Cass offered Hattie a curt bow, and then he was gone, the only indication he’d been there at all the scent of bay he left in his wake.
But there was no forgetting the way his smile had vanished when Lady Tremblay had called his name, and sadness overwhelmed her, leaving an aching, hollow pit in the center of her chest.
This was the lady that Cass was considering marrying. A lady who made the smile drop from his lips as if she’d torn it loose from his mouth with sharp, pointed claws. This was the family his father had chosen for him, dooming him to a lifetime of unhappiness.
Why would Cass have agreed to such a match? Perhaps he could fool everyone else, but she knew him too well to believe he was in love with Lady Laetitia Tremblay.
He didn’t even like her, for pity’s sake.
Why was he considering marrying her? To please his deceased father, a father who had never truly cared for him, who’d only ever seen Cass as a tool to secure the Windham name, fortunes and title?
Had his father brainwashed him to the point that Cass could no longer see how unhappy a marriage to Lady Laetitia would make him? Or was he punishing himself, because by some twisted logic he believed he no longer deserved happiness?
Oh, she didn’t know! Even if she could make sense of it, what could she possibly do to help him?—
“Lady Harriet! Are you listening to me? For pity’s sake, girl you’re a million miles away.”
Hattie jerked back to attention to find Lady Tremblay frowning at her, her hands on her hips. “I beg your pardon, my lady. What were you saying?”
“Nothing of any consequence, only that I noticed a gown hanging in the back of Madame Céline’s shop that would be just the thing for you.” Lady Tremblay cast a calculating glance from her head to her toes, her eyes gleaming. “Yes, indeed, just the thing. Very flattering, indeed.”
Hattie managed not to roll her eyes. Just the thing, indeed. If there’d been any way to manage it, Lady Tremblay would see to it she was forced to appear at Lady Dumfries’s ball wearing a sackcloth and ashes.
But of course, she couldn’t say so. Instead, she offered Lady Tremblay a polite nod. “Is there, indeed? How fortunate for me. I’ll be sure to ask Madame Céline all about it.”
“You do that, my dear. Come along, Laetitia.” Lady Tremblay took Laetitia’s arm and gestured imperiously at the footman waiting patiently behind her. “Come, James.”
They sailed off without a backward glance, with James staggering along behind them.
She waited until they were gone, then hurried back to the window and peered out into the covered walkway in hopes she might find Cass there again, but there was no dark head towering above the rest of the crowd.
He was gone.
All at once, all the pleasure she’d been taking in the day vanished with him.
She wandered around the shop in search of Lady Fosberry, but she found only Aimée, who’d gone back to sorting her ribbons. She looked up when Hattie approached and offered her a smile. “Lady Harriet, there you are. Lady Fosberry has been asking for you. Follow me, please.”
Lady Fosberry was enthroned on a white silk settee in a private little room at the back of the shop, watching as Sarah turned this way and that in front of an enormous looking glass. “Oh my, yes. Yes, that will do very well.”
“Sarah?” Hattie gasped. “My goodness!”
Tears pricked her eyes as she gazed at her youngest sister whose health the entire family had once despaired of.
There was no trace of Sarah’s childhood illness now. She was pink-cheeked and radiant and terribly grown up as she gazed into the glass, as if she couldn’t quite believe it was her own reflection staring back at her. “Is it all right?”
“All right? My dear child, it’s a good deal better than that.” Lady Fosberry nodded with satisfaction. “That shade of pale pink is utter perfection on you, Sarah.”
“Hattie?” Sarah turned toward her, the silk skirts rustling. “What do you think?”
Good God, but she was going to cry. She was going to burst into tears right here in Le Maison des Dames . She drew closer and took Sarah’s face in her hands. “I think you look beautiful, Sarah.”
“Thank you,” Sarah whispered, and pressed a kiss to Hattie’s cheek before turning back to the glass with a soft sigh.
“I believe we’ve found something for Margaret, as well. It’s the most delicious shade of primrose imaginable. She looks like an angel in it.”
Margaret was an angel, so that made perfect sense. “I’m sure she does. Lady Tremblay advised me to ask Madame Céline about a gown she’s set aside back here. I daresay whatever it is, it will prove uniquely unflattering.”
“No doubt Lady Tremblay thinks so. I’ve already seen the gown. Madame Céline made it for Lady Laetitia, but she rejected it on the grounds that it’s not the right shade of blue. It errs on the side of Prussian blue, and Lady Laetitia wanted Celestial blue.”
“Every young lady in London wants Celestial blue.”
“Indeed, because it flatters everyone, whereas only ladies of a certain complexion can wear Prussian blue. Ladies like you, for instance.”
“Prussian blue? Isn’t that shade too bright to be proper for a young lady?”
Lady Fosberry waved this away. “My dear Hattie, you’d be amazed at how quickly propriety gives way to vanity.”
“What does that mean?”
“Just this. When a gown flatters a lady, no one cares a whit about the rules. Perhaps it’s not strictly appropriate for your first ball, but this is London, my dear. Beauty and fashion override all else.”
“But why would Lady Tremblay suggest a gown that will flatter me? She’s made no secret of her dislike.”
“No, Josephine isn’t at all subtle, is she? Come here, dear, and sit down.” Lady Fosberry patted the place next to her on the settee. “Bright shades wash Laetitia out, you see. No doubt Lady Tremblay thinks it will do the same to you.”
Hattie plopped down onto the settee. “You don’t agree?”
“I do not. I have an inkling, Hattie, that you’ll be utterly devastating in Prussian blue.”