Page 8

Amelia grinned in response to this outrageous statement; her aunt was nothing short of magnificent, and for her own secret purposes, she could scarcely have hoped for a better introduction.

A set was forming up, and she could see that Miss Thornfalcon had no partner; she could also see that one of her own more disagreeable admirers was making his way purposefully in her direction, no doubt aiming to ask her to dance so that he could squeeze her hand, her arm and any other part of her he could reach, if she accepted him.

If she did not accept him, she would not be able to dance with anyone at all that evening.

The rules were stupid, but they were unbreakable, at least by her.

‘Miss Thornfalcon,’ she said impulsively, ‘would you care to take a turn about the room with me?’

Miss Helena was plainly not as startled as she might have been by this abrupt request; Amelia was aware that it could not be the first of its kind.

And this was no place or time to explain at length.

‘If we don’t go immediately,’ she said in low tones, ‘Mr Peacock will be upon me in an instant and I shall be obliged to dance with him. I assure you, if you had ever done so as much as once, you would understand why I do not wish to repeat the experience.’

Such a plainly put request for sisterhood was near-on impossible to refuse, and her companion did not do so.

In the blink of an eye, they were proceeding at a fair pace towards the far end of the ballroom, away from the crowded dance floor and its ring of observers, and Lady Keswick was somehow presenting the eager young gentleman with a dowagerly barrier that he could not pass without grave discourtesy and a degree of courage he clearly did not possess.

She was no more eager for her niece to further her acquaintance with the disreputable young man than was his quarry.

At length, the two girls achieved the relative safety of an alcove, and paused there.

Helena Thornfalcon turned to look at Amelia in speculative fashion.

‘Well, that was odd,’ she said frankly, her grey eyes level, a spark in them that might have been amusement or anger, or some mixture of both.

‘Are you always so very determined, Lady Amelia?’

‘Only when I have a purpose in mind,’ Amelia replied with equal forthrightness.

‘And I must tell you directly that, contrary to what I am sure you must be thinking, my purpose is not to become bosom bows with you and insinuate myself into your family so that I may the better set my cap at your brother.’

‘If that’s true, it will certainly be a pleasant change.’ Her companion smiled, but there was no humour in it.

‘Has it been very bad? I only ask because I am also the subject of gossip, just as your family is, and I too have done nothing whatsoever to deserve it.’

‘Oh, goodness, you are, aren’t you?’ said Miss Thornfalcon, paying Amelia the compliment of not pretending to misunderstand her.

‘It’s been, and continues to be, quite atrocious for Mama and me, and most of all for my poor brother, and I am sure your own position has been quite as bad for you. Is that why you sought me out?’

‘In a way…’ Amelia paused for a moment and then said, ‘Please don’t think me odiously self-pitying, but I don’t seem to be able to do anything to persuade the world that I am nothing like my father or my stepmother.

It’s most unjust, because I never lived with him apart from when I was very small, so I didn’t know him at all well.

He had no hand in my upbringing, and I’ve never even so much as set eyes on her. ’

Helena grimaced. ‘I don’t suppose you have ever gone to watch her when she is performing on stage?’

‘Making up a family party? We certainly have not! Lady Wyverne has often sent us complimentary tickets for one of the best boxes; my brother Rafe says it is done to taunt us, and my other brother, Charlie, is terrified of her after their only meeting and starts and grows pale whenever her name is mentioned. Rafe says he is sure that she has told people that the conspicuously empty box belongs to the family that has so cruelly cast her out, in order to make herself and us more talked about. It is all a deal of nonsense, and most provoking. But all that is far from the point I meant to make to you. I am irretrievably tainted by association, and I don’t think there is anything obvious that I can do about it.

And therefore the manner of men who pay court to me… ’

‘Mr Peacock?’

‘He’s not the worst of them. They have offered for my hand, so many of them, though of course Rafe has refused them all.

He thinks they will grow tired of it, and someone better will come along at last. But I’m not so sure.

And I’m not the sort of person who finds it easy to sit idly by and do nothing. ’

‘Nor I,’ agreed Helena with a genuine smile of amusement this time. ‘Am I to understand that you have some idea in mind that may help you, and us too?’

It was a pleasure to talk with someone so quick-witted.

‘I do, though I must admit it wasn’t my idea but my sister-in-law’s.

And I don’t know if it will work, or if your brother would agree to it.

But I think it might help him – in fact, I am more confident that it will help him than that it will help me.

I sometimes think that my situation cannot be mended.

I don’t know if you can understand this, but I think perhaps you can – I’d rather do something a little rash that I’ve chosen for myself than let others organise my life for me. I don’t mean my family, I mean…’

‘Life. Fate. No, I do understand, I think, because I see something similar happening to my brother. So tell me – do not be afraid that I will think ill of you, whatever you say. I can see that in a quiet sort of a way you are desperate, and we are too, so what can I do but sympathise and listen? Perhaps it might be considered odd, for us to be so open with each other so quickly, but we are both ill at ease and worried, and possibly that creates a bond between us faster than many hours of inconsequential conversation over the teacups might.’

‘I think that’s true, you know. Very well. Before I tell you, I promise you, I promise you faithfully, that this is not a ruse to get close to Lord Thornfalcon, and then to trap him. I swear it on my dear brother Charlie’s head, though there is little enough inside it in all conscience.’

‘Marcus is already trapped,’ said Helena with a touch of bitterness. ‘I do not see how his case can be much worse. If I think your scheme is crazy, be sure I shall tell you so directly, and we shall not fall to quarrelling over it. Go on!’

‘Sophie’s idea is that he should pretend to court me, and in the fullness of time, we should become engaged to be married.

But it would all be false, of course. I have no true desire to marry him, or anybody just now.

It is merely that Sophie thinks – and I cannot put the blame on her, for I think it too – that if I were to be associated with someone as…

as good and noble as your brother is believed to be, and I am sure he truly is, my reputation might improve and people might begin to see me differently at last. That’s all I can hope for. ’

‘And then you would jilt him.’

‘I would. We would put it about that we had decided we could not agree and had parted amicably. His reputation would not suffer in the least. Mine might or might not, I suppose, but honestly, I do not see how it can be much worse than it is already.’

Her companion was silent for a long moment, and Amelia said rapidly, ‘I’m sorry.

It is a nonsensical idea, and it was presumptuous of me to mention it to you.

I only beg that you will not mention my foolishness to anyone else, even if you do think badly of me.

Let us speak of something else. Do you wish to return to your mother? ’

‘Oh, goodness, no! I think it is an excellent scheme! I only wonder if Marcus will be open to the merits of it. My fear is that he may not, for he is in the worst of humours at the moment, and no wonder.’

A short while later, Amelia and her new friend watched from the shelter of their alcove as Helena’s sister-in-law arrived at the ball, accompanied by her mama.

They were a little late, perhaps, most of the other guests having arrived some time ago, and there could be no mistaking the stir of interest that ran around the room at the sight of them.

Many eyes other than their own were watching avidly as the pair made their way with cool assurance through the throng to greet the younger lady’s mother-in-law, who stood with her tall son at her side and must make so public a greeting.

Who could question the young widow’s right to claim it? They were still her family.

‘She does love to make an entrance,’ Miss Thornfalcon muttered grimly. ‘Honestly, I do not know how Marcus bears it. If I were being made a public exhibition of in such a fashion, I would run shrieking from the room.’

‘She is very beautiful,’ Amelia said. This was undeniable, but scarcely adequate.

Probably, she thought, Lavinia Thornfalcon was the loveliest person she’d ever seen outside of a painting.

She didn’t look quite real; she was a silver-gilt princess from a fairy tale.

Her hair curled just as it should, and was piled up on her head to show the delicacy of her long neck, adorned with a fine diamond necklace – lovely, but not ostentatious.

Nothing about her was ostentatious. She was of average height and superbly proportioned, and she moved with fluid grace; her silver and blue gown was elegant in its simplicity, the neckline modest but not outmoded.

Not the most captious critic could say that her nose was too long or too short, or her mouth too big, or her figure less than ideal in any tiny detail.

If someone had told Amelia that the woman was of the fairy race rather than an ordinary human, she would not have struggled to believe it.

‘Never mind your brother,’ she added after a moment.

‘How do you bear it? She is unnaturally perfect.’

‘I know! She was so even as a girl. No spots for her, no awkward blushes. She makes me feel that I am some vast, blundering creature who is far too clumsy to be in company, and will cause a catastrophic breakage of some kind at any moment. I feel as though she’s waiting – ever so patiently – for me to do something horribly gauche, and if by some chance I don’t, there’ll always be a next time.

I am bound to confirm her silent bad opinion of me eventually and we both know it.

And yet I can’t blame her for her beauty.

She has what nature gave us, as we all do.

If I liked her even a little,’ she said with devastating frankness, ‘I could forgive her for looking like an angel.’

‘Why don’t you?’

‘If you asked her, she would hint discreetly that I am jealous of her appearance, with just a suggestion of a sad little smile. But honestly, I don’t think I am.

I don’t trust her, that’s the truth. I think she is false from her topmost curl to the perfect toenails on her littlest toes.

And most of all, I don’t think that this great love story that she has spun around her and Marcus is genuine.

And it’s so excessively unfair to him, and to my poor brother Ambrose.

Nobody ever mentions him when they’re sighing over how romantic the story is.

He loved her, and he was barely thirty when he died!

How do you suppose Marcus feels, to have all the world believe that he wishes to take advantage of his own brother’s death in such a manner?

Or my mother, what is she supposed to say?

Mama can do nothing but smile at her, no matter what she feels.

She will be judged if her face betrays the least hint of disapproval.

Everyone is watching her now – look at them.

She cannot even show her natural grief for her eldest son.

Did you know that many foolish girls, led by Miss Lancaster and Miss Archer, who obviously admire her greatly and find her story excessively romantic, are now declaring themselves Friends of Lavinia, and wearing her colours in support of her cause?

As if she even has a cause! Oh, I could slap her! ’

‘I can’t even imagine,’ Amelia said. ‘I didn’t know that – about her supporters, I mean. I have some slight acquaintance with the ladies you mention, though they certainly are not friends of mine.’

These were deep waters indeed, and for a moment, she quailed at what she had so lightly proposed.

She would be involving herself in these people’s lives, and even if her plan worked, which was by no means certain, they’d all be affected by it.

Futures would be changed. Did she dare to do this, in reality?

‘Our whole situation is ridiculous and unpleasant. It is making my mother unhappy, which she does not deserve for she has been through enough, and – I believe, though we have not spoken openly of it yet – driving my brother half out of his wits. And that is why I think your idea is a good one. Like you, I have a great desire at least to act, to try to mend matters. And so I think you should call on me tomorrow, and after a little while, I will contrive that you shall find yourself alone with Marcus, and you can put your proposition to him. Let us not delay, in case in the meantime she finds some way to entangle him in her toils even further.’