‘
But how did you know it would work?
’
‘
I didn’t. B
ut I guessed,
by the risk
s
they had taken with the pitchfork
,
and the shooting, t
hat they were becoming
desperate. I thought that when Milly planted t
he idea that it was a quick, no-
nonsense death, they would be unable to resist.
’
‘
And you were right,
’
smile
d James, shaking his head incredulously.
‘
I do declare, Lady Eleanor, that you are quite the most astonishing woman I
have ever met
.
’
Holding her breath,
Eleanor diffidently turned her head
to
him
,
he
r eyes
immediately drawn to
his full, moist lips. Her heart
raced
as he slowly lowered his head to hers.
‘
I will take that as a compliment, sir,
’
she whispered.
‘
Oh, believe me, it was,
’
he replied, with a seductive smile.
Eleanor closed her eyes desperate for
the touch of his lips upon hers; a
ching for him to wrap his arms around her and-
‘
Good morning, my lord. Lady Eleanor.
’
They could not have jumped apart more abruptly if they had been struck by a flash of lightening.
‘
I am so glad to have found you, Lady Eleanor,
’
squeaked Viscount Grayson
,
as he brought his podgy form to a halt directly in front of them.
‘
I was wondering if I cou
ld have a word with you …
in
private,
’
he added, raising his
brows expectant
ly at James.
‘
Oh,
’
muttered Eleanor,
resenting not only the man’s disastrous timing, but his mere disagreeable presence.
‘
Well, Lor
d Prestonville and I were just,
er-
’
‘
We
can
continue later,
’
asserted James, rising to his feet.
‘
Good morning to you
,
madam.
’
He inclined
his head to
both her and the v
iscount,
before
leaving Eleanor alone with
the man
-
and a profound sense of dread.
‘
There’s a young …
man
waiting in the library to see you, my lady,
’
sniffed Giles
,
as Eleanor entered the
c
astle some twenty minutes later. From his derisory tone, it was obvious that the visitor did not meet with the butler’s exacting standards. Indeed, despite her own recent rise in status to something akin to a heroine, it
was evident t
hat Eleanor
,
too, still had some way to go before Giles would consider bestowing his approval upon her.
‘
Oh, I wonder who it is,
’
replied Eleanor, handing her book to him.
‘
Have they a card, Giles?
’
Giles regarded her for a moment as though she were a complete nodcock.
‘
No, my lady.
They most
definitely
have no card.
’
Concluding that the only way to discover the identity of this mysterious visitor was to go to the library herself,
Eleanor
made her way along the corridor and, upon reaching her destination, hesitantly pushed open the door.
To her relief and delight, she found
herself looking straight into the golden, freckled face of Ed M
aguire.
‘
Ed!
’
exclaimed Eleanor,
rushing over to hug him
.
‘
How lovely to see you.
’
As was
usual in Eleanor’s presence,
Ed
blushed to the roots of his hair.
‘
I’m sorry I’ve been so long in getting that information you wanted, miss,
b
ut that Mi
ss Carmichael is
a canny one
. I
t’s taken me an age to find out what she’s been up to.
’
Eleanor released her hold of him and gestured to him to
be seated. She
sa
t down opposite him
.
‘
Does this mean you have something to tell me, Ed?
’
she asked hopefully.
‘
Aye, miss
. A
lthough to tell the truth, I’m not sure you’re going to believe it.
’
Eleanor raised her brows
.
‘
Oh, don’t worry about that
.
I can assure you that where Felicity Carmichael is concerned,
nothing
would surprise me.
’
‘
We-ll,
’
began Ed hesitantly,
‘
it turns out it’s not a farmworker you’re wanting to talk to, miss, but a young man by the name of Horace Edgeware who works at Tunbridges’ Stables.
’
‘
And this is the man Felicity has been …
seeing
?
’
‘
Yes, miss
. Seems
her mother, Lady Carmichael, bought a new horse from there six months ago and took Felicity along with her to choose it. While they were there, Horace and his sweetheart, young Betsy Mills, were having a heart to heart about getting married
.
Betsy was all crying and everything, miss
, saying
how
on their wages, they’d never be able to afford to wed.
’
Eleanor nodded encouragingly as Ed took a breath.
‘
So, miss,
i
t only goes and turns out that that Felicity had overheard the conversation and
saw
Betsy in a right state and everything
. So, the next day
she went back to the stables – without her ma – and
said she had one of them
propositions to put to Horace.
’
Eleanor’s
eyes
widened
. She could guess the rest.
‘
So Felicity offered
Horace
money to …
?
’
Ed flushed an even deeper shade of crimson and nodded profusely.
‘
Aye, miss.
And p
aid him well
, b
y all accounts.
’
Eleanor shook her head disbelievingly.
‘
Hmm.
Well
,
I suppose some good has come out of it
. A
t least now Horace and Betsy can afford to be married.
’
‘
Oh no, miss,
’
explained Ed earnestly.
‘
Betsy happened to
come across Horace and Miss Carmichael
one day.
Barged right in
,
and there they were …you know, miss,
’
flustered Ed, burning with embarrassment.
‘
Oh, I can imagine, Ed,
’
said Eleanor, pulling a disgusted face.
‘
Anyway, when she found them … you know … Horace was all apologies like and tried to ex
plain but that Felicity
told him to shut up otherwise she’d make sure he never got another job within fifty miles of here. Betsy was in a right state, of course, crying and everything
,
and that Felicity
, she
just laughed at her. Laughed right in her face
. A
nd called her all sorts of names.
’
‘
Good God,
’
exclaimed Eleanor
.
‘
So now, miss, Betsy wants nothing to do with Horace
,
and Horace is fair fum
ing with that Felicity
.
Wishes he’d never set
eyes on her – never mind anything else.
’
‘
Well, that
I can fully understand, Ed. Do you think though that Horace would be willing to speak to me about it?
’
Ed nodded
.
‘
Know for a fact he would, miss. He’s a good lad.
Just thought he was doing the right thing at the time.
’
‘
Oh, I’m sure he did. Would you take me to see him, Ed?
’
‘
A
ye, miss,
’
beamed the boy.
‘
I’d love to.
’
The prestigious masquerade ball at Almack’s was to be held that evening. The
d
owager
had written instructions that James was to escort Eleanor - an arrangement which, she had to confess
made her
both nervous and excited
in equal measures
.
Later that afternoon, G
ile
s delivered
her
a note from James
informi
ng
her
that he had been detain
ed in London and would
meet her at the venue at eight o
’
clock. Th
at
she had not seen him
since he had left her with the v
iscount in the orchard that morning, had done nothing to quell the irksome thought which had been pr
e
ying heavily on her mind all day: had he been on the verge of kissing her again before they were so
rudely interrupted
?
Still, the fact that he was now to meet her
at Almack’s had provided the
perfect
solution to another problem she had been puzzling over. She could now, without any interrogation from James, instruct the carriage driver to take a detour via the Maguires’ cottage to collect two more guests for the ball.
Eleanor’s driver said nothing,
but the surprise on his face when a young lady and a young gentleman – both dressed in traditional Spanish mode
-
j
oined Eleanor in the carriage that evening. Of course Eleanor was aware that to receive an invitation to
Almack’s was a great honour - its patronesses adhering to the most idiosyncratic of rules when
distributing
their highly sought-after vouchers. The very cream of Society and most of the
haut ton
were therefore already milling around when Eleanor alighted from the carriage with her two masked guests
. James was waiting for her in the
entrance hall. As she approached him, she was aware of his eyes growing wide under his mask as they travelled over her costume. She was dressed as a
mediaeval
princess
, in a cream velve
t gown which
adopted a delicate rose sheen
in the candlelight
. The front of the dress plunged in a low revealing V
,
adorned with sapphires an
d rubies. The same jewels
glittered from the belt hanging
loosely around her slim waist
,
and the golden snood encasing her th
ick glossy hair. James
was not in costume
, but sported
the all black evening wear which accentuated his dark, masculine looks.
‘
I hope you don’t mind, sir
,
’
said Eleanor, still conscious
of his eyes on her
.
‘
But I have brought along my cousins, Maribeth and Neville. They have been visiting on the coast and
made a detour especially to see me
on
their way home to Cambridge. As the voucher did say we may each bring a guest, I did not think it would signify.
’