The Secret Heart, page 6
“It was a Christening gift from a lady who stayed at the inn the night I was born.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you play cards, Lily?” Millie interrupted their tête à tête, which had gone on quite long enough.
He stood casually and went to bring the card table nearer the fire. For some reason, his limbs felt heavy and unwilling to move away from her.
*
Despite the size of the house, Lily woke the following morning feeling trapped and longing for fresh air. Without ringing for Emily, she dressed as best she could—leaving off the stays—and let herself out of the house to go for a long, brisk walk.
Although it was hardly the sea air and open countryside she was used to, the maze of wide residential streets with patches of formal parkland was interesting enough to distract her, and by the time she returned, the exercise had restored her to more habitual good humor.
Until she was admitted to the house, and Millie rushed out of the breakfast parlor in excessive relief. “There you are! Where on earth have you been?”
“I just went for a walk,” Lily assured her, touching her bonnet to make sure she had remembered to put it on. With relief, she untied it and let the footman take it from her, along with her smart new pelisse.
Millie took her arm and all but hustled her into the breakfast parlor. “Unaccompanied?” she demanded when she had closed the door and leaned on it.
“Entirely,” Lily said. “It was, rather, the point.”
“Oh, my dear, no, an unmarried lady should never go out unaccompanied! She should be chaperoned by a married lady and escorted, preferably by a male family member. At the very least, she must take her maid or a footman. For one thing, London’s streets are not quite safe. For another…” She broke off, perhaps seeing the distress in Lily’s face. “But there, I don’t mean to scold you. I just know what all the old tabbies are like, and I don’t want them sinking their claws into you! Thankfully, town is quiet, for the Season is not yet truly begun, and in any case, I suppose it is too early for most members of the ton to be abroad. Come and breakfast with me.”
To please her kind hostess, Lily had to promise not to commit this heinous crime again, which made her feel more trapped than ever. However, she worked some more on Millie’s documents and had got as far as the papers stuffed in the drawers when she was summoned to change into her new morning gown to receive guests.
The formal morning calls were another bizarre custom of the upper echelons of society. They never lasted long, and nothing of substance seemed to be discussed with anyone. However, the people were interesting to her, as they always were, and she merely acted her way through the proceedings. She must have done well, for Millie received many compliments on her behalf and was invited to bring her cousin to Mrs. Westley’s evening party that night.
“I know it is short notice, but it’s just an informal gathering,” Mrs. Westley explained, “since the Season has not quite begun. However, there should be enough couples to form a dance.”
Millie’s teacup clattered into its saucer, but no one but Lily seemed to notice.
“What is the matter,” Lily asked as soon as the last of the callers had departed. “What is wrong with Lady Westley’s party?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing, except it suddenly struck me that it would be just like Torbridge to expect you to be able to dance and not trouble to ask. Can you dance?”
“Oh, yes. We have many dancing parties at the inn, and friends’ weddings—”
“You should cope with country dances, then,” Millie interrupted. “The cotillion?”
Lily nodded.
“The waltz?” Millie asked with less hope.
Lily hung her head.
Millie rose and vigorously pulled the bell. “Send Sir George to us,” she commanded the footman who opened the door.
“Sir George has gone out, my lady. He said he would return for dinner.”
“Drat the man!” Millie exclaimed, scowling direly. “Wait. You must take an urgent message to Lord Torbridge.”
Lily had no objection to the presence of Lord Torbridge, though she did suggest that summoning him to be her dancing master would merely annoy him.
“Who cares?” his fond sister retorted. “If he wants you in this role, he must exert himself to make it work,”
“I could just sit-out the waltzes,” Lily argued.
“No, no,” Millie said, scandalized. “On no account must you refuse an invitation to dance.”
Torbridge duly turned up, strolling into the drawing room and asking sardonically, “Where is the fire?” However, there was a hint of anxiety in the quickness of his gaze as he took in both his sister and Lily, searching, presumably for signs of distress.
“How can you be so foolish, Dolph?” Millie demanded. “We have been invited to Lady Westley’s this evening, and you have not taught Lily to waltz!”
Torbridge stared at her. For an instant, Lily thought he was about to make a blistering retort and stepped forward instinctively to avert it. However, he merely threw back his head and laughed.
He was still laughing when Millie sat at the piano and attempted to sober him with a loud, attention-seizing discord. “Now, Dolph! We are running out of time!”
“Oh, be calm, where is the difficulty? It’s hardly complicated.” He turned his still-amused gaze on Lily. “Did Millie show you the basic steps?”
Obligingly, Lily showed him.
“Very well. Now, you must do that while following wherever I go. Like this.”
She gave him her hand willingly but jumped as his arm passed around her waist.
“Don’t worry, I shan’t come any closer,” he said humorously. “And neither should you, even for the pleasure of standing on my toes.”
Millie began to play. For the first few bars, he merely let her listen to the rhythm, then said, “Now,” and stepped toward her.
She stumbled back a second too late, but he only grinned and carried on until she understood what was expected of her. In fact, he was so completely good-humored about the whole thing, that she soon relaxed with him into the fun of the dance and quickly learned how to follow his lead. If she was still very aware of his closeness and his touch, the embarrassment quickly left her, and she simply, if secretly, enjoyed it.
If she misstepped and caught his toe, he pulled a comically exaggerated face of pain and made her laugh. If she started to watch their feet, he made a joke of commanding her to look at his ugly face instead.
“You’re meant to smile and look happy throughout,” he added. “But if your partner is tedious, imagine him dancing with his head in a chamber pot, and you’ll find you can keep smiling.”
“Randolph!” Millie scolded.
“I know. Sound advice. I think we had better stop before it’s my head in the pot.”
Lily laughed.
“Stop?” Millie exclaimed, outraged. “But she needs more practice!”
“It’s time for our drive in the park,” he said in surprise. “Don’t worry. Perhaps you should save the first waltz for me, Lily, and look on it as extra practice. But in fact, there may not even be a waltz—it’s still considered a little daring, you know.”
Chapter Six
Sitting beside Lord Torbridge in his curricle, Lily gave a little sigh of relief as he set the horses into motion.
He spared her a glance. “That sounded heartfelt. Is my sister proving a strain on your sanity?”
“Oh, no, her ladyship is all kindness. I like her. It’s just that life here is so…hemmed in. I used to think a lady’s life must be wonderful, that she could go where she liked, when she liked, do whatever she wanted. But it isn’t like that at all. There are even more stupid rules in this world than in my own!”
“Sadly, it seems to be the lot of unmarried women of whatever degree and of whatever country.”
“Perhaps. But when I discovered I could not even walk on my own…”
“I can imagine your frustration.”
She glanced at him suspiciously, but he appeared to be sincere.
“It’s a little less constricting in the country,” he said encouragingly. “Town is different, and in fact, it is a sensible rule considering the many dangers that lurk here. Even these respectable streets are within minutes of distinctly insalubrious neighborhoods.”
She nodded. “I know, I should not complain.”
“Feel free to complain to me all you wish. After all, I put you in this situation.”
“I don’t want to appear ungrateful,” she said at once, “for indeed I am not! Look at this gown, for example, this soft pelisse! I have never worn such fine things in my life.”
“And they suit you very well. I trust they are as comfortable as they are charming.”
“Well, they would be, if it wasn’t for the stays,” she confided.
He let out a shout of laughter that attracted the attention of a lady and gentlemen they were bowling past. Torbridge tipped his whip against his hat and bowed.
“I shouldn’t have mentioned stays, should I?” she said ruefully.
“I wouldn’t to anyone else.” A smile flickered across his lips. “Or to me, in fact. I have trouble enough keeping the line. Tell me, what do you think of my sister and brother-in-law?”
The surprising question distracted her from his previous statement. “That they are friendly, kind, and clever and would clearly do anything for you.”
“Do you think them well-suited?” he asked casually. “As a couple?”
She nodded, then glanced at him. “There is some trouble between them, though. I don’t know what it is, but although they get along on one level, there is a distance between them that I think hurts them both. And yet, neither can or will close that gap.”
He glanced at her. “Incisive.”
“It might be the debts,” she said apologetically. “She has unpaid bills from three years ago, at least, and I haven’t even finished going through them all.”
“The debts are merely a symptom. Does she love him still?”
“Deeply, I would say.” She frowned. “But you are her brother. You know both of them far better than I ever could. Why do you ask me?”
Despite the increasing traffic on the road, he turned his head and looked at her. “It’s what you do, isn’t it, Lily?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh, I think you do. If they came to the Hart unknown to each other, would you find a way to introduce them?”
“I wouldn’t need to. They would find a way to each other. I am not some matchmaker, my lord!”
“Nothing so vulgar,” he agreed. He smiled faintly. “I have this strange fancy that you are the magical heart of the Hart. But look, here is Hyde Park, where everyone who is anyone must be seen during the promenade hour.”
There certainly seemed to be a lot more traffic on the road leading to the park, and as they bowled along its paths, more expensively dressed people were walking and driving there than Lily had ever seen before.
Nearly all of them acknowledged Lord Torbridge and glanced curiously at Lily. To those favored few he stopped to speak to, he introduced Lily as his cousin, Miss Darrow. She met so many people, she didn’t stand a chance of remembering their names or even their faces should they ever meet again.
Except one man who stood beside the path in conversation with two ladies. He was tall, fair, and handsome in a haughty kind of way. His gaze flickered over the curricle and Torbridge with a faint curl of his lip. He even gave a somehow sardonic bow before he saw Lily. His eyes widened, flatteringly, and somehow the bow became much more respectful. When he straightened, he even had his hand across his heart.
“Excellent,” Torbridge murmured as they drove past. “No, don’t acknowledge him, you haven’t been introduced. But you are noticed.”
“Why, who is he?”
“That, my dear, is James Hill, Viscount Pennington,” Torbridge said. “The brother of the man we are after. And the host of the house party we wish you to be invited to.”
“I don’t think I like him.”
“Neither do I, but I will still go.”
“Are you invited? I don’t think he likes you either.”
“Of course, he doesn’t,” Torbridge said complacently. “But his mother does. And she commands the invitations.”
*
Sir George escorted his wife and Lily to Mrs. Westley’s party. Although it was a fine spring evening and only a street away, they took the carriage, which gave Lily no chance to walk off her nervous anticipation. This was her most serious test yet, and she would not be able to cling all the time to Millie or Lord Torbridge for help.
However, once the palaver of the cloakroom was taken care of, she fixed a good-humored expression to her face and smiled frequently. It was no hardship to keep the Lady Lily accent in this company since anything else was unthinkable.
Sir George escorted them upstairs in the wake of other guests to a large drawing room, which appeared to be full of people. A partition had been drawn back to extend the room and allow space for a dance floor and a trio of musicians who, when Lily entered, were playing merely soft chamber music as a pleasant background to the hum of conversation.
Anxiously, Lily quartered the room for Lord Torbridge, but clearly, he had not yet arrived.
Mrs. Westley welcomed them, assured them dancing would begin in ten minutes, and introduced Lily to several young people. She answered all the smiles and greetings, including that of a young lady and her chaperone, whom she had met that afternoon. Almost immediately, she was asked to dance by a young man with very tall, starched shirt points.
Since he could barely move his head, she wondered how he would be able to dance. In fact, he seemed to have adapted and managed very well. It was Lily who felt self-conscious, for the dancing was much more restrained than she was used to, and she had to rein in her natural exuberance. But she thanked her partner as he escorted her back to Millie, claiming to have enjoyed the dance immensely.
Millie had draped herself across the arm of an occupied sofa and was flanked by two fair-haired gentlemen. “Ah, there you are, Lily,” she said, and one of the gentlemen who turned at once was Viscount Pennington.
Lily’s heart gave a little lurch of attention. She was not here merely to enjoy herself.
“Thank you for returning her to me, Mr. Sanders,” Millie said graciously. “Lily, let me present two great friends, Lord Pennington, and his brother, Mr. Hill. Gentlemen, my cousin, Miss Lily Darrow.”
In friendly fashion, Lily offered her hand to each gentleman in turn. Pennington took it first, smiling, “I am already at Miss Darrow’s feet, having seen her just out of my reach in the park this afternoon.”
“Did you?” Lily marveled. “I don’t recall it.” She gave her hand to the younger brother, who interested her far more, being the man Torbridge suspected of betraying his country.
Mr. Hill was also a handsome man, not quite as tall as his brother, but he possessed a more open and pleasant countenance.
“How do you do?” Lily murmured.
“I have rarely been so happy in my life,” Mr. Hill said fervently.
Lily laughed. “You are clearly a family of outrageous flatterers. But I am glad to meet friends of my cousin’s.”
“Glad enough to grant me the waltz that’s about to begin?” Lord Pennington asked.
“Sadly, I can’t,” Lily replied. “I have promised it to my cousin, Lord Torbridge.”
“He isn’t here,” Pennington pointed out.
“Yes, he is,” Millie said with a faint air of triumph and raised one hand toward the door.
Torbridge was sauntering toward them, answering various greetings with bows, remarks, and handshakes as he came.
“It always amazes me,” Pennington drawled, “that Torbridge actually waltzes at all. Not too improper for you, old man?”
Torbridge bowed to his sister and cousin and smiled rather vaguely at the men. “Sometimes fashion wins over propriety. It is quite a conflict. Coz,” he added, offering Lily his arm, “Shall we?”
Lily smiled at the other gentlemen and tripped off happily on Torbridge’s arm.
“Well done,” he breathed. “Did one of them ask you to waltz?”
“Pennington.”
“Hill is used to losing out to his brother. If you can manage it, try to choose him over Pennington. I suspect it will mean a lot and make you even more memorable.”
“Providing I don’t stand on his toes,” Lily murmured.
“That is what our practice is for. My feet are ready to endure.”
“It’s not the most flattering invitation to dance that I have ever received.”
“I don’t suppose it is,” Torbridge said, placing his arm around her. “But as long as you don’t resort to the chamber pot, I shall be content.”
He swung her into the dance before she could either laugh or retort, and she followed from pure instinct. His smile of approval made her ridiculously happy.
“I’m afraid I may not be very good at this,” she confided.
“Waltzing? Nonsense. You have natural grace and dance very well.
“I meant attracting the attentions of gentleman,” she whispered. “I’ve spent most of my adult life avoiding them.”
“Then you’ll know never to be alone with him,” Torbridge said severely. “Just flatter him enough to make him think you like him.”
“And that will be enough to earn me an invitation from his mother?” she asked dubiously.
“Have a little faith in yourself,” he said lightly. “I do.”
Enchanted, Lily smiled at him.
His breath caught. “Don’t look at me like that, or Hill will think you’re spoken for.”
I am… She flushed, tearing her gaze free.
“It’s fine,” he said hastily, “I understand. Just be aware that not everyone will.”
It might have taken her a moment longer to get over her embarrassment, but the sight of Millie strolling around on the arm of Lord Pennington distracted her. “You didn’t tell me the brothers were friends of Millie’s.”
