Chapter Three
Everything was perfect. From the six-hour beeswax candles burning in the candelabra, to the tables full of partridge pie, white soup and water ices, to the golden champagne filling her father's finest glassware, it was all everything that Angelica had dreamed.
Everything... except, perhaps, the pallor in her sister's cheeks. Lily had not managed a single dance. Still, she seemed happy enough to sit and watch the others. Angelica made sure to go and talk to her in the interval between every dance. She was glad, although not surprised, to see that Lily was not lacking for attention from the gentlemen, despite the fact that she could not dance with them. Lily had always been the prettiest sister. If she had her health, too, she would have been the belle of every ball in London.
"Are you enjoying yourself, Angelica?" whispered one of her new London friends, Lady Cecily Balfour. Cecily was the daughter of the Duke of Loxwell, and Angelica knew very well that it was only her father's substantial fortune which allowed her to mingle with Cecily. She had been disappointed in some of the other girls of the ton. She knew that it was still whispered, here and there, that her father's money had come from trade. Cecily did not seem to mind. In fact, Cecily seem to mind very little. No matter who she was speaking to or who asked her to dance, she remained perfectly poised and aloof. Angelica wished she could say the same for herself.
"Me? Really, me? You want to dance with me?" she had squeaked when Lord Kingston asked if her dance card was full. The gentleman had been rather taken aback, and the baffled expression on his face did not decrease as Angelica babbled her way happily through their first dance, talking about every little thing that popped into her head. Perhaps that was not the way a real lady was supposed to behave. Cecily, certainly, would never be heard to babble. But Angelica could not contain herself.
She turned to Cecily with an enormous smile plastered on her face. "I am enjoying myself so much that I can hardly bear it. I feel that I shall float away on a cloud of happiness. It is everything I wanted."
"I am so glad," Cecily smiled. "I found my own coming out ball was rather a let-down. It is so easy to get carried away with plans for the future that when the anticipated moment arrives, it can hardly stand up to expectations. But I see that you are more sensible than that."
"Who are you dancing with next?" Angelica asked.
Cecily checked her dance card. "Oh, only the Earl of Ramford. He is pleasant enough. And you?"
"I have kept this dance free," said Angelica. "I really must go and sit with Lily."
"Angelica, do you mean to tell me that you have turned a gentleman down for this dance?" Cecily was too well-bred to be shocked, but her eyebrows shot up into her forehead all the same. "What were you thinking? You know that it is most impolite to refuse any gentleman unless you are finished with dancing for the evening."
"Oh, gracious! I had quite forgotten. I shall have to beg Lord Henry's forgiveness."
"I am sure he will understand," said Cecily. "After all, tonight is your night."
"Excuse me, ladies," came a smooth voice behind them. The Earl of Ramford made Cecily and Angelica an extravagant bow. "I believe this dance is mine, Lady Cecily?"
"Delighted," said Cecily, taking his arm. She blew Angelica a kiss as she was whisked away.
Angelica was making her way towards Lily when she became aware that a hush had fallen on the room. The musicians had begun playing, but, seeing that nobody was dancing, they soon came to an awkward stop. Angelica turned around, trying to work out what everyone was looking at.
Then she saw him.
A tall, dark-haired, impossibly handsome man was standing in the doorway. Angelica realised that she had just heard his name announced, but she had not paid it any attention. She tried to remember it. The Duke of something – but she did not recognise him at all. The Duke of Redwood, perhaps? No, Redhaven. How peculiar. She had never heard of the man – and yet he was a Duke.
The Duke accepted a glass of champagne from a passing footman and retreated into the corner of the ballroom opposite the one Lily occupied, seemingly oblivious to the whispers racing through the room around him. Angelica's father appeared at her side and caught hold of her elbow, steering her rapidly towards the strange new man.
"The Duke of Redhaven!" he hissed. Astonishment lent an edge to his voice. "What on earth is he doing here? He hasn't been seen out in society for – why, it must be almost ten years now."
"The Duke of Redhaven?" whispered Mrs Stirling, taking Angelica's arm from the other side. She shot Mr Stirling a look of horror. "I thought I told you not to invite him!"
"I had no choice, my dear. You know that his father and I were good friends. Believe me, I only invited him because it was the proper thing to do. How could I possibly have known he would actually make an appearance?"
"This is just what we need," sighed Mrs Stirling. "A murderer at Angelica's Coming Out ball! Just imagine what people will say!"
"Now, now, my dear," said Mr Stirling. "We do not actually know that he murdered anybody."
"Did you say murder?" asked Angelica, her voice a high-pitched squeak.
"Hush!" Her parents both said at once, and, before she knew what was happening, Angelica was being presented to the possibly-murderous Duke of Redhaven.
"Your Grace," her mother simpered, dropping an elegant curtsy. No-one would have imagined that only moments ago she had been bewailing the Duke's presence. Mrs Stirling was the epitome of a society lady: an expert at concealing what she truly felt. "How good of you to make it to our little celebration! Welcome to our home."
"Mrs Stirling!" It was not the Duke who replied, but his companion. Angelica was so riveted by the mysterious interloper that she had not even noticed that he was accompanied by the Earl of Lathkill. How strange that the pleasant and friendly Earl should be friends with a man her parents suspected of murder!
"What a delightful ball, Mrs Stirling," the Earl continued, kissing her hand. "I don't think I have ever seen such a pleasant gathering. And Miss Angelica Stirling, let me congratulate you on your entrance into society! Such a happy occasion."
"Thank you, my lord." Angelica remembered to drop a curtsy only when her mother dug an elbow into her side.
"If it would please you, I would like to introduce you to my good friend, the Duke of Redhaven," said the Earl. A long silence elapsed before Angelica realised that they were waiting for her to speak. Of course! A lady had the right of refusal. And she was a lady now.
Did she really want to be introduced to this stand-offish man who was running a cold, disapproving eye over her mother's carefully selected company?
"I would be delighted," she said, exactly as she'd been trained to do.
"Wonderful! Miss Stirling, this is Edward Thorne, the Duke of Redhaven. Don't let appearances deceive you; he's not nearly as forbidding as he seems. Isn't that right, Thorne?"
The Earl clapped a friendly hand onto the Duke's back. Edward gave him what appeared to Angelica to be a look of disdain.
"Thorne," prompted Lathkill, "this is Miss Angelica Stirling. The young lady we have all gathered here to celebrate."
Edward turned his cold, calculating gaze onto Angelica. He looked her up and down. She had never been studied in this way before. There was something about his eyes. They were as cool and green as a storm-tossed sea – but it was not the chill in them that startled Angelica. It was their deep, shrewd intelligence. It was the way they made her feel that she was a book and he was riffling through the pages. Angelica had the mad idea that there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that she could hide from those eyes. If they desired it, they might penetrate her soul.
In short, Duke or not, he was looking at her in the most impertinent fashion, and she had a good mind to tell him so.
Once Angelica set her mind on something, there was very little stopping her...
"Do excuse me, my lord, Your Grace," said her mother quickly. Angelica's attention immediately snapped away from the green-eyed Duke to the other side of the room.
"Lily..."
Her sister was doubled over, grey-faced and gasping for breath at the centre of a crowd of concerned guests. Angelica tried to join her mother in running towards her, but Mr Stirling caught her arm. "She will not want you to miss your ball," he whispered. "Leaving will only distress her more. Stay. Your mother is with her."
"Is something wrong?" asked Lathkill. Mr Stirling nudged Angelica forwards with a bright smile.
"Not at all! I was just wondering where the music had got to." He gestured to the musicians to begin playing. Around them, the hushed whispers slowly rose back to the usual hubbub of a well-filled ballroom. "The cotillion, Angelica! Who has engaged you for this dance, eh?"
Angelica's mind was following Lily out of the room. She couldn't care less about dances and gentlemen. She wanted to be at her mother's side, helping Lily upstairs and into bed, fetching the infusion that would calm her and help her breathe, and rubbing her pale hand until her fingers did not feel so terribly cold.
"No-one," she answered, truthfully.
"We can't have that!" smiled the Earl of Lathkill, offering her his arm.
"We certainly cannot."
Angelica's head turned back around at the sound of that voice as though she were a puppet tugged by a string. She couldn't help herself. There was something so commanding about him; something that called to her on such a fundamental level that she simply had to obey.
The Duke of Redhaven was holding his hand out towards her. "May I have this dance?"
The last thing Angelica wanted to do at that moment was dance with a cold-hearted, bad-tempered Duke who thought himself too good for the company and was possibly a murderer to boot.
A lady had the right of refusal...
"I'm sure Angelica would be honoured," said her father, in tones which brooked no disagreement. Angelica floundered, her heart still upstairs with her sister.
"Thank you, Your Grace," she said, too distracted to remember the proper way to turn him down. "I would be delighted."
Poor Lord Henry! By rights, if she was dancing the cotillion at all, she ought to be dancing with him! She would owe him a very sincere apology the moment she was free of the Duke.
Fortunately for Angelica, the Duke of Redhaven proved to be a competent dance partner with no desire for conversation. He whirled her through the dance without a word. Ordinarily, Angelica would have been horrifically embarrassed to be caught with nothing to say. At that moment, it was a blessing.
It was all her fault. Lily had only agreed to come to the ball because Angelica had asked her to. They both knew the strain on Lily's weak heart was likely to be too much for her.
Guilt twisted in Angelica's stomach like a knife.
She dimly realised that the Duke of Redhaven was still the centre of attention. People were not exactly staring, of course – staring would have been uncouth – but they were casting glances in his direction and whispering behind their hands. Angelica tried to avoid touching him as much as possible and made especial efforts to evade his disconcerting eyes. Thankfully, he was a very tall man. She would have had to stand on tip-toe to look him in the eye, anyway. Angelica had rarely felt as short and dumpy as she did besides this elegant, silent, forbidding man.
Well, there was nothing for it but to grit her teeth and get through it. The moment she had finished dancing, she would make her excuses and go to Lily.
The music stopped. Angelica realised the Duke was bowing. She made a hasty curtsy.
What was the best way to get rid of him? The last thing she wanted was to be forced into polite conversation with a strange man when all she wanted was to be with her sister.
"Thank you, Your Grace."
"The pleasure was mine, Miss Stirling. I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening."
"You're leaving?" Angelica asked, relieved. The Duke bowed again.
"Good night, Miss Stirling."
He left the ballroom without another word. More whispers spread behind him. Angelica wondered what awful thing he had done, to cause such a stir wherever he went.
Oh, well. He was gone now. She had more important things to worry about.
Lady Cecily Balfour ran up to her the moment the Duke was gone. "Was that really the Duke of Redhaven? Oh, Angelica, what did he say to you?"
"Nothing at all, thank goodness," said Angelica. "Now, Cecily, I need some sort of distraction. My poor sister has had to go upstairs unwell, and my father says I mustn't check on her – but I can't bear to leave her alone, I really can't."
"Leave everything to me," said Cecily, with a gleam in her eye. As Mr Stirling approached them, she turned around with such force that he walked directly into her. Cecily let out a cry of shock and collapsed to the floor.
"Lady Cecily! I do apologise!" cried Angelica's father. "Here – let me help you up!"
"My ankle," Cecily moaned, rolling her eyes in pain and, in Angelica's opinion, rather over-doing it. "Oh! I don't think I can walk."
"I am so sorry," Mr Stirling gasped, bending down to offer her his arm. "Can you move at all? I will send for a doctor at once if you require it –"
"No!" Cecily interrupted, shooting Angelica a quick, meaningful look. She turned back to Mr Stirling with a smile. "No, I am quite sure I don't need a doctor. Please, let me just take your arm – ow – ow – there, if you would just help me to a chair..."
With her father capably distracted, Angelica took the opportunity to slip out of the ballroom and run upstairs.
"Lily?" she whispered, pushing open the bedroom door.
"Angelica!" came her mother's voice, laden with disapproval. "My child, you should be downstairs."
"I'll only be a moment." Angelica tiptoed into the dark room. "Is she asleep?"
"Quite awake," said Lily faintly. She was lying in bed in a profusion of pillows and blankets. Angelica sat beside her and listened for any rasp in her breath. "No need to fuss over me." Lily grasped Angelica's hand and pressed two fingers to the pulse in her wrist. "Feel it."
Angelica waited, silent and still, as Lily's heartbeat made itself known to her fingertips.
"It's strong," Lily whispered. "Isn't it? And steady?"
"Of course," Angelica lied.
Lily's eyes fluttered closed. She smiled serenely. "I had a wonderful time, even though it was short. And Mama says she left you speaking to a Duke... A Duke, Angelica! How marvellous!"
"I danced with him," Angelica confided. "And would you believe that I held my tongue the entire time?"
"You were nervous? Surely not."
Angelica stroked her sister's cheek. "I was worried about you."
"Angelica! Don't you dare worry a moment longer." Lily cracked open an eye. "Go back to the ball and enjoy yourself. I'm quite well. Besides, the Duke will be wondering where you've got to."
"I doubt that very much," laughed Angelica. "I never saw a man enjoy himself less. That's the last we'll be seeing of him, I promise you."
Lily made no answer beyond a sleepy smile. Satisfied that her sister was resting peacefully, Angelica bent down to kiss her forehead and crept out to rejoin the ball.