Chapter Thirty-Two
Nick arrived just in time to see Adelaide deliberately press chocolate cake into Alice’s face. For a moment, Alice seemed too stunned to speak. She stood there, frozen, her mouth gaping in shock. Then all at once she darted into action, lunging for a square of white cake. While Nick watched in horror, she hurled it at her sister’s head. Adelaide wasted no time in returning the favor.
Freesia, having a decent sense of self-preservation, leaped aside.
“Dear God,” Nathaniel whispered as he entered the room. “We should do something.”
Alice shoved a square of cake down the bodice of Adelaide’s dress.
“I would rather return to India’s sun and snakes than get between those two,” Nick said. “But you do as you must.”
Nathaniel wisely did not move.
Adelaide lunged for Alice, a cake in each hand. With a howl, they clashed together, smearing cake everywhere they could reach. Adelaide’s breasts and throat were covered in pink icing.
Sweet Jesus.
Nick buttoned his jacket.
“There’s something wrong with me,” Nathaniel muttered, his gaze riveted to the girls stumbling about the room. “I shouldn’t be enjoying this.”
“If I enjoy it any more, this jacket won’t be enough to hide it,” Nick said frankly.
Wessex joined them, saying nothing as he took in the spectacle.
“I was told there would be cake,” he said finally. “I had no idea it would be so…delicious.”
Two pairs of icy blue eyes turned to him.
Wessex smirked. Nick briefly considered how satisfying it would feel to knock that smirk off his face.
Then, to his horror, Adelaide’s heel slipped on a smear of icing. Her legs went out from under her, and her arms flailed. With one hand she caught Alice’s dress, and with the other, the tablecloth. She fell to the floor with a shout of surprise. Alice and the cakes came tumbling after.
The noise brought both sets of parents running in from the parlor. They stood, gawking in shock at the massacre of cake.
Lady Wintham recovered her voice first. “What on earth?”
Adelaide scrambled to her feet, pulling her sister up with her. “I—”
“It was my fault,” Freesia interrupted. Nick and Nathaniel glanced sideways at their sister. “I was demonstrating the new, ah, waltz, and when I whirled left, I bumped into Alice, who bumped into Adelaide, and a whole tray of cakes came down after them.”
There was a moment of silence while they all pondered the unlikelihood of such an incident.
“Oh, Alice.” Lord Westsea gave a rueful shake of his head. “Will you never stop having disasters? It really is too much.”
His words gave Alice all the blame, Nick realized. He had not so much as glanced at Adelaide. It was as though she did not exist at all. And that seemed so much worse.
“I’m so sorry, Father.” Alice looked beseechingly at the frowning cluster of parents. “Please forgive me, Lady Wintham. You went through so much trouble so I could have the perfect cake, and I’ve ruined it.”
“Nonsense, dear. You…” His mother’s voice trailed off as she looked at the carnage. “Well, yes. You did, rather.” She made a sound suspiciously like a laugh smothered by a cough.
Adelaide knelt and began scooping the broken cakes onto the tray.
“No, no, my dear,” Wintham said. “Please don’t trouble yourself.”
Westsea frowned at Alice. “Go wait in the carriage. Try not to let anyone see you like this.”
“Surely, that is not necessary,” Nick’s mother protested. “There is some cake that is still edible. Perhaps Freesia can lend them each a frock? Our party does not have to be ruined.”
“Of course!” Freesia clapped her hands. “It was my fault, after all.”
Westsea looked to his wife, who nodded. “Very well.”
“Come, let’s return to the parlor while the ladies make themselves presentable,” Nick’s father said.
Alice grasped Adelaide by the hand, but she did not budge. They looked at each other, their eyes saying what their mouths could not, until finally Alice nodded reluctantly. She released Adelaide’s hand.
“Freesia, will you help me dress? I believe my sister wishes to go straight home.”
Freesia glanced at Adelaide in concern, but she was already moving swiftly toward the door. Nick tried to catch her gaze as she passed, but she did not look up from the floor. Beneath the layers of cake was raw agony.
His chest squeezed in response.
Nathaniel and Wessex glanced at him.
“Make an excuse for me,” he hissed.
His brother looked sharply at him, but Nick did not stop to explain. He strode after Adelaide, catching her as she left the house.
“Adelaide,” he said quietly.
She halted, but still wouldn’t look at him.
“Do you have need of me?” he asked.
For a moment she said nothing. Her hands clenched and released by her sides. He waited.
Slowly she turned to face him. “Yes, Nick. I have need of you.”