A Winter Scandal (34 page)

“Of course.” He bent closer, murmuring, “Among other things that it is perhaps better not to mention here.”

“Well, my dear, you look most lovely,” Daniel said, coming up and surprising Thea by kissing her on the cheek. “I am quite looking forward to seeing everyone’s expression at the ball tonight.” He patted her shoulder. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must run up and change. Save me a dance. I suspect your card may be crowded this evening.” With a chuckle, he trotted up the stairs.

“Your brother is right,” Gabriel said, taking the corsage from her and reaching down to pin it in place. “I shall have to write in my name on your dance card before we leave, or I shan’t have a hope of getting on the floor with you.”

“Don’t be absurd.” Thea’s heart fluttered as he bent over her, his fingers lightly brushing the bare skin above her dress as he pinned the flowers. “It is just the absence of my spectacles. You may have to lead me about, I fear.” She held up her mask by the strings. “Glasses simply don’t work with a mask.”

“It is far more than that, I assure you. But it will be my pleasure to ‘lead you about.’” He reached up to touch one of her earrings with the tip of his finger, and he smiled. “They look just as I thought they would on you. Beautiful.”

Thea felt her throat close up, and she knew she was perilously close to tears.

“Here, let me tie on your mask.” Gabriel took it from her hand and reached around her to tie it on. “There, look.” He stepped aside, turning her toward the mirror on the wall.

Thea had bought the mask on her shopping expedition to Cheltenham with Damaris last week. It was far dearer than anything she would normally have purchased, but she could not resist the temptation. Sprinkled lightly with tiny glittering rhinestones, the corners arching up into saucy points, the black velvet was a sensual contrast to her milky skin, and it gave her face a hint of exotic mystery. Her gray eyes were luminous and large, outlined by the intense black, and the mask’s concealment of her upper face seemed to emphasize her mouth below it.

She met Gabriel’s eyes in the mirror, and the sensual softening of his mouth, the heat in his eyes as he gazed at her, confirmed the allure. He moved closer behind her, his arms sliding around her waist.

“I am not sure I can keep my hands off you tonight,” he murmured in her ear, his breath on her skin sending flickers of desire down through her.

“Perhaps we should leave, then.”

“Mm. But first.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to kiss her. His kiss was long and slow, an establishment of possession as much as it was a promise of delights to come. When at last he released her, Thea took a shaky step backward, her eyes wide and slightly dazed.

“If you keep looking at me like that, I think we
will
have to stay here,” he growled, reaching out to take her in his arms again.

But Thea skipped out of his reach laughingly and took her cloak from the rack by the door. “Oh, no, not after promising me a dance. I intend to collect on that.”

“You may have every one. Thea … I wanted to ask you …”

She turned to look at him. A dark look that she could not read was in his eyes. “What?” she asked somewhat apprehensively, unconsciously taking a step backward.

“No, not now.” He shook his head. “Later, after this party is over.” He smiled and swept her a bow. “After you, Miss Bainbridge.”

It would have taken a more saintly person than Thea not to have been pleased by the reaction from the other guests when they entered the party. Damaris, smiling broadly, kissed her on both cheeks and assured her that she would outshine all the other women in attendance. On all sides, Thea saw the amazed stares of the people who had known her all her life. She was gratified to see that even Lady Wofford was gaping at her.

“Cousin, you are looking lovely tonight.” Ian recovered more quickly than his wife and stepped forward to claim the right of a cousinly kiss on Thea’s cheek. He cast a thoughtful glance over at Gabriel beside her. “Morecombe. Once again you surprise me.”

“Miss Bainbridge.” Lady Wofford’s nod and brief smile were more reserved, but Thea could see the same quick calculation in her eyes as she looked from Thea to Gabriel.

Sir Myles, who had been standing with Ian and Emily, took Thea’s hand, his bright golden-brown eyes laughing down into hers. “I have been suspecting for some time that Gabriel was hiding you from us, and now I understand why. You are far too lovely for us mere mortal men.”

“You, sir, are a shameless flirt.”

“I am,” he replied with no apparent regret. “And I intend to flirt with you a great deal tonight. I confess, I enjoy it twice as much when Gabriel is shooting jealous daggers at me with his eyes.”

“Now, Myles,” Gabriel drawled. “You know I have no objection if you only look …”

“What character did you draw?” Lady Wofford apparently decided that it was time for a change of subject. “I am Mrs. Melody; Ian says I shall have to go about singing all evening.”

Thea unfolded the card she had been handed by Damaris as they had entered. “Miss Pinchpenny.” She laughed. “That should be an easy one.”

On any other night, she would have enjoyed the role, too, exclaiming over the extravagance of everything and vowing that she could have bought this or that more cheaply, but tonight she could think of nothing but Gabriel’s meeting with Hannah. Even as she stood, talking and laughing with the others over their character roles, sipping at her warm cup of mulled wine, her nerves were stretched to their fullest, waiting for what would happen.

A ripple of excitement ran around the room, and Thea turned to see that Lord Rawdon had entered. Even wearing a mask, Rawdon’s pale hair and eyes immediately gave away his identity. The tall stranger drew everyone’s attention, and a low buzz started, building as whispers passed from guest to guest. Thea sensed Ian and his wife stiffen at the man’s entrance, and after Rawdon paid his respects to the hostess and headed in Gabriel’s direction, both Lord and Lady Wofford drew back a little. Myles cast a wary glance at Gabriel, but it was soon replaced by surprise as Gabriel stood calmly beside Thea, awaiting Lord Rawdon’s approach.

Rawdon stopped and bowed slightly to their group. “Miss Bainbridge. Lord Morecombe.”

Myles’s eyes widened further when Gabriel returned a polite greeting and bow. “Lord Rawdon.”

“Myles.” Rawdon’s firm mouth lifted slightly as he turned to the other man.

“Alec,” Myles replied with unflappable aplomb. “Thought you’d left.”

“I returned.”

“You would not wish to miss Mrs. Howard’s Twelfth Night.”

“Naturally.”

The greetings between Rawdon and the Woffords were chillier but polite. Ian cast Gabriel a questioning glance, but said nothing to him. For a long, awkward moment, silence reigned, but they were saved by the musical quartet striking up a dance in the other room. With relief, Ian turned to his wife and requested a dance, and the couple left.

“Does anyone want to explain what is happening here?” Myles asked after a moment, looking from one man to the other.

“Let us just say that Gabriel and I have reached an agreement,” Rawdon told him.

Like Gabriel and the other men, the Earl wore a plain black loo mask, which gave him a rather wolfish look, in Thea’s opinion. On the other hand, Gabriel … Thea looked up at him and realized, with an underlying dark ripple of desire, that Gabriel resembled nothing so much as a pirate in his mask. A smile curved her lips as she imagined him in a shirt with billowing, full sleeves, a rakish scarf tied round his head.

Myles, receiving little satisfaction for his curiosity from his friends, invited Thea to dance. Though she would have liked to stay while the men hunted for the maid Hannah, she knew that she was able to contribute little to the endeavor, since she had no idea what the woman looked like. So she accepted Myles’s invitation with a smile. Fortunately, the dance was an active country dance rather than a waltz, so there was little chance for Myles to ply her with questions about Gabriel and Rawdon. Obviously, Gabriel had not told Myles about Rawdon or Gabriel’s plan to talk to Jocelyn’s maid tonight, and she could not help but wonder why, but she did not want to let slip anything that Gabriel wished to keep hidden.

After their dance, Thea went out into the wide central hallway of the house, where she found Lord Rawdon, arms crossed, gazing down the hallway toward the front of the house, where Damaris stood talking to two of her guests.

“Having any luck?”

“Not a bit,” Rawdon replied. “The fact that everyone is wearing masks makes it rather difficult.” He nodded toward Damaris. “Our hostess—Mrs. Howard. Do you know her well?”

“She moved here a few months ago. We are friends.”

“She gave me the character Lord Frost.” He cocked an eyebrow at Thea, and the ghost of a smile curved his mouth. “Purposeful, do you think?”

Thea chuckled. “Mrs. Howard has a mischievous sense of humor.”

“Mm.” He was silent for a moment, then said, not looking at her, “I am curious, Miss Bainbridge. Why did you invite me that day to your Christmas feast? We had, ah, less than a harmonious introduction.”

Thea glanced up at him, then away, and said quietly, “I understand feeling … lonely.”

He glanced at her, startled, but before he could speak, Gabriel joined them.

“I have seen no sign of her,” Gabriel said. “You?”

“None.”

“I am beginning to think that it is a wild-goose chase. I can understand that Hannah felt safer meeting here, with everyone in disguise, but it’s bloody inconvenient. How am I supposed to find her?”

“I suspect that she will find you,” Thea told him.

“I am wearing a mask, just like everyone else.”

Thea gave him a speaking look. “You do not look like the local men. None of you do.”

“None of us do what?” Myles asked, coming up beside them.

“Look ordinary,” Thea said.

“Is that a polite way of saying we look like popinjays? I think my attire is quite unexceptionable tonight.” Myles looked down at his bottle-green jacket, then turned his eye toward Gabriel and Rawdon. “Not somber like some, of course. Gentlemen, has no one ever told you that black breeches and jacket are not required dress for a ball?”

“It’s easier,” Rawdon replied.

“Particularly if one happens to be color-blind.” Myles glanced around, then narrowed his eyes as he glanced toward another group of guests, who were accepting drinks from a black-and-white-clad maid. “I say … that girl looks familiar.”

“Who?” Gabriel straightened and glanced around. “The girl in green? That’s one of the Squire’s daughters.”

“No, not her. The maid behind her. Wait, she’ll turn around again. She looks like …”

“Hannah!” Gabriel and Rawdon said almost in unison.

Thea looked at the maid. “Of course! I saw her here; she’s one of the new servants Damaris hired to prepare for the party. But I didn’t see her face that day, Gabriel, so I had no idea she was the one you were looking for. What better place to hide than in plain sight, among a bunch of servants?”

“I never thought of looking here for her. Under our noses the entire time.”

“And her note—she must have slipped it in with my dress that day, and it fell out when Lolly took the dress out of the box.”

“Who are you—you mean Jocelyn’s maid?” Myles asked, looking confused. “What the devil is she doing here?”

“That is what I’m about to find out.” Gabriel started toward the maid, with the others on his heels.

At that moment Ian came out of the room on the other side of the hall. Without glancing around, he seized Hannah’s arm and whisked her away with him around the corner and into the long gallery.

“Ian!” Gabriel halted. His face turned white, then flushed, and he ran after them.

Some of the other guests turned to stare as Thea and the others hurried after Gabriel. Thea cast a pleading look at Damaris as she went, and Damaris moved in quickly behind them to get the other guests’ attention, clapping her hands and suggesting that they all move into the other room for refreshments.

Gabriel opened the first door along the long hall and startled the people inside, who were gathered at tables, playing cards. With a bow and a muttered apology, he withdrew and started down the hall to the next room. It, too, was empty, but as they neared the next door, they could hear a man’s voice inside, shouting.

“… until you tell me? Where the bloody hell is Jocelyn?”

Gabriel flung the door open and charged inside. Thea, Myles, and Rawdon rushed in behind him. Ian whirled and gaped at them. His eyes widened with a sudden, horrified realization.

“You!” Gabriel spit. “All along it was you who seduced my sister!”

“No! No, I swear!” Ian glanced around frantically. “Gabe! Myles! Please, I saw Hannah, and I was trying to find out where Jocelyn is. For you! I was questioning her for you!”

“Not bleedin’ likely!” Hannah screeched, jerking out of his grasp. “It was you what seduced my lady. It was you what told her you loved her and pined for her and cried great crocodile tears because you had to marry Miss Pot o’ Gold! I tried to warn her about you, but she wouldn’t listen! She was so bleedin’ in love with you she couldn’t see what you really was. An’ you broke her heart, you did, when you sent her packin’ like that. Treated her like she was nothin’. Just some trollop.”

“Gabriel, no, don’t believe her!” Ian cried, but with a roar Gabriel was already charging him.

He slammed into the other man and they crashed to the floor. Gabriel’s fist smacked into Ian’s face, splitting his lip.

“Gabriel!” Thea turned to Myles, then Rawdon. “Do something!”

“What would you suggest?” Lord Rawdon asked politely.

“Stop him! He’ll kill him.”

“Oh, I’ll stop him before he goes that far,” Rawdon said, his eyes glinting. He pushed his mask up onto his forehead.

“Myles!” Thea turned a stern look on him. “Help me!” She ran over and began to tug at Gabriel.

Myles joined her, and with a sigh Rawdon did, too, grabbing both Gabriel’s arms and dragging him to his feet. Gabriel stopped struggling, though his hard gaze never left Ian’s face. “It’s all right. I won’t hit him again. Not just yet.”