Lady Whistledown Strikes Back (19 page)

<> “Lady Neeley, I should like to introduce you to my daughter. This is Lady Meliscent.” She gestured to a poor girl that no one could see. She peeked out from beneath her mother’s shadow, and Bella could tell the child was completely terrified of the entire world. Introductions were made all the way around as Lady Reese-Forbes tried desperately to force her shy daughter to talk to Roxbury.

The poor girl was absolutely making a fool of herself, or, rather, her mother was making a fool of her. The girl couldn’t string more than two words together without stuttering horribly.

Bella wanted to save her. She wanted to jump into the carriage and take the girl in her arms.

And then, Roxbury did. Well, he saved her, at least. The man dismounted suddenly and walked around the side of Lady Reese-Forbes’s open carriage.

“Might I have the pleasure of your company, Lady Meliscent?” he asked.

The chatter between Lady Neeley and Lady Reese-Forbes died completely.

Poor Meliscent looked ready to throw up. But her mother finally realized what was happening and threw the girl out of the carriage.

Roxbury smiled warmly and put out his arm, then helped the girl put her hand on his elbow, since she

did not move at all.

Lady Reese-Forbes thumped her carriage boy on the head with the handle of a small fan. “Off you go. Follow behind so my daughter keeps her reputation intact, if you please.” The carriage boy jumped from his place behind the carriage and followed behind Roxbury and Lady Meliscent.

Roxbury had shrunk. It was like he had pulled in his body: His shoulders were tilted inward, his knees were bent, his head was down. Obviously, he was trying not to be so big and scary to this young girl.

Bella grinned and shook her head. She had told him he was a perfect gentleman. And here he was

proving it yet again.

A perfect gentleman, with a perfect kiss. She absolutely adored him. She grinned, and then covered her mouth with her hand when she realized what she had just said to herself.

She adored him. She loved him.

Isabella Martin loved Lord Roxbury.

She had a moment of pure happiness followed by complete pain.

And of course, that’s how it was with love: pain and happiness on the same footing.

Can Lord Roxbury be settling down? With Lady Meliscent Reese-Forbes? It seems a most unlikely of pairings, but the two were seen walking arm in arm in Hyde Park yesterday, and Lord Roxbury was leaning down toward the young miss as if he were quite engrossed in their conversation.

This Author dares not speculate further. Perhaps all will be revealed at Lord Roxbury’s Japanese ball tonight, which, incidentally, is the debut event for Miss Isabella Martins new business venture, Bella of the Ball.

LADY WHISTLEDOWN’S SOCIETY PAPERS,
12 JUNE 1816

The party was perfect. As Bella had run about making sure the punch bowls had stayed filled and her geisha girls had their kimonos tied on perfectly, five people had asked her to plan their parties. Lady Neeley told her that at least twenty people had asked for Bella’s information.

Bella had made up cards with her information on them, and they were all gone.

The only slight hitch in the night had been when one of the girls in her geisha outfit had tripped over her wooden slippers and fallen on top of Ozzie. The girl was fine, though she had a bruised ankle. And Ozzie seemed no worse for wear. Actually, Ozzie had offered to take the girl home, and Bella had not seen him since. Obviously, Ozzie was more than just fine.

Lord Waverly seemed thrilled with the party. And Roxbury had, of course, acted like the perfect gentleman.

It was over now, finally. And Bella took a moment to sit down on a padded chair in Lord Roxbury’s large drawing room. She had sent Christophe home, and she was now overseeing the maids she had hired for the evening.

Someday she would have a trustworthy clean-up crew that she could put on staff permanently. Now, though, she was watching every piece of silver and cutlery like a hawk.

But her feet were killing her, and she was dead tired. Ten minutes alone in a dark room would revive her, she decided, enough so that she could finish, at least. She slipped off her shoes and kneaded her toes with her fingers.

A door opened and Roxbury entered.

Bella put her feet on the floor and pushed her skirts down demurely.

Roxbury came straight over to her as if he had known that she was there.

“Tell me something,” he said.

Bella tilted her head and smiled up at him. “Anything,” she said.

“What on earth are you so happy about?”

“What do you mean?” she asked in surprise. “What on earth do I have
not
to be happy about? I just planned this beautiful party and it ran perfectly, which bodes well for my business.”

Roxbury flopped his hand in front of his face. “Yes, yes, yes,” he said. “There is that. But two weeks ago, you were happy too. And you didn’t have a successful business. You had a parrot trying to make love to your ear.”

Bella laughed. “You are pissed. I am amazed you can even walk straight.”

“You have no idea.”

Bella sighed and glanced down toward her aching feet. And suddenly, Roxbury was there, kneeling down beside her. His hands reached under her skirt and caught one foot. He rested it in his lap, and then began massaging it with his large hands. Nothing had ever felt better.

“Ohhhh,” she said on a long sigh. “Ahhhhh.”

“Don’t tease me,” he said.

She frowned down at him, confused.

“Why,” he said. ‘Tell me why you are happy.”

She shrugged and leaned back in her chair. She thought about his question for a moment, and then she said, “This moment will never happen again. This very second is over right now.”

“That’s achingly profound.”

“Don’t tease if you want my answer.”

“I won’t tease.”

Bella closed her eyes. “Some moments are easy. They are good and fun and beautiful, and I’m happy. Others aren’t so easy. But it is my decision to be happy during the hard times as well as the easy ones.

I cannot control most things, but I
can
control my feelings. And I
want
to be happy. So I find something in every moment that I can enjoy.”

“So you never cry?” he asked.

“Of course I do. Crying is wonderful. It’s like cleaning out the cobwebs. I love to cry.” She opened her eyes and grinned down at him.

He stopped rubbing her foot, and she really did feel like crying. Instead she slipped her other foot onto Lord Roxbury’s lap. He shook his head and laughed. And then he rubbed her neglected foot.

“I had my party on your birthday for a reason,” he said finally.

“Really? And what is that reason?”

“Well, it was because I was going to make sure you were in my company the day you turned thirty so that I could kiss you and you would know that you had not been kissed yet. But I’ve already done that.”

“And one kiss is all I get?” she asked, hoping with all of her heart that she was wrong.

He just shook his head, which really could mean anything, bugger it.

“But now something is different,” he said. He reached into his coat and took out a package. “Happy birthday,” he said, handing her the package.

“Thank you,” she said, taking it. She held it for a moment, cupped in her palms. “This is my only birthday present.”

“Are you enjoying your moment?” he asked with a smile.

She grinned at him. “Always.”

“Well, let me have
my
moment when you open it.”

Bella pulled open the wrapping and found in her palm a beautiful square silver case. She flipped it around, and engraved on the bottom was Bella of the Ball.

“It’s a card case,” he said and reached up to flip open the top. Inside was a bunch of beautifully tendered cards for her business. They were much more expensive than the ones she had made for herself.

“I’ve an entire box of them in my study for you. But they didn’t all fit in the case.”

“Thank you, Lord Roxbury.”

“You are welcome, Miss Martin.”

“I have a question for
you
now,” Bella said. “Why have you never married?”

“My father is adamant that the title stay in our family, and I don’t see the problem. If I just live my life and die, the title goes to my third cousin, Richard Millhouse. Richard is a very good man. He’s honest and good, and will probably do a better job with the responsibilities of this title than I ever did.”

“Ah.”

“I would make a terrible father, and a worse husband. Why should I inflict that upon some poor girl and a child?”

Bella nodded, but anger made her look away for a minute. She wasn’t angry very often, but right then it burned in her heart and made her want to thump Lord Roxbury right on his head.

“That’s cowardice,” she told him.

Roxbury blinked up at her.

Bella pulled her feet from Roxbury’s grasp and shoved them in her slippers.

“You talk about your title

like it’s a burden you want to throw away as quickly as you can. How dare you. That’s a legacy, a history, a tradition that you have been gifted with. You have a family and you could give this name to your child and they would have those things as well. Right this minute, you can go outside and drive to your father’s house and take his hand. You can learn from him. You can talk to him.

That is a blessing that you just throw away and don’t care about.”

Bella shook her head. “I don’t understand that at all. I would give away everything I have, every single material item, my business, my very soul, to have a family. I will never give a child a name. I will never gift a person with the memory of my beautiful, imaginative mother and my hardworking, loving father. My history is gone when I die. You have the opportunity to continue a legacy. Instead, you pretend to be a scoundrel and a rake so that no one will marry you.” Bella made a sound of pure disgust.

“How on earth can you be so ungrateful?” she asked.

“I don’t know. But I know I don’t want to be ungrateful anymore. Be my wife Isabella.” He stood up quickly and took her hands in his. “I have been an idiot, and I don’t want to be one anymore. I want to have children with you. I want to give them my name, and I want them to have your eyes. And I want you to teach them what you have taught me; just make sure it’s before they ruin most of their lives being really ungrateful. Please.” He smiled widely at her.

Bella felt her mouth go dry. She couldn’t speak. The words wouldn’t come from her dry throat.

“No,” she finally said.

“No?” he asked. “Is that a no from shock or a no, you won’t marry me?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t. You can’t marry me, Roxbury.”

“Call me Anthony.”

“No, no, no.” She pulled her hands from his. “I’m not what you need. I don’t have anything to give you. And I’m now a woman in trade. It would be a scandal. Your father would be devastated. We’re not from the same place.

And, I can’t. Especially now!”

“I wouldn’t ask you to give up your party planning.” Bella just shook her head.

She couldn’t believe it. Here was what she had been waiting for, but she couldn’t marry Lord Roxbury. He needed someone else. He needed someone with the legacy she had just been talking about.

Her father had made shoes,

for goodness’ sake! She couldn’t possibly bring that into Lord Roxbury’s family tree.

“I love you enough to say no,” she told him and turned and left him.

As Lord Roxbury paid not a whit of attention to Lady Meliscent Reese-Forbes at his Japanese ball Wednesday eve, This Author must come to the conclusion that the aforementioned walk in Hyde Park on Tuesday was nothing more than an innocent stroll.

Indeed, Lord Roxbury paid no special attention to any lady at his party (much, This Author is sure, to his father’s dismay), except for the intrepid Miss Martin, but one cannot read anything into that, as she is quite obviously in his employ.

Not to mention that she is now in trade, and it is difficult to imagine an earl such as Roxburys father overlooking a detail such as that.

LADY WHISTLEDOWN’S SOCIETY

PAPERS,
14 JUNE 1816

Lady Neeley had organized her own little party, and Bella had been invited as if she were one of Lady Neeley’s friends instead of an employee. It felt extremely strange, Bella thought as she sat across from Lady Neeley’s nephew, Mr. Henry Brooks. They were at a special fete at Vauxhall Gardens that the Regent had organized to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Wellington’s victory at Waterloo.

Lady Neeley had hired a private gazebo and, while everyone else in the Gardens was dining on watery punch and the thinnest slices of ham Bella had ever seen, their small party of ten was gorging on roast duck and watercress salad, accompanied by a selection of wines that was making Bella’s head feel very fuzzy.

Lady Neeley had borrowed Christophe for this little dinner, since her new chef was terrible and could barely make edible scones. But Lady Neeley was also noticeably thinner, and so she was happy.

That thought made Bella feel like crying. It was like a dagger pushed a bit deeper into her heart each time she thought of happiness now. In the week since her birthday, Bella’s life had changed even more dramatically.

She had her own home. She had even purchased silk and made lovely sheets for her bed. It was like sleeping on clouds. She had her diary filled in for an entire year, and with all of the deposits she had required of her clients, Bella of the Ball had already made a profit.

Lord Waverly had been so delighted he’d actually chortled. “My girl,” he’d told her just the other day, “I don’t think any other business in town has so quickly made a profit. You are a wonder.”

Bella had smiled, but she knew that there was something missing. And she also knew exactly what it was. And she suddenly could not seem to find enjoyment in small things as she had before.

As she sat now, sipping at her wine as the moon rose and the dark descended, Bella wondered if it might not have been better if nothing had ever changed.