Secret Pleasures (5 page)

Darien returned his gaze to Maddox, a man he had not seen since his brother’s death, and had to fight the urge to throttle him
.
Then maybe
the man
would finally reveal the truth about what had happened to Philip
.

“We would not have missed it for the world,” Ivy crooned, slicing through the tension with her feminine lilt
.
“Both Darien and I wish to bestow upon the earl the same enthusiastic regard for his engagement that he showed upon the announcement of ours.”

Henry Maddox glared at the infamous beauty without the faintest recognition or interest
.

“I don’t believe we have officially been introduced,” Ivy said, unruffled in the face of Maddox’s rude dismissal and Darien’s stupefied silence
.
“Miss Ivy Templeton
.
Darien’s father and I share an illustrious history.”

Maddox refused Ivy’s offered hand
. 

“I’ve heard of you
.
And you are certainly not welcome
.
Go back to the East End or from wherever you came
.
This ball is for respectable guests
.
I’ll make an exception for you, Darien, but your whore must leave.”

Darien stiffened, not sure what he expected, but not such open disregard to Ivy
.
Her firm grip on his arm kept him from acting on his natural impulse.

“Surely you must know that I was the earl’s whore
.
Of course, that was after I was Darien’s fiancée.
”
Ivy did not flinch or falter in her sing-song tone
.
“My next paramour was a duke, of whom I believe you occasionally court favor
.
Perhaps if you are not too much of an ass I shall persuade him to grace one of your dreary functions.”

Maddox stared hard at Ivy, obviously wanting to
physically
throw her out
.
Darien longed for him to try.

“I don’t know what you two have in mind
,
but you will not ruin this evening for Arianna.
”
Maddox gave them a final disgusted
once-over
before he turned and stalked away.

“You told him,” said Darien, glad she
had
but still reeling from seeing Henry Maddox again
.
Darien’s brother, Philip, had been several years younger than Maddox
.
For a time, the two had been fast friends
.
Darien could not see Maddox without thinking about his brother’s absence
.
Philip would have been at the prime of his life if he had lived
.
The empty space that Philip should have filled loomed like a ghost, haunting the lavish gathering
. 

“Yes, thank you for your support.
”
She sighed but held her head high, her shoulders stiff
.
“Are you all right?
”

“I hate that man.
”
Darien guided her through the crowd, and into one of the rooms that opened off of the foyer.

“What are we here to do, anyway?” Ivy said.

“I suppose I just want everyone to know that I’m not actually dead
,
and a young girl might be sacrificing herself for naught.”

A silver tray of fizzing champagne glasses glided by
,
attached to a servant
,
and Darien grabbed a crystal stem
.
Ivy glared at him and he handed it over.

“I intended it for you
.
Champagne might calm your nerves.”

“My nerves are fine,” she said, but took a noticeable slurp, draining nearly half the glass
.
“I’ve been through worse.”

“If you are referring to the Cornwall fiasco, I apologized to all the parties involved
,
e
xcept for you
.
T
hough I am truly sorry I made a spectacle of both of us
.
Not to mention ruin
ing
your friend’s country dance.
”

“My dear friend is happily married with a child on the way, so I would say that all turned out for the best.”

“Perhaps this will too
.
I promise not to challenge anyone to a duel tonight
.
Is that your sister?
”
Darien found himself mildly shocked that he recognized the full-grown girl. Even more so that he was genuinely pleased to see someone from his past
.
“Faith has turned into a serious young woman.”

Dressed in a rich but respectable gown, Ivy’s younger sister covered her once honey hair with a white cotton bonnet that matched the shawl pinned around her shoulders
.
Only a hint of skin peeked at the hollow of her neck
.
She paled when she noticed them
.
A sober-looking man in an unadorned suit must have sensed her distress and glanced in their direction
.
He obviously recognized his sister-in-law, though he did not bother to notice Darien
.
He put his arm around his wife and guided her away.

“She doesn’t look well.
”
Darien felt suddenly flushed, extremely uncomfortable with what he’d just witnessed
.
He’d brought Ivy to the ball for just such reactions, hadn’t he
?
But not from Ivy’s own sister.

He glanced at Ivy and suddenly noticed how she trembled from holding herself so stiff, so proud.

“She recently had a child
.
A boy, I believe
.
Thank God
.
Her God-fearing husband would have killed her, whelping children upon her until he bred his successor.”

“He’s an aristocrat
?
Bully for Faith.”

“No, he’s in the military
.
They admire boys, as well.”

“How many children does she have?”

“I believe the last one was the fourth
.
I’ve never seen any of them but from a distance
.
She does not acknowledge me in public.”

Darien needed a drink
.
A real drink, not the champagne the servants were passing around
.
He scanned the tops of couples gathered in companionable exchanges, some of whom actually pretended not to be raptly watching them, in search of a brown-labeled bottle advertising something highly distilled
. 

“Are you hungry? Shall I find you a bite to eat?
”
Hopefully he could settle Ivy with a plate of food and escape to find the bar his father would have insisted upon.

Ivy remained silent and Darien turned to find her pale, her lips closed tightly, but not enough to stop their trembling
.
He followed her gaze to find his father surging forward to confront them
.
Speak of the devil.

“God, he looks old.”
Darien said the words out loud, a little taken aback by the realization.

“You must excuse me
.
I need to refresh myself.
”
She slung off his grip and darted in the other direction.

Darien stood alone,
empty-handed
and sober
.
His father continued toward him,
seemingly
ignoring Ivy’s departure, a dark cloud hanging over his weathered features
.
He appeared angry enough to dispose of his second son without the fuss of making it appear an accident.

***

Ivy clutched the polished mahogany rail for balance while she climbed the carpeted stairs in search of the cloak room
.
At the edge of the landing
,
a
couple of young maids peek
ed
down the curved banister at the cacophony of aristocracy below
.
They snapped to attention when Ivy came into view and immediately curtsied
.

“Excuse us, ma’am
.
Might we be of assistance,” the older one said.

“I just need to loosen my corset and catch my breath.” Ivy hoped the excuse would account for her flush and watery eyes
.
“I should not have insisted my maid pull it so tightly.”

A dark-haired girl who could be no more than sixteen rushed to open a paneled door that led into a room papered in green and striped with crimson roses
.
Two screens in each of the corners provided privacy, while a fainting couch and mix-matched overstuffed chairs had been randomly placed to allow a secluded respite for the ladies. Ivy hastily dismissed the maid and collapsed onto the couch to swipe the tears that ran down her face before they left permanent tracks in her powder
.
Lord, but this was not like her.

She longed to blame her emotional state on lack of sleep
.
Despite her fragile size, Melody howled like a banshee for a majority of the night
.
Her shrill screams had already scared away two wet nurses
.
But Ivy knew by the fist that squeezed her heart at the very sight of him, that only Darien’s father could be the cause.

A wave of anger forced her to stand
.
Facing Gregory Blackmore,
the Earl of Westhaven
, transported her to the time when she
’d
bowed in his study, young, naive and terrified, while he calmly trampled her dreams
.
Destroyed her future
.
But she had made the choice, hadn’t she
?
And even that day
,
she had accepted the terms of his callous bargain as calmly as he
’d
delivered them
.
Why had she not cried
on that long ago day
?
She took a shaky breath, not understanding why she chose this bloody time to finally do so.

A click of the door announced that she would have visitors
.
Ivy slipped behind a screen, not trusting her ability to maintain her fragile composure
.
The last thing she needed was rumor to be spread that one of the most sought after courtesans in London had a heart.

“Please, Arianna
.
This is no time for girlish hysterics
.
Your father has spent a tremendous amount of time and money to create a celebration any
young
woman would envy on one of the most important nights of her life.”

“It’s not what I want
.
It’s what he wants.
”
A young woman raised her voice.

“Please,” said the other woman in a scolding tone, “you shall be engaged to an earl
.
Do you want to appear ungrateful?”

“He’s old enough to be my grandfather.
”
The girl’s words broke, and she cried in earnest.

There was silence punctuated by the girl’s anguished sob
.
A muffled rustle of skirts led Ivy to believe the girl was embraced by the other woman,
perhaps
her mother
.
The casing on Ivy’s heart, rattled by the events of the last few days, fractured a bit more
.
She breathed in deeply through her nose to calm her
own
rampant emotions
.
How often had she wished her mother still alive to catch her tears
?

“You are not the first woman to be forced to marry a man not of her choosing
.
Now dry your tears
.
I don’t think the earl will be so difficult to abide.”

The girl blew her nose loudly
.
Ivy suspected she would be a drippy mess
,
a
disaster when a ball is held in one’s honor
,
and everyone here no doubt waited with held breath to see her stumble
. 

“I don’t love him and I never will.”

“You must forget about
young
Mr. Fitzgerald
.
He depends on the earl for his livelihood, and your ridiculous fascination with the reverend is harmful for you both.”