The memories, for him, were still too raw. He could still hear the screams of his friends. He could still smell the blood in the hot sun. How could anyone want to talk about such things at a party? He wished he could have turned his back on Mr. Pelham and walked away from the conversation. Pelham would certainly have deserved such a snubbing. But Adrian had better breeding than that. He stood there and nodded and pretended Pelham’s words weren’t stinging his soul.
I should never have come to this ball, he thought now, running his fingertips over the needles of a pine bush. I should have put my foot down and simply refused. One didn’t have to go to balls in order to marry. He could have found a pleasant enough young lady, spoken to her father, and made the arrangements quickly and painlessly.
Not for a Duke’s daughter, you couldn’t, his mother’s voice spoke in his mind. For a young lady of this quality, some work is required. You had to attend the ball. You know you did.
He knew. But he certainly did not have to like it. And nor did he have to choose Lady Katherine as his wife.
Eventually, he knew he could linger in the garden no longer. The food would have been served by now. He would have to return and make some excuse for his prolonged absence. Fortunately, it would be impolite for his fellow guests to make too many inquiries as to his whereabouts. He could count on them to leave the subject be, he thought, at the first sign of reticence on his part to discuss it. Still, they would be curious, and there were likely to be whispers behind his back.
Adrian sighed. Sometimes the company of his fellow nobles was more than he could stand. Would that there was just one person he could speak openly to, one person whose conversation captured his interest and stimulated his mind! Was that so very much to ask for?
He wandered back toward the manor doors, moving as slowly as he could. He did not relish returning to the dining hall, fine as the food smelled, and facing all the onlookers and their questioning eyes.
The foyer was empty when he entered, empty but for a serving girl who did not seem to be engaged in serving. She stood with her back to him, leaning ever so slightly around the door frame as if afraid to let Lady Katherine and her guests know she was there. Was the girl spying? This was rather intriguing, he had to admit. He had never seen a servant behave in such a way.
He moved toward the door, hoping his presence would not alarm her when he passed.
But suddenly she staggered back from the door as if she had received a shock. She spun around and ran straight into him with a force that actually caused him to take a step back in surprise.
“Oh!” she cried.
He smiled down at her, hoping to convey that he understood, that her haste was nothing to be ashamed of and that she had nothing to fear from him. She stared up at him, her lips forming a perfect “o” shape.
Adrian had to admit, he was stunned by her.
He had never seen a serving girl of such beauty. In part, he knew, that was because of the drabness of their dress. The clothing afforded to the lower classes did nothing to enhance their looks. But this girl’s ardor couldn’t be suppressed by muslin and a serving cap. She was positively lovely, with finely-carved features, high cheekbones, and thick, glossy-brown hair. The only thing amiss in her appearance was the eyepatch she wore over one eye, but Adrian found this intriguing rather than unsightly. It set her apart.
He shook his head at himself. What would his mother say to this? He had been sent to the manor to woo the Lady Katherine, and instead he was looking at the servants!
But for a servant, she was very lovely indeed.
“May I inquire as to your name?” he found himself asking. He could have bitten his tongue. What had possessed him to ask her such a thing? For goodness’ sake, she was as serving girl. She was likely forbidden from even speaking to Lady Katherine’s guests.
And what did he hope to gain by knowing her name? It wasn’t as if he was planning to call on her. The whole thing was ridiculous.
Still, he found, he wanted to know the answer. He wanted to know what name belonged to such a beauty. He wanted to think about it in his mind later as he replayed this night in his head. The guests were tiresome, and Lady Katherine was tedious, he thought now, but at least there was a moment of fun when I happened to bump into—
Into whom?
She still had not answered. She stared up at him, and her eye was wide with fright. Well, he imagined that both eyes probably were. But he could only see one, and it looked fearful enough to serve for both.
“Apologies,” she murmured, and before he could assure her that no apology was necessary, that she had done no wrong, she had run off and disappeared up the wide staircase to the manor’s upper rooms.
How very strange, he thought. He had never met a servant like her. She had clearly been intrigued by the proceedings of the evening. But something must have frightened her. He had no idea what that could have been, what could have sent her staggering so rapidly away from the dining room. Perhaps she was seen.
But why would Lady Katherine be upset to realize that her serving girl was about? That didn’t make sense. Why, indeed, was it necessary for the girl to spy at all? Adrian had seen dozens of servants tonight. They were hardly concealed. In fact, Adrian could see several more of them moving around in the ballroom, tidying things up and preparing the room for the guests’ return after dinner. He knew these servants would be perfectly visible to the guests currently enjoying their dinner as well.
So, he must have it wrong. The serving girl wouldn’t have run away just because her Lady had seen her. There must have been some other cause, mustn’t there? But what?
There was no making sense of it.
Feeling at a loss, he made his way into the dining room and took a seat at the end of the table, thankful that he had managed to keep a good distance between himself and Lady Katherine. He would be free to eat his supper in silence, perhaps, and to think about the mystery of the serving girl.
* * *
The supper was wonderful—two full courses, each with a selection of exquisite dishes—but Adrian couldn’t seem to settle into his meal. His mind was busy and active, keeping him far away from the table and the food.
There was much to think about. Much to sort out in his mind. Chief among his concerns was his lady mother, of course. She would be expecting news when he returned home from this ball, and Adrian knew he could count on her to demand a debriefing as soon as he stepped in the door. What was Lady Katherine like? she would want to know, and Adrian would feel honor bound to tell her the truth. Lady Katherine was dull. Lovely, but dull.
His mother would wave this away, most probably, or else she would seize on the compliment. If Adrian thought her lovely, then was there some hope of a marriage contract?
The answer was no, of course, but it would be difficult to say so to his mother. She hadn’t much to do these days, now that she was widowed, and Adrian felt she invested herself far too much in his own doings. She was likely sitting at home right now and trying to imagine the goings on at the ball. And whatever she was coming up with was sure to be a far stretch from the truth.
The trouble, he thought, slicing into a piece of fish with unnecessary vigor, was that she was not wrong. Not really. He did need to marry, and he knew it. As Marquess of Galdhor, it was vital that he produce an heir to his land, his manor, and his title. At present, there was no one else. He had been his late father’s only child. If Adrian failed to produce an heir, the land and the manor would be given to someone else upon his death. It would be as if he and his family had never existed.
That couldn’t be allowed to happen. If nothing else, Adrian wanted to preserve his father’s legacy. There had been a Marquess of Galdhor living in that manor for decades. The line couldn’t possibly be permitted to end with him. It would be a travesty.
Which meant that he would have to find someone. Some lady to marry. But he knew that his mother was anxious for the problem to be solved quickly. And she was correct on that score as well.
He was nearly thirty years of age, after all. These things were always better addressed when one was younger. It would be both harder to find a suitable wife and harder to father a healthy child as his years advanced.
But moving quickly did not mean moving tonight. That was the thing he felt his mother might have trouble understanding. Lady Katherine was a good match on paper—the daughter of a duke, an ideal age for bearing children, lovely to look upon, and very well bred. But he didn’t like her.
Surely his mother would understand that?
Of course, his mother and Lady Katherine were only half the problem Adrian faced. Because he couldn’t seem to tear his mind away from the servant girl he had encountered in the foyer. God, she had been a vision. And she had been wearing only that ugly old sack dress, her hair all but hidden away under that cap, her face dirty and partially obscured by that eyepatch. Despite all those things, she had absolutely radiated beauty.
Her eye—the one he’d seen—had been so very alive. It had seemed to sparkle with intelligence, and Adrian had felt as though he was looking through her and seeing straight into her soul. Even though she had hardly spoken at all, he felt as though they had had a conversation. He had understood something by the way she had looked at him, something he was even now struggling to put into words. She had been fearful, he thought, but there had been something more.
Had she admired him? Was that it?
Surely not. A servant girl could never be so bold as to even think of such a thing.
And yet, he had the strange feeling that that was exactly what she had been thinking.
Adrian found to his surprise that he was not wrongfooted or offended by the idea. Not in the slightest. Indeed, there was something intriguing about it. She must be a very unusual girl to have ideas so far above her station. He found himself wondering what she thought about this ball, and indeed, what she thought about the lady she served.
A servant would never dare to speak against her master.
But if ever one would, Adrian thought, this girl would be the one.
Just as the thought occurred to him, a parade of household staff entered the dining room. They positioned themselves around the table and removed the plates from in front of each guest. Feeling suddenly eager, Adrian looked up and down the length of the table, hoping to see the girl with the eyepatch again. But she wasn’t there. He was surprised by the wave of disappointment that washed over him.
He needed to shake this feeling. She was just a servant. She was certainly not the reason he was here, nor was it remotely appropriate for him to be this caught up in thoughts about her.
And yet, suddenly, she had become the most interesting thing at the ball.
Never mind the other ladies, several of whom had blushingly agreed to a turn around the dance floor with him before dinner. And certainly, never mind Lady Katherine, who had looked up at him with those eyes that seemed to have nothing at all behind them. All he truly wanted to see was the girl with the eyepatch, the girl who had bumped into him and run away without speaking.
Preposterous.
He got to his feet along with the rest of the guests and returned to the ballroom for the second round of dancing. He had been planning to depart the ball after supper, but suddenly he found that he wanted to stay.
He wanted another glimpse of the girl with the eyepatch.
He took a position near the wall, hoping to remain out of view of the other guests and still be able to keep an eye on the comings and goings. There weren’t many servants in the ballroom, of course, but every now and again one would come in to replace a bunch of flowers or to bring around a tray of drinks for the guests. None of them were the one he was looking for, though.
Well, she had run up the stairs after she had collided with him. Perhaps she had left the party.
He was surprised at how disappointed that thought made him feel. She had been intriguing, but after all, she was just a servant. There was nothing to get upset about.
“My Lord?”
He looked down. Lady Katherine had found him. She stood at his side, beaming up at him as if she had hand delivered herself to him at his request.
“Lady Katherine,” he managed, a bit taken aback.
“Are you enjoying the ball?” she asked.
He did not want to lie. “Everything is lovely,” he said. That much, at least, was true. “The ballroom is beautifully appointed. Did you have a hand in it?”
“Mother and I have been hard at work for weeks,” she said. “Choosing color schemes, setting the menu—it’s been laborious! But it’s all come together very nicely. I’m so glad you’re having a good time.”
He hadn’t said he was having a good time, nor was he, but he was more than happy to allow her to draw that misconception from his words. “Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked her.
“Oh, yes. It’s very well attended, don’t you think? I hardly expected so many people to come!” She blushed prettily. “It’s a great compliment, of course. I did worry. What if the ball had been poorly attended? Nothing could be more humiliating.”
“Indeed,” said Adrian noncommittally, sipping the drink he held. Perhaps if he grew intoxicated enough, he would begin to find her more interesting. As it was, he was bored and tired. He felt sorry about it—she was being perfectly well mannered, after all, and he didn’t want to disparage her company. But she had yet to say anything of substance to him.
And yet, there she stood, looking up at him anxiously, almost as if she was waiting for something. Expecting something. What did she want?
The song ended and a new one began. Lady Katherine fidgeted ever so slightly. And suddenly Adrian understood. “May I have this dance?” he asked.
“Oh, yes,” she said happily and took his proffered hand. He twirled her gently and pulled her into his arms.
Dancing together meant there was no need for conversation. He would have been happy to continue talking if there had been anything to talk about, but it was clear to Adrian now that the two of them had little, if anything, in common. She was primarily interested in this ball and the number of attendees, her own popularity among the ton. Adrian would have preferred a little more depth.
He hadn’t especially wanted to dance with her either. But this was her ball. He was her guest. And she had clearly wanted the dance. It wouldn’t hurt him to indulge her.
“I’d hoped to sit next to you at supper,” she said as he guided them around the perimeter of the ballroom’s dance floor. “But I couldn’t find you anywhere.”
That was precisely what Adrian had been afraid of. But he couldn’t very well say so to her. “My apologies,” he said instead. “I stepped out for a few moments to take in your lovely garden.”
“Oh,” she said, and her expression was one of surprise. “Are you interested in plants, then?”
“I don’t mind them. And I like a bit of fresh air in the evening.”
“I suppose,” she said. “Personally, I would never go out after dark,” and she shuddered ever so slightly. “That’s when the insects come out.”
“It’s also when the stars come out,” Adrian pointed out.
“But you can see those from the window,” she said.
“Of course.” You couldn’t see stars at all from the window. That was a ridiculous idea. But he had to admit, he wasn’t surprised to learn that Lady Katherine didn’t consider it worth her time to stargaze.
When he married, he thought, rotating them inward toward the center of the dance floor, he would like to have someone who could look up at the stars with him. He would like to be able to show her the constellations. He didn’t relish the idea of spending his life with a woman who never wanted to take in the sky.
The song ended. Adrian stepped away from Lady Katherine and politely applauded the musicians. Then he bowed to her. “Thank you for the dance, My Lady,” he said. “And thank you for the ball. I had a delightful evening.”
“You’re not leaving?”
“Sadly, I must.
” He’d had enough. “My poor mother is all alone at home, and I hate to leave her this late at night. I should get home to her.”
Lady Katherine inclined her head. “That must be so difficult for you.”
“What must be?”
“Having to care for your mother,” she said. “Such a sacrifice.”
Adrian didn’t answer. He had conflict with his mother from time to time, of course, but he had never thought of her as a burden. What on earth could he say to such a ridiculous statement?
He bowed to Lady Katherine again and turned to go.
As he headed through the foyer and to the front doors of the manor, he glanced over at the kitchen, hoping one last time to catch a glimpse of the mysterious girl with the eyepatch. But she was nowhere to be seen.
Chapter 4
A Game of Chess With the Marquess Page 4