***
Victoria never made it to the hospital. Woodmore overstayed his welcome by more than an hour, and by then more visitors had arrived. By the time they were done receiving guests, Victoria was exhausted. Damn her illness; it had weakened her more than she’d realized.
But tomorrow was another day, and tonight was the Gilbert masquerade. It was the perfect opportunity for her to scout out her next donor. And then tomorrow she would be able to visit the hospital with more than just her meager pin money.
She’d chosen to keep her dress simple. Since she planned to play highwayman later in the evening, it had to be one that she could easily slip off and back on. So she decided upon her Juliet costume. The white gown cinched just under her bust and then the silk chiffon cascaded down, covering her feet and dragging along the floor, so that when she walked, she looked like a floating ghost. On her face, she wore a jewel-encrusted black domino mask. The entire effect was quite stunning, she thought.
Fin and Tom both accompanied her to the party, of course, both equally unimaginative in their evening clothes and plain masks. But Victoria had to admit she liked the look on Fin. It made him seem mysterious—a word she would never have used before to describe her best friend.
They sat across from one another in the carriage, and Victoria wondered at the grin he wore.
“Are you excited for the masquerade,” she asked, “or is there something else to cause such a smile this evening?”
He turned to her, his eyes bright behind his mask. “Indeed, there is much to be happy about,” he said, and she sensed a deeper meaning behind his words. “But in particular, I was thinking about Sally. I told her the good news today.”
Victoria pushed down the lump in her throat. “Oh, that’s wonderful, Fin. She must be beside herself with joy.”
Fin nodded. “She was quite pleased that I wasn’t sending her to live with her aunt in Surrey.”
Tom lifted himself from his slouched position on the seat. “Quite a responsibility, Leyburn. Are you sure you’re up to the task? You don’t even have a wife yet.”
A covert glance passed between her brother and Fin. What in the world was that about?
“Well, it doesn’t much matter,” Fin said. “I’ve grown attached to the girl, and it would have been cruel of me after all she’s been through to turn her over to that witch of a woman. Besides—” his gaze shifted to Victoria— “I do believe it won’t be too long before I have secured a wife.”
Heat infused Victoria’s cheeks. Thank heavens it was somewhat dark in the carriage. Did he mean to say that she would be his wife? Impossible. One little kiss couldn’t have made him forget all they’d been through together, acting as brother and sister. Surely, he referred to someone else. But who? And why did that thought bother her so much?
Oh, she knew why. It was foolish to even pretend she didn’t harbor romantic feelings for Fin now.
She gave herself a mental slap across the cheek, for to give herself a real slap would draw unwanted attention. But she needed something to shake her mind of these thoughts. Tonight was an important night. Sarah and Molly and the patients at their little hospital were depending on her; she couldn’t let them down by allowing her romantic notions to get in the way.
“Well, I think it’s wonderful, Fin,” she said, ignoring the part about the wife. “And it’s hard not to fall in love with Sally. She really is a darling girl.”
Conversation came to a stop as they pulled to the front of the Gilbert mansion. Up the stairs and in through the front door they went, along with other masked guests. Victoria felt the familiar thrill of the hunt. It had been too long since she’d had this rush of excitement and nerves. For the first time in weeks, she truly felt alive.
The Gilbert’s home glittered with candlelight and the jewels that adorned their distinguished guests. Finding someone with more than enough funds to assist in the running of the hospital would not be a problem tonight.
She made her way to the ballroom, Fin and Tom close on her heels, and then stood to the side, watching. Waiting. She knew most of the people here. Some had already donated to the hospital, but most had not. Some were penniless, thanks to recklessness on either their part or that of their predecessors. Others had plenty of money but were far too upstanding for Victoria to want to rob them at gunpoint. The trick was always to find someone rich who needed a lesson in greed.
“Good evening, Mr. Barclay,” came a syrupy sweet voice from behind her. Victoria’s skin crawled. How did that woman find them wherever they went?
“Ah, Lady Beecham,” Tom replied, and Victoria turned to find him bent over her hand. The woman barely deserved a nod. But Victoria couldn’t let on any ill feelings toward her, lest she begin to suspect something.
“Good evening, my lady,” she said, dipping into the slightest of curtsies. “My, my, that dress is quite lovely on you.”
In reality the dress made her look as if she belonged in a brothel.
“Well, thank you, my dear.” She gave Victoria a tight smile. “And may I say that you make a lovely Juliet?”
Victoria’s smile was equally as tight, and it didn’t reach anywhere near her eyes. “You are too kind.”
“May I have this dance, Lady Beecham?” Tom asked her.
The woman narrowed her eyes at Victoria as she said, “It would be my pleasure.”
As they walked off toward the dance floor, Victoria gave a shiver of disgust. That woman clearly hadn’t learned any lessons from her harrowing experience on the highway, but Victoria knew better than to strike the same victim twice. It would be far too obvious, especially given their blatant animosity toward one another.
“I feel the exact same way,” Fin said from beside her, assumedly in response to her shiver. “But don’t you dare get any ideas.”
Victoria couldn’t believe he would bring up her activities, no matter how cryptic his message. “I don’t know what on earth you could be talking about.”
“Victoria.” His tone held a great deal of warning in it, and Victoria fought the urge to be defiant.
Instead, she decided to put him in his place. “Do you think me a bloody idiot, Phineas?”
“Of course not, but clearly you’re not always in your right mind.”
“The only time I’ve been out of my right mind was when I kissed you the other day,” she hissed, knowing her words would sting, but saying them anyway.
There was a sharp intake of breath followed by a brief pause, and then, “Well, then…”
Blast. Why did she have to be so damned impetuous?
Victoria kept staring straight ahead at the dance floor. If she looked at Fin it would break her heart. But she didn’t have time for that tonight. She had work to do.
Once she’d composed herself, Victoria turned to tell Fin she was going to the ladies retiring room, but he was gone. Damn and blast, she had really mucked things up, hadn’t she? First thing tomorrow she would go to him and apologize, but just then a great deal of whispers and pointing had broken out amongst the crowd. She stepped closer to the gaggle of women gathered nearby in hopes of hearing what they were talking about.
She couldn’t hear much over the orchestra, but she did catch a few words that helped her deduce there was a prince in attendance, though whether he was Russian or Prussian, she could not determine.
Moments later, the sea of people parted, allowing the prince an aisle down which to walk on his way to the dance floor. Gentlemen nodded and genuflected, and women curtsied and swooned. He wasn’t all that handsome, but just the idea of a prince from a far-away land gave women the vapors. Victoria even saw a few mothers shove their eligible daughters into the man’s path. How humiliating for them.
When he reached the edge of the dance floor, he looked about, clearly searching for a dance partner. He was a mere few feet away from Victoria. Suddenly, his hand extended in her direction, though his eyes stayed fixated on a spot in front of him.
Victoria glanced at
the hand, then the man, and back to the hand. He made a show of stiffening his hand again, waiting for someone to take hold. That was when someone from behind pushed Victoria closer to him and whispered, “He wants to dance with you.”
Unable to back out now, she put her hand in the prince’s and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor. With an heir of superiority, he swept her around and pulled her tightly against him. Victoria tried to pull back a bit, for propriety’s sake, but he held her firm.
“Forgive me, Your Highness,” she whispered, “but I fear my reputation will be at stake if you hold me too closely.”
“I think you will discover quite the opposite,” he replied in a think accent. “You are dancing with me, after all.”
Victoria’s eyes widened. My, he thought highly of himself, didn’t he? “I don’t even know who you are.” She was being bold, but she didn’t care.
The prince chuckled. He clearly thought she was teasing him. “You dance well,” he said, changing the subject. “But then again, I imagine you’ve had a great deal of practice.”
Victoria bristled, but tried to keep her tone light. “Ah, yes, I am a bit long in the tooth, aren’t I?”
“This is not such a bad thing.” The prince’s eyes narrowed, and he studied her with lusty interest.
Victoria fought the urge to step on his toes and run away. The waltz was almost over and then she could be rid of the man.
“Perhaps you would like to take a walk through the gardens with me later.”
“I don’t think that would be proper, Your Highness, but thank you just the same.”
He laughed again. “It is a masquerade,” he reminded her. “No one will know it is you.”
“Even so…” Blessedly, the song came to an end. Victoria gave a quick curtsey and then fled the ballroom, well aware she had never finished her sentence.
Nineteen
Fin drummed his fingers against the felt of the card table in the gaming room. He had already gone out this hand, so he turned his attention back to Victoria while he awaited the next round.
Not that he wanted to focus on Victoria, that little hellcat. Why was she being so obstinate toward him? He knew she felt what he’d felt in that kiss. There was more between them now than friendship, but why was she so reluctant to admit it? No, not just reluctant to admit it. She was quite adamant that she absolutely did not care for him in that way. Which was even more incriminating, in Fin’s opinion. She was lying. But why? To protect herself? To protect him?
The dealer dealt another hand. Fin picked up his cards and tried to look at them, but he found he was looking through them, unable to concentrate on the game.
He lost the hand and left the table. He didn’t know where he would go. He couldn’t go home. Like it or not, he still had a responsibility to Victoria. But he didn’t really care to dance tonight, so going to the ballroom was out of the question. Perhaps the library would be quiet enough for him to gather his thoughts.
Fin made his way there, his shoes clicking on the marble floor beneath him, but as he neared the door, voices wafted from within. He slowed his footsteps until he stood just outside the library and then peeked through the crack to see what was going on.
The distinguished guest for the evening had his back to the door, but it was obvious, by the thick Russian accent, that it was Prince Vladimir. He was unfamiliar with Russian royalty, but apparently, Prince Vladimir was a highly sought-after catch both in Russia and abroad.
Fin edged the door open a little more and bristled. What the devil was Victoria doing in here alone with the prince?
“I suppose I should have been more clear, Your Highness. When I declined your invitation to walk through the gardens, I was declining a walk alone with you anywhere.”
Victoria tried to brush past the man, but he grabbed onto her arm with a little more force than Fin cared to see. It took a great amount of restraint for him to remain hidden.
“Perhaps you do not understand who I am?” the prince said, his arrogance hiding the fact that he was offended.
“Oh, no,” Vickie replied, a false smile coming to her lips. “I know exactly who you are, which is why I have declined your invitations, you see?”
Victoria tried to leave again, only this time, the prince was truly angered. Not only did he grab her arm, he pushed her up against a bookcase on the far wall. For the first time in his life, Fin saw terror in Victoria’s eyes. Despite the front she put on for the world and the dangerous activities she participated in at night, she was afraid of this man.
“Ho, there!” Fin called, coming into the room. “Sorry to interrupt your romantic interlude, but I do believe your presence has been missed in the ballroom, Your Highness.”
“Who are you?” Vladimir said, without preamble.
Fin waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, no one important. Just a wealthy bachelor trying to avoid matrimony like everyone else.” He laughed at his own humor. “Looks to me as if you’re trying to trap yourself into the institution, bringing a lovely debutante in here with no chaperone. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
The prince finally took a step away from Victoria. He opened his mouth, then shut it again. And finally, with a curt nod, he excused himself from the room.
Fin heard the breath escape Victoria as he went to the door and watched the prince stride down the corridor toward the ballroom.
“Are you all right?” he asked, turning to her.
She nodded. “Nothing I haven’t had to contend with before. He just caught me off-guard is all.” There was a pause, and then, “Thank you, though. For…rescuing me.”
She said the word rescuing as if it were laced with rat poison. Fin couldn’t help the smile that came to his lips. “You’re welcome. Would you like me to see you home?”
“Home?” Victoria looked at him as though he’d lost his mind. “I have no intention of going home.”
Fin studied her a moment before he realized she was up to something. “Victoria, whatever you have going on in that head of yours needs to stop immediately.” His blood chilled just thinking about what she was probably planning.
She gave him an innocent smile. “I really have no idea what you’re talking about, Phineas,” she said. “Why, there’s not a thing going on in this head of mine.”
He might have found her slightly humorous any other day, in any other situation, but not this one. He knew her too well, and what she was planning was absolutely insane. Fin lowered his voice and stepped closer to her. “Victoria, I’m asking you, as my dearest friend…please don’t do this.”
Her breath hitched. Surprise registered on her face. Ha. Did she think him stupid? Of course he knew what she was up to. And of course he was going to beg her not to do it.
She took a moment and then leveled him with a look that might intimidate a weaker man. “Fin,” she said, “I am going to go back to the ball room. I’m going to dance. And then when I’m tired, I will go home. You are welcome to join me, or not.”
Then she brushed past him and left the library.
The Robber Bride (Regency Historical Romance) Page 24