Tempted by Curiosity

by Angeleke Kaldis

  They both laughed as she said, “Let’s just say that we all promised to dance with him, and I was the first sacrifice.”

  “Well the quadrille is coming to an end, and it looks like Emilia has just snuck in to finish the dance with Graves. Would you be willing to dance the waltz with me next?”

  Marcella dreamily nodded, “I’d love to.”

  The quadrille came to an end a minute later, and Marcella’s peered out to see Emilia and Graves bowing to one another in the middle of the dance floor. Lord Graves had a devilish smile on his face, and Emilia was glaring at him with an angry face.

  Alexander whispered in her ear, “Ready to dance?”

  She whispered back, “Yes.”

  He bowed to her and then offered his hand. She curtsied to him in return and then took his offered hand intuitively.

  Alexander then led her directly to the center of the dance floor and said, “Don’t worry about your friend. Archie is bringing her out to dance the waltz.”

  Marcella trusted him, she knew that Louisa would be alright because she was going to dance a waltz with a Lord. Just as Marcella was about to as well. They were both going to dance with handsome titled men in front of the ton, and on the night of their debuts into society too. This was everything that they had hoped for.

  Marcella put her hand on Alexander’s shoulder, and next she placed her other hand into his. He then placed his other hand around her waist.

  Alexander pulled her very close to his chest, and whispered, “Trust me Marcella, just relax and enjoy this moment with me.”

  She settled herself car too close to him, but this was a once in a lifetime moment.

  The string quartet began, and before she knew it Alexander had led her right into the most perfect and dreamlike waltz that she had ever danced in her life.

  Alexander was an extraordinary dancer. That was no surprise to her. Marcella felt as if she was floating above the clouds with Alexander by her side, guiding her into a blissful state of euphoria. The dance would sadly come to an end soon, and Marcella frowned at that unfortunate fact.

  Alexander saw that look on Marcella’s face and asked her, “What’s wrong love?”

  Marcella movingly smiled as she looked into his eyes and said, “I don’t want this dance to end Alexander.”

  Alexander took in a deep breath as he heard her sincere revelation to him.

  “Are you enjoying yourself Marcella?” He asked her evenly, and all she did was reply to him with a slight nod.

  He raised a well-expressed eyebrow at her quiet response to him, and she responded in kind with an arching eyebrow of her own. He loved how daring she could be with him, and how she heartily responded to him.

  Marcella wanted to reach out and brush away that dark curl of hair that kept falling onto his forehead every time he turned her, but she couldn’t do that because the music unfortunately came to an end.

  Everyone joyfully clapped, and Marcella let go of Alexander slowly to clap with the others around her.

  Marcella was tempted by curiosity, and she was far more tempted in figuring out what had just happened between her and Lord Alexander Westbrook.

  Alexander reached for her hand and then placed it upon his arm so that he could lead her off of the dance floor and back over to her friends in the corner.

  Marcella could see that her friends were in a cordial conversation with Lord Graves, and that they had smiles on their faces, but not true smiles.

  Lord Graves must have sensed them approaching because he turned around and smiled mischievously at them, like a little child with his hand in the biscuit tin, “Westbrook! Long time no see old friend. Are the rest of the rakish lords in town too?”

  Alexander shook Graves’s extended hand with force, not letting go of Marcella in the process, “Hello Archie, yes we’re all back in town. We might be headed to Starling’s later, you’re more than welcome to join us. If you’d like.”

  Archie hooted then barely whispered, “That sounds like a grand idea. I was hoping to go by Circe’s Palace tonight, I’m sure the Marquess could arrange something.”

  Alexander nodded to him, then turned back to Marcella, “Thank you for the waltz Lady Marcella, it was rather enchanting.”

  She curtsied with a grand smile on her face, Alexander smiled back, and then looked back to Lord Graves and said, “I’ll see you later tonight Archie.”

  They shared a curt nod, then Alexander left the ballroom, leaving them with Lord Graves, who then turned and said to them, “Ladies, tonight was great fun. I shall remember those dances till the day I die.”

  He laconically bowed to their table, but before he left them he took Louisa’s hand in his and kissed it longingly. As he walked away, Louisa exhaled with relief.

  Emilia looked over to Marcella and said, “Good, he’s finally gone. Now on to far more important subjects. Marcella, you like Lord Westbrook don’t you?”

  Marcella blushed, “How do you know?”

  “It’s obvious if you ask me. What does he smell like to you?”

  Emilia asked her that question with beguilement. Marcella was confounded by the question, and just stared at Emilia with blinking eyes.

  “Let me be clear. What do you smell when he’s close to you?” Emilia said.

  “What?” Charlotte, Louisa, and Marcella asked with utter confusion at the question.

  Emilia rolled her eyes, “A man’s scent can be rather attractive to us ladies.”

  “Really?” Louisa asked with interest.

  Emilia nodded, “Yes, so I’ll ask the question again. When you’re with Alexander, what does he smell like?”

  Marcella truthfully answered her friend’s question, “Honeyed almonds, woodsy pine, and chamomile tea. He smells like home.”

  A collective, “aw” sounded at the table.

  Louisa giddily whispered to Marcella, “You’re in love.”

  Emilia sighed, “You’ve definitely fallen in love Marcella. He’s been through so much, please tread carefully with him.”

  Charlotte agreed, “Promise us that you won’t play with his heart?”

  Marcella nodded seriously, “Of course! I promise you all, you must believe me.”

  “We believe you wholeheartedly dear.” Emilia spoke with such a mature tone.

  Marcella thought that Emilia had almost sounded like a mother, but then her tone changed as Emilia looked over and saw Lord Graves riskily flirting with the infamous Lady Joelle Cornwall.

  She blanched at the sight, “I loathe that woman, and I cannot believe that he of all men was my first kiss.”

  Charlotte dramatically gasped, “Archie? Goodness Emilia, why?”

  “I was young, my brother would always bring groups of the Oxford boys home for several weekends during the school year. Graves said that he liked me, so he took me to the rose garden one day and he kissed me. It was bad, very bad. Thankfully, my second kiss was far more better. It was with a true gentleman, and then my third kiss was pure bliss. I’ll never forget that kiss, or what it led to afterwards.”

  They all giggled at Emilia’s naughty revelation. The life of a Duke’s daughter was certainly fascinating.

  Marcella continued to watch Archie from afar. After some very inappropriate touching with Lady Joelle, Lord Graves walked away from the lady, accidentally dropping his handkerchief on the ground as he exited the ballroom.

  Louisa went over to retrieve the handkerchief, and then brought it back to their table, asking her friends, “Should we go after Lord Graves?”

  Charlotte innocently shrugged, Marcella quietly nodded, and Emilia said, “It is quite humid in here, if we stick together we could go out to the back terrace for some air.”

  They decided to walk out of the lively ballroom together, and then they exited through the rear glass doors of the ball that led them out back to the Stanton’s terrace.

  Chapter 12

  The Stanton’s backyard terrace in Mayfair was breathtaking, especially with its large marble sculptu
res. As they descended into the large garden maze below, there were candle lit lanterns that illuminated the stairs.

  Bushes and hedges were artfully shaped into various animals and amphibians. The garden was like a menagerie, yet the animals weren’t alive, they were made of greenery.

  There was a light breeze in the air, and both Louisa and Emilia took in a deep breath and exhaled at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.

  “Well that was peculiar.” Emilia stated.

  Marcella added, “That just means we’re all becoming fast friends.”

  Charlotte added, “I’ve never had friends like you ladies before. This is so nice, being able to talk freely, without worrying about society’s judgment, or opinions.”

  Louisa concurred, “I know exactly how you feel Charlotte.”

  Emilia’s face grew sad as she said, “I don’t have any true female friends of my own wither. I have my brothers, and their friends. I had a female cousin once.”

  “Had?” Marcella scarily asked.

  Emilia shook her head, “I’ll tell you more about that some other time, to be quite frank…just the thought of that treacherous trollop has my blood boiling.”

  Louisa groaned as she looked about the garden, “I don’t see Lord Graves.”

  Marcella heard a light growl and looked down to find an irritated Emilia looking past her. Marcella turned around to see exactly what Emilia was looking at.

  There was a group of men looking in their direction, and they were all grinning. Marcella’s heart began to flutter violently as she recognized one of those men as her dear Alexander.

  Marcella smiled brightly, completely forgetting where she was, “Perhaps we should approach the gentlemen. We could ask them if they’ve seen Lord Graves. What you think about that?”

  Louisa nodded, “That’s a great idea Marcella! Let’s go ask them.”

  Marcella walked behind both Charlotte and Louisa with ease. Emilia, on the other hand, slowly followed behind Marcella.

  Most likely trying to hide behind her.

  From what Marcella could tell, the men were all dressed up in their formal coats, with crystal glasses of whisky in their hands.

  Marcella tried not to laugh, as she saw one of the unknown men trying to hide the whisky decanter behind a stone-sculpture of a bunny.

  Charlotte saw her twin brothers Robert and Andrew, so walked up to them with a kind smile on her face. Emilia made eye contact with her brother Gabriel, and he nodded to her, causing the golden curls on his head to bounce.

  Charlotte looked from her friends and then back to the men. She then spoke lightly, “Good evening gentleman, this is Lady Marcella Stansfield, Lady Louisa Pinkerton, and I’m sure you all know Lady Emilia Hamill. Ladies, these are my twin brothers, Lord Dover and Lord Andrew.”

  Lord Dover elegantly bowed to them, and then added, “Good evening ladies.”

  Lord Andrew stayed slouched against the large stone bunny sculpture, he was no longer afraid of the women seeing the decanter of whisky that he’d hidden, so he pulled it back out again and nodded to the women without a care in the world as he drank from it.

  Emilia flippantly said, “Let me introduce the rest of the lot. This curly-blond Greek god over here is my brother Gabriel Hamill, The Marquess of Lyon. The man with the icy-blue eyes over there is Lord Thomas Kingston. That kindly blond man is Lord Christopher Bradley. We all know Lord Alexander Westbrook, and that annoyance over there is Vincent Lawrence, The Earl of Sweeting.”

  The Marquess sighed at his sister’s remark about the Earl, “Play nice Emilia.”

  Marcella took this opportunity to look at Alexander, who was looking right at her.

  He then walked over to stand by her side, he then purred in her ear, “I get to see you twice in one night. I must be the luckiest man in world.”

  Emilia overheard the sentiment said between her two friends and rolled her eyes.

  “Are you jealous?” The Earl of Sweeting teased Emilia.

  She turned to him and sarcastically said, “Excuse me? Did you, out of all the men in this world, ask me if I was jealous?”

  The Earl snickered back, “You haven’t changed a bit.”

  That caused something inside of Emilia to verbally explode, “You are ridiculous! You think that you can act all high and mighty, but you will never know about true love. Sometimes I’m glad you don’t even know about…”

  The Marquess had enough of this squabble as he bellowed, “That’s enough! You both need to cease with the collie shangles, especially in public. I beg you.”

  Emilia’s eyes started to water, “I’m sorry Gabriel. I do apologize. I’ll refrain from bickering with Vin.”

  Vin? That must have been a nickname that Emilia had given the Earl over time.

  Emilia and Vincent stood next to each other, both in complete silence, but the tension between the two of them was strong.

  Marcella whispered to Alexander, “They have a history.”

  “It’s not mine to tell.” Alexander replied back in a straightforward whisper.

  Marcella respected that.

  Lord Thomas Kingston stepped forward and asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you four ladies out here on the terrace unescorted?”

  Charlotte became rather shy as she replied to him, “We wanted to return Lord Graves’s handkerchief to him.”

  Lord Christopher Bradley motioned for the handkerchief as he asked, “Do you mind if I take a look?”

  As Louisa willingly handed over the handkerchief to Lord Bradley, she gently brushed his fingers with hers.

  They locked eyes at the sudden touch, and they both looked taken aback by some unknown force. Lord Bradley cleared his throat, and then began to inspect the handkerchief in his hand.

  Lord Bradley then clarified, “This is Archie’s alright, it has his initials sewn upon it. You ladies actually just missed him by a few minutes. He went into the maze below.”

  Marcella could see that something had ignited inside of Louisa, and possibly Lord Bradley as well. Marcella couldn’t help but smile at the hope that was roaming in the air.

  In fact, everything was going quite nicely between the ladies and the gentlemen that was until Emilia snapped out of her woe-me state and came back to life with her well-known fiery disposition.

  She snatched the handkerchief right out of Lord Bradley’s hand and said, “I don’t want to stand around here anymore, it’s getting on my nerves. I’m going to go and return this to Archie myself.”

  Vincent grunted, “The only thing that’s getting on your nerves right now is my presence. Why don’t I just go ahead and tell everyone what I believe happened last year so that we can get rid of the toxicity looming between us.”

  Emilia wiped a rogue tear that had left her right eye, then she turned to face the Earl head on. Before Marcella could guess what would happen, Emilia slapped the Earl with the hand that she had wiped her tear with.

  “I hate you Lawrence!” Emilia yelled.

  She then threw the handkerchief on the ground and ran into the Stanton’s garden maze. The Earl touched his face and looked over at the Marquess in utter disbelief.

  The Marquess then spoke, “Why do you always have to provoke her? Whatever you might think happened last year isn’t what actually happened Vincent.”

  The Earl took a deep breath before he ran into the maze after Emilia, followed by the Marquess who ran after the Earl.

  Lord Andrew finally spoke up, “She called him Lawrence, that’s very bad.”

  Lord Bradley picked up the handkerchief and shook it off. Turning to Louisa he asked, “Would you like to accompany me into the garden maze so that we may return this to Archie? I promise to be a total and complete gentleman with you the whole time.”

  Marcella nudged her slightly, and Louisa smiled up at her friend, and then took Lord Bradley’s offered arm.

  “Yes, I would like that very much. Thank you Lord Bradley.” Louisa and the sweet-faced lord then walked
into the Stanton’s garden maze together.

  Charlotte lowly whispered, “I have a bad feeling. Something is about to happen. I do not know what it is, but I can just feel it.”

  The petite brunette looked nervous all of a sudden, almost like a little child who was afraid of the fairies. She looked as if she might become sick, so Marcella walked over to Charlotte and gave her a side hug.

  The girl was very cold, so Marcella rubbed her hand up and down Charlotte’s arm to radiate some heat for her.

  Marcella then said, “You don’t look well Charlotte. Perhaps you should sit down.”

  Charlotte shivered and then nodded in agreement with Marcella’s suggestion.

  Marcella took her over to sit on a stone bench at the entrance of the garden maze.

  Alexander watched her with great respect, then acted on feeling as he spoke aloud, “Lady Marcella, I think that we should go into the maze after your friends, just in case they’ve gotten lost. Would you care to join me?”

  Marcella looked over to her friend first, “Charlotte, do you mind if I go?”

  “Go ahead Marcella. I’ll be fine out here. Lord Westbrook is a respectable man, you’ll be fine in there with him.”

  With that said, Marcella walked on over to stand by Alexander with a proud smile.

  Lord Robert Dover fixed his cravat and said, “Well, I have a partner to seek out. I’ll be seeing you all later.”

  Andrew chuckled as he said, “He just wants to go find Lady Rachel.”

  Robert punched Andrew’s arm, but then he returned his attention to his little sister Charlotte, “Will you be fine out here? You could come inside with us. We could get you a drink or something.”

  Andrew quickly added, “Lottie will be just fine Robert. Thomas can look after her.”

  The Dover twins looked to Lord Thomas and he nodded like the gallant knight as he said to them, “I’ll watch over her.”

  The twins were satisfied with that answer, and then they both walked back up the terrace in-sync.

  Marcella said to Charlotte, “Lord Westbrook and I will go to the left, how about you go to the right of the maze with Lord Thomas? That way we can cover the entire garden at a faster rate, find our friends and get out fast.”