“We are as kind as we ought to be,” Miss Redding said, and she raised Vanessa’s chin up and winked at her. “You are very brave, you know.”
“Me?” Vanessa gaped at her. “I am not brave at all… I came in here to hide, and you were the one to get rid of Lord Langdon.”
“There are many types of bravery,” Miss Redding said. “And I can see yours very readily, even if you cannot.”
“Thank you, Miss Redding,” Vanessa said, even though she was not entirely sure what she meant. “I appreciate all of your help.”
“Please, you must call me Phoebe,” she said with a laugh. “Especially since we are to become family.”
“Phoebe,” Vanessa said with a smile. “And I am Vanessa.”
“Are you ready to go back out?” Lady Selina asked, taking her arm.
“Yes,” Vanessa said, squaring her shoulders. And with her new friends on either side of her, Vanessa opened the door of the powder room and walked, head held high, back into the ballroom.
To her relief, Lord Langdon did not seem to be anywhere close by. The ball was still in full swing around her, ladies and gentlemen passing with glasses of champagne in their hands and the music playing almost too loudly to hear over.
“Do you have somewhere you can go where you will be safe from Lord Langdon?” Lady Selina asked.
“I suppose I could rejoin my mother,” Vanessa decided, spying her parents on the far side of the ballroom. Her mother was speaking to several matrons of theton,one of whom was a Lady Patroness of Almack’s.Mama is enjoying my rise in Society very much,Vanessa noted dryly.
“Good,” Phoebe said. “Then we will escort you there.”
And the three of them set off across the ballroom, Vanessa careful not to look around for Lord Langdon, in case she were to accidentally make eye contact with him. When they were just a few paces away from her mother, an idea occurred to Vanessa, and she stopped, turning to the two other ladies.
“I was wondering,” she said, looking shyly between the two of them, “would it be an imposition to ask you both to join me at the modiste in a day or two to look at samples for my wedding dress? I was planning to go just with my mother, but I would ever so enjoy having the company of two young ladies. I imagine you will also have better—and more modern—recommendations than my mother.”
Lady Selina smiled with delight while Phoebe actually clapped her hands together.
“We would be honored,” Lady Selina said. “Thank you for inviting us.”
“Just write to us with the time and day, and we will be there.”
Phoebe kissed her cheek, and then the two ladies bid goodbye, and Vanessa joined her parents along the edge of the ballroom, feeling lighter and more optimistic about the future than she had in a long time.
I have two new friends,she thought with wonder as she pretended to listen to her mother’s conversation. She had never had friends before. She had always been too shy and nervous that no one would find her interesting.
For the first time, she began to imagine what her life might look like as the Duchess of Thornfield. The Duke had promised her a free life, but she, who had never known freedom, had not a clue what that meant.
With what was she supposed to fill her time? Now, a life was starting to take shape for her: a life with friends, attending balls and parties and having ladies to laugh and socialize with.
I always hoped that it would be my husband who would be my closest friend. That our love would be what sustained me. That he would be the one I laughed and talked to at balls.But if her intended’s behavior had taught her anything tonight, it was that he could not be relied upon to attend social engagements with her. And if she had to settle for friends instead, that was not such a bad fate.
Unbeknownst to Vanessa, her intended had arrived at the ball. Even now, as she rejoined her mother and father, Winston was standing in the gallery above the ballroom, concealed behind an ornate stained-glass window, watching her. Leo stood next to him, also watching closely.
They had arrived at the ball several minutes earlier after an evening spent pacing his study and battling with himself over whether or not to attend.
“I cannot believe I have actually dragged you to a ball,” Leo said as the two of them looked out over the festivities. “Now I actually have to get you to dance.”
“Lady Vanessa is in attendance ,” Winston said dryly. “I believe it is the duty of an affianced gentleman to dance with the woman he intends to marry. That will also show Lord Langdon that she is mine and that he ought to stay away from her.”
“Then why don’t you go ask her to dance?” Leo asked, sounding bored. “We are just hiding up here like spies.”
“Because something strange is going on,” Winston explained. “Why was Lord Langdon banging on the ladies’ powder room door? He clearly was looking for Lady Vanessa.”
Winston did not know what exactly had happened tonight, but Lord Langdon’s strange behavior had him on edge. He had witnessed the man trying to break into the powder room, and then Miss Langley’s exit a few minutes later with Phoebe and her friend, Lady Selina.
“Look at him now,” Winston observed. Langdon had retired to another corner of the ballroom, but he had remained watching the powder room. “He is watching Lady Vanessa like a hunter might watch a stag he hopes to fell.
