His eyes gleamed as he reached into his pocket and pushed a folded piece of paper into my palm. “Yes. Instruct your driver to take you here. It won’t take long, I promise. We’ll both be back in time.”
“What’s this?” I asked, staring down at the neatly written but unfamiliar address.
“Something I wish to do for you in return.”
Chapter Sixteen
Errors are not in the art, but in the artificers.
—Isaac Newton
A very, very cross Anna had scolded me ferociously, once to make sure I didn’t ruin my gown for the evening after her painstaking efforts to get me ready for the ball, and then again, when I told her that she had to remain behind and not accompany me on whatever secret adventure Tarik was planning. She still hadn’t forgiven me for the last time I’d slipped away to go to Covent Garden with said young manwithouta proper chaperone, especially when she’d caught me red-handed, sneaking back into my room.
“I don’t like this one bit,” she’d said under her breath so the other maids couldn’t overhear our conversation.
“I’ll be careful, I swear, and Henry will be driving me there,” I’d replied. “If Mama asks, tell her I’m helping Lady Ela with an emergency.”
She’d scowled. “I don’t like lying to the duchess, my lady. And you know what will happen if you get caught. A march to thealtar will be the least of your worries. Don’t you think you’ve taunted fate enough?”
“We won’t get caught, and I’ll be back in time.”
Ihoped.
But as Henry ferried me to the address on the piece of paper Tarik had instructed me to give to him, my nerves were hard to contain. Henry had informed me that it would take about forty minutes to reach the destination. While we drove, I switched out my beaded dancing slippers that had been dyed to match my gown with the ankle boots I’d carried in a satchel, since I had no idea where we were going.
At first, I’d thought it was Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, which had given me a wicked thrill, but we weren’t heading south of Mayfair, more to the east. Thankfully, I’d brought my cloak with a deep hood, if I needed to conceal myself for any reason. A girl had to be prepared.
As the journey continued, I stroked the soft silk folds of my dress, willing them to stay wrinkle free. I wouldn’t hear the end of it from Anna if she saw a single crease in the pale lilac fabric. The dress was embroidered with cream-and-gold flowers along the bodice and the hem, with a pearl-and-amethyst beaded strip across the waistline, and accompanied by elegant elbow-length cream gloves that covered my arms. My hair had been intricately wound and pinned with silk flowers, and a circle of jeweled amethyst and pearl clusters attached to the ebony strands. Anna had scolded me to keep my coiffure in place, too, or else…
I snorted. My lady’s maid could be rather bossy sometimes.
Dappled late-afternoon daylight glimmered through thecoach windows, but by the time we arrived, the twilight would already be creeping in. I wasn’t afraid—Henry was an excellent shot and could thwart any potential highwaymen—but my pulse still raced with a combination of exhilaration and apprehension. I peered out the window when the wheels finally started to slow, and sucked in a breath at the sight of the sprawling brick buildings with their multi-domed roofline.
My heart stilled and then sped up.
Goodness, he didn’t…
But clearly,astonishingly,Tarik had.
I disembarked outside the Royal Observatory, and there he was, waiting at the entrance in his formal wear for the ball later this evening, looking so achingly handsome that he stole my breath clear from my lungs. For a moment, I forgot about where we were and only stared at him, like he was the center of my universe.
His jaw slackened as he took in my countenance, his gaze dropping from the jewels glinting in my hair to the soft folds of my gown and climbing back up. “You are,”—he choked in a dazed tone—“by the stars above, you’re the loveliest girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Thank you,” I said, cheeks warming at the smitten expression on his face. “You look nice, too.”
Nice was too banal of a word to describe how incredibly dashing he looked in his raven-black evening wear, with his snowy-white shirt and cravat, and a navy, silver-threaded waistcoat that resembled the night sky speckled with stars. Histousled, dark waves, which I now knew were indescribably soft, blew in the slight breeze, and his eyes sparkled like backlit sapphires.
Finally, I found my tongue, which had found itself glued to the roof of my mouth. “What are we doing here?”
“It’s a surprise,” he said, offering his arm to me as he led us through the doors. “Come on. We are on a strict schedule.”
I frowned. “It’s a research facility. Visitors aren’t allowed inside.”
“There are always exceptions,” he said quietly, leading us toward a somber-faced man who stood some length away. “I want to introduce you to someone. Mr. Pond, this is Lady Rosalin Chen, the Duke of Delmont’s daughter. Lady Rosalin, may I present Mr. Pond, the Astronomer Royal.”
I only kept my mouth from falling open in sheer awe with effort. “Mr. Pond, it’s an honor.”
He smiled. “The honor is mine, my lady. Mr. St. Clair tells me that you have an amateur interest in astronomy,” he said, and my gaze shot to Tarik, who nodded encouragingly. A part of me knew that news of my spontaneous visit might get back to my parents, but I didn’t care. I’d deal with it if it did.
