“It’s quarter past two.” The dowager sniffed. “Where’s your viscount, or are we meant to languish here waiting all day?”
Elizabeth, bless her, reached for a raspberry. “Are we languishing, Lady Alice? I confess I’m feeling wonderfully content.”
“I’m not. I’m gasping to see what’s under that velvet.” Alexandra eyed the easel in the center of the room, covered with a length of black.
“I’d like to see Lord Darlington about a different matter.” The dowager snapped her teacup down on the table next to her. “My gardener told me he was confronted by a jar of dead glowworms this morning and I’m afraid I amnot in charity.”
“I did remind him to let them go, Gran.” Only twice, before she left him sketching and took herself off to bed.
The sound of boots on marble rang out from the hallway, but it wasn’t an insect-murdering viscount who strode into the room.
Charlotte flushed. “What are you doing here, Warrick? You’re meant to be at the shore with the other men.”
Warrick settled into an armchair and crossed one tree trunk leg over the other. “And miss Darlington’s presentation? How could I deny myself such a treat?” He studied her and his mouth quirked in a small, infuriating smile. “What a cheerful color you’re wearing, Lady Charlotte. You’re not dressing for the grave today?”
“How odd of you to mention it. I am thinking ofsomeone’sfuneral.”
Lady Skeffington’s eyes went round as pennies. “You’re right! I see it!” she whispered to the dowager.
“A grandmother always knows,” the dowager whispered back.
Unfortunately, both the dowager and Lady Skeffington were going deaf, so their whispers were loud as gunshots.
Darlington chose that minute to slouch into the room carrying a tall stack of red leather jewelry boxes, which made the women sit up straight.
“So many of you here.” He dipped his head in what Charlotte thought was an attempt at modesty, as if he hadn’t asked them to gather. “How shall we proceed—shall we start with the real jewels, then I’ll reveal my latest ideas?”
Lady Skeffington nodded vigorously. “A most agreeable plan.”
“Hear, hear, show us the loot!” called Alexandra.
Darlington smiled faintly as he opened the first box to reveal a pearl collier. He lifted it and let it dangle from his fingers, all five strands of pearls gleaming darkly because they weren’t the usual cream. Darlington’s collier was made of black pearls, each one so lustrous that it seemed as if all the colors of the world swirled in its depths. But it was the clasp that made Charlotte gasp—the collier was designed to rest above the clavicle and cover the throat, and the wide diamond-and-jet clasp had five marquise-cut diamonds laid on their sides and stacked one on top of the other, like the spine of a fairy queen.
Charlotte allowed herself a moment of regret. While she didn’t care much for Darlington, she had fallen deeply in love with his jewelry.
Alexandra clapped with pleasure and even Helena’s eyes went wide, though she recovered enough to say, “Lady Alice, did you know that diamonds grow in a cubic crystal—”
“Let’s see the tiara!” cried Alexandra. “It is a tiara, isn’t it? I can tell from the shape of the case.”
Darlington nodded. “Would you like to try it on, Miss Alexandra?”
Alexandra could only squeak.
The room went silent as Darlington cracked open the case and lifted the tiara onto Alexandra’s blonde hair. It wasn’t a large piece, not one of those beastly old tiaras that screamedI’m frightfully expensive and can also be used as a weapon. Darlington’s tiara was made up of seven diamond arches, each hung with a dazzling aquamarine teardrop that swayed gently at the slightest movement.
Even Warrick, sprawled back in his chair, looked vaguely impressed.
“It’s stunning,” breathed Charlotte.
Alexandra craned her neck to catch her reflection in a window. “The problem with wearing a tiara is that one can’t really see it.”
“Then you must all have a turn wearing it, so you can look at it as much as you wish,” said Darlington.
Quick as a monkey, Georgiana made a grab for it.
“No!” Alexandra jerked her head away. “My turn isn’t over yet.”
Darlington turned to Charlotte and took her hand, placing a fat velvet bag in the center of her palm.
