Chapter Seventeen
Valor had beenvery much hoping they would not encounter Lady Letitia in this crowd, but Lord Tramondeley seemed to be her lodestone. Wherever he was, she would find him.
“There you are, Tramondeley,” Lady Letitia said. “No, do not say it. You looked for me everywhere, but in such a crowd, well it is quite impossible.”
“And yet you found us,” the duke said drily. His Grace found himself positively hilarious, though Lady Lititia did not seem to grasp the jab.
Valor was taken aback by the lady’s appearance. Lady Letitia always did favor…rather more than Valor would favor. Madame LaFray would downright condemn it. But this was…even more than usual.
The lady was dressed in a bright-yellow brocade with gold thread. If she had stopped there…but she’d not stopped there. There were lace trimmings and ribbons and buttons and it looked very complicated. Then, she wore very elaborate hair ornaments of citrine and even had citrine buckles on her slippers. She carried a reticule of beaded ornamentation, its closure covered in…citrine.
It must have cost her father a fortune, though the whole effect was rather off-putting.
“Oh I see,” Lady Letitia said, “we head to Lord Ledderbey’s table. Excellent.”
Valor was certain she heard Lord Tramondeley quietly sigh.
“Lord Ledderbey, how do?” Lady Letitia said, sitting herself down.
Just then, the orchestra in the garden began to play. Lord Tramondeley took Valor’s arm and steered her toward the makeshift ballroom floor with other couples who gathered.
They joined three other couples for a square. “I hope you do not mind that I dragged you away without so much as a by your leave.”
Valor laughed. “I do not.”
“Then I hope your father does not take offense to it.”
“He will not. Though he might take offense to being left to entertain Lady Letitia.”
“I would not blame him for that. I do not mean to be ungentlemanly, but I really feel as if she cannot perceive a hint. Where does she think it’s all going?”
Valor looked away, as she could not answer such a question and, in any case, did not wish to gossip about where Lady Letitia might think things were going. It might get uncomfortably close to where Valor was thinking things were going. Or at least, hoping about where things were going.
“I’m sure it makes me a bad person, but I really am getting very aggravated with it all.”
“Mrs. Right always says there are two kinds of people in the world,” Valor said. “One understands the subtlest of hints and the other needs to be clobbered over the head. She says she knows that from our housemaids. Clara will dissolve into tears over a frown and Becky cannot be convinced of something until she’s threatened with dismissal. Perhaps Lady Letitia simply needs more of a hint than you have given so far?”
“Perhaps she will get more of a hint with something definite,” Lord Tramondeley said.
What did he mean by it? What would be definite? Would she be stupid to imagine an engagement might be the definite thing? What was he thinking?
She did not know. All she could do this moment was enjoy the dance. He really had gotten very good at it. Or maybe she just admired him so much that it seemed so. She did not know and she did not care.
*
Damiano had beenadmitted to the prince’s party. He’d covered his disdain when his ears were assaulted with some sort of military orchestra all wearing the most preposterous costumes, or uniforms as he supposed they were.
He’d covered his feelings of insult when it became apparent to him that he was not to be admitted to the special room set aside for the French noblemen. He, a European just as they were. He, in a position to tell them what he’d seen and observed in Sardinia.
He would have told them too. His family were royalists to the end. What else would they be? If there was no nobility, there was no marquis. The prince was an idiot to not have brought him in. If the marquis had a certain Monsieur Bernard in the villa, it was not because he wanted him there. He just put up with it to protect their land. At least, he put up with it when he was not trying to poison Monsieur Bernard.
On the other hand, if he had been brought in and been introduced, it might have brought up some questions regarding that piece in the newspaper. A French nobleman could not be too careful these days. As it was, nobody had taken any notice of him. Insulting, but probably for the best.
He made his way to the gardens. The sun had long set and the place was lit up with candles. There were an endless amount of tables around a second ballroom floor and the scent of flowers hung heavy in the air. Despite his disdain of anything and everything the English did, he was forced to admit it was well done.
What was not well done was noting that Tramondeley had ledLady Valor to the floor for a dance.
He would like to dance with her himself, but for this particular night he must make himself inconspicuous. He did not want Tramondeley or anybody associated with him to know he was there. After Tramondeley was done in, there would be the natural questions about it. After it was done he would slip away as if he’d never been there at all. He took himself off to a dark corner to wait out the time. Let these people drink and drink and drink. When they were all woozily looking up at fireworks, he would strike.
