“Mr. Arkwright, Lady Everdene!” Pinchbeck enthused far too heartily. “Pardon our exuberance! My daughter very much wishes to be presented to the belle of the evening.” He gesturedto the girl in the rose-hued gown beside him. “Lady Everdene, my daughter, Lady Alice Pinchbeck.”
Pinchbeck’s daughter was very young and very pretty, her cheeks flushed pink as she fidgeted with the fringe trimming her sleeve. “I am—I am so glad to meet you,” she said in a breathless voice then turned to her father. “Papa, do go find Mama or she’ll never forgive either one of us. I know she wished for an introduction to Lady Everdene as well.”
“How should I know where your mother got off to,” Pinchbeck complained.
“You might find her in Lady Downe’s conservatory,” his daughter suggested. “She wished to see some rare plant her ladyship’s son sent from Brazil.”
Grace heard the creak of corsets as Pinchbeck made his bow, then headed off. The moment he was out of earshot, Alice coughed, and batted her gold-tipped lashes at Arkwright. “May I trouble you for a glass of ratafia? I fear I have a—a catch in my throat.”
Arkwright regarded her with suspicion, but there was nothing for it. He bowed like a gentleman and set out in search of punch.
The moment Grace and Lady Alice were alone, the girl turned to her, breathless. “I pray you forgive me for sending Mr. Arkwright away, but I so desired a moment alone with you. I could not say what I wish otherwise.”
Grace regarded her warily as the girl looked in the direction her father had disappeared.
“You will hear that I was among those distressed over your elopement. But it isn’t true,” she said fiercely. “Mother and Father wished the match to gain a political ally. Mother even plotted to catch Lord Everdene and me in a compromising position at the ambassador’s ball, but luckily the viscount foiled her plan.”
It was shocking to hear such confessions from someone Grace had barely met. She struggled to think of something to say.
“I always knew my parents would choose a husband for me and it was my duty to obey, but I confess, I am quite afraid of Lord Everdene.” Lady Alice fretted her lower lip. “There are times his lordship looks as if he could turn one to stone with a glance.”
“He can be intimidating.”
“I mean no offense,” Lady Alice said, turning wide blue eyes back to Grace.
When she saw Alice’s soft chin quiver for a moment she felt anger on the girl’s behalf as well. Lady Alice’s parents would have wed her to a man she feared. In society’s view, a daughter was nothing more than a chip to gamble with. “No offense taken.”
Grace glanced across the room at her handsome husband. No wonder he alarmed the girl. He had the aura of a jungle cat, all coiled power, ready to pounce at the slightest threat. “His lordship does have a formidable scowl. Before I came to know him better, I wondered if he practiced it in the mirror.”
The embarrassment on Alice’s face fled and she giggled, ducking her head to hide her merriment.
Grace laid one finger along her jaw as if considering. “I wonder what would happen if I tickled him with a feather. Do you think I might coax a laugh out of him?” She meant it to put Lady Alice further at ease, but suddenly an image seared itself in her mind. Hiding a plume beneath her pillow, then daring Lucien to lie still while she trailed the downy tip down the tender side of his ribs, across his flat belly and lower. Her own cheeks burned.
Lady Alice clasped her hands in delight. “Oh, Lady Everdene! I do like you immensely. I so hope we can be friends.” Thenthe girl froze, rather like a pup whose leash had been yanked. “Mother!” Alice warned under her breath.
A woman in silvery satin sailed toward them on Pinchbeck’s arm, the plumes in her coiffure waving like battle flags. “Why, Alice, you naughty gel! Meeting Lady Everdene while I was otherwise engaged.” Lady Pinchbeck rapped her daughter sharply with a folded fan. “You knew how anxious I was to welcome her ladyship back into society after such a precipitous departure years ago.”
The woman made it sound as if Grace was in her dotage. “It has only been three years.”
“But the circumstances! The scandal of a broken engagement can hardly help but cause one humiliation when all of society?—”
“Mother!” Lady Alice exclaimed in horror.
“I am merely stating a well-known fact. And it seems both parties involved have moved on, have they not?” Lady Pinchbeck said with an indulgent glance at her daughter that puzzled Grace. Pen-stroke thin eyebrows arched toward a roll of graying curls as the redoubtable matron regarded Grace. “Quite a triumph to attend tonight’s revels as Viscountess Everdene. It is a title many aspired to.”
“But,” Pinchbeck cut in, patting his wife’s beringed hand, “this shy country blossom has eclipsed them all.”
“Shy? Country?” Arkwright’s merry laugh was never more welcome as he approached with the punch Lady Alice had requested. “If you can find a lady anywhere in England to match Lady Everdene for wit and charm, I will leap off of London Bridge.”
“We must all rejoice that Lord Everdene has wed,” Pinchbeck said. “Nothing like an angel at his hearth to make a man realize how vital it is to keep fires of rebellion from spreading. Why, these vermin intend to turn God’s natural order upside down. I am sure Lady Everdene will remind her husband where hisloyalties must lie. His lordship has a distressing propensity for changing his mind.”
The anger Grace had felt on Alice’s behalf burned even hotter as she came to Lucien’s defense. “I admire Lord Everdene for his ability to alter his stance on issues. Especially in light of new information he discovers about those fighting for change. That takes courage as well as intelligence.”
“Well said!” Arkwright exclaimed.
Pinchbeck began to bluster, but Grace went on as if she hadn’t noticed. “Loyalty to a false statement does not change the truth,” she said. “When Galileo discovered that the earth orbited the sun, the inquisition threatened him with torture and execution unless he recanted. Still, the earth continued to orbit the sun.”
Pinchbeck blustered. “A man without loyalty is nothing.”
