“Forgive me, but you have had such a long face since you returned from Dover.”
“It was a difficult trip, but no matter.” She turned from the mirror. “How are the preparations? Is everything coming together below stairs? And in the ballroom?”
“Yes, My Lady. Splendidly, My Lady. The orchestra is already here, and Richmond is overseeing everything. The food is prepared, and Mrs. Parker has a firm hold on it all.”
“Good.” She nodded. “Good.”
The ball still had to go well. Whatever had passed between her and Julian, whatever had not passed between them, she and Julian had to convince a hundred and twenty of the most observant people in England tonight that they were a couple that had been happily married for over a year with a child to show for it. If she could manage that, she could manage anything. She had always loved the theatre after all.
They spent another half hour on her hair, added a little pomade, and a little charcoal around her eyes before she went downstairs. Julian waited at the bottom, and she made herself look at him directly because not looking would give more away than looking.
He was dressed in his finest pantaloons that gave a clear account of his legs, a white shirt, a yellow waistcoat, and a morning coat. A large cravat was arranged at his neck, and his cufflinks caught the light as he turned.
“You look lovely,” he said.
“Thank you,” she replied, as cordially as she could manage.
She had made a decision. Cordial. She could be cordial. If she was anything warmer, he would take it as an opening forconversation, and she could not have that. She was not going to be his friend. She was his partner in this arrangement, the one he had very clearly defined, and that was what she would be tonight and hereafter.
He offered his arm, and they walked towards the front of the house where carriages were already beginning to line up in the street. Just as they reached the front door where Richmond stood ready to open it, Julian turned to her and lowered his voice.
“This must be not only an impressive ball but a perfect performance from us. Everyone must believe we are who we say we are. David’s parents. A couple together for over a year. Perfectly happy.”
“I am aware of what is at stake,” she said. “Do not fret. I know my part, and I shall play it well.”
“We will have to dance the first dance together.”
“I am also aware of that. I have already spoken to the master of ceremonies.” She glanced towards the door. “If we stand here much longer, the guests will suspect something is wrong. We cannot keep the ton waiting on the front step.”
He blinked. The easy confidence that usually sat so naturally on his face was momentarily absent. Then he nodded. “Very well.”
Together, they went to the door and stood side by side, shoulders touching. Not by accident this time. Not because they sought each other’s company. Because they had to look like two people who could not bear to be apart, not even as they greeted their guests, and so that was what they would look like.
What followed was a long and not entirely swift procession of a hundred and twenty of England’s most highly ranked gentlemen and their wives, along with an assortment of respected merchants, knights, and whoever else they had deemed important enough to include. Clara smiled and nodded and curtsied and said the right things, and Julian shook hands and was charming which cost him nothing because he was always charming, and she tried not to notice that.
Among the guests were, of course, their friends. Nathaniel and Evelyn arrived, and Evelyn leaned forward for a moment as they embraced. “You look a splendid pair,” she whispered. “It is difficult to imagine he was truly such a fool as to…”
“Please,” Clara said quietly, and Evelyn pressed her hand and moved on.
But the word stayed with her.Fool.She had not thought of it in those terms yet. That was what it looked like to their friends, that Julian had seen the potential of something real and had rejected it. The realization sat uncomfortably in her chest, but she kept her smile in place.
Lucian and Marian arrived next then Charlotte then James and Frances and last of all, Gideon with Helena on his arm. Helenasqueezed Clara’s hand as she leaned in. “We must talk,” she whispered. Clara nodded.
The line of guests seemed as though it would never end. When it finally did, she and Julian walked arm in arm into the ballroom. People turned. There were cheers and a round of applause which she had not entirely anticipated but which made maintaining the smile considerably easier because, for a moment, the warmth of the room made it feel almost genuine.
The ball at Lynden House had been much anticipated. The scandal sheets had written about it at some length, wondering what food would be served, who would be there, and whether an announcement would be made.
There would be an announcement, of a sort but not the kind anyone expected. She and Julian had agreed, back before Dover, that rather than a formal address, they would simply allow their story to circulate through their friends. By the end of the evening, every person in the room would know it. It was the right plan. It had been the right plan then, and it remained so now, even if agreeing upon it felt like it belonged to a different version of the two of them entirely.
As for the two of them, they would open the ball with a dance. That was what she had dreaded the most.
“It is time,” Julian said, and he walked her to the center of the floor. The master of ceremonies moved to make his announcement, and Clara straightened and prepared herself.
Then the man announced the waltz.
Her smile faltered for just a moment. “The waltz,” she said.
“We can dance a minuet, later,” Julian suggested, already positioning his hand at her waist. “But, for now, it must be the waltz. There is nothing more persuasive.” He drew her closer, and she resisted the urge to step back. “It cannot be such a great imposition,” he said through a smile that did not waver, “to dance with your husband.”
