Page 7 of A Dangerous Engagement

“That nice Mr.Ratley was flirting with you again.” Auntie’s brown eyes crinkled as she smiled.

“Do you really think he was flirting?”

“Come now, Felicity. I may not see as well as some, but I’d have to be blind not to see that he is showing an interest in you. Even Lady Blackstone said he was smitten with you.”

“But why should he be? He hardly knows me. You may have noticed—there are not very many women here. It was rather scandalous, but there were only six females at dinner, including you and myself, and there were fifteen men!”

“Yes, it was very many.” The same intimidated look crossed Auntie’s face as when she had first seen the other dinner guests.

“And I had never met a single one of them before. I may not know more gentlemen than the average twenty-two-year-old in London society, but you would think I would have recognized at least one person.”

“I would have thought so.”

“You must come to dinner again tomorrow, Auntie, even though I know you do not like to. I need to feel a bit less outnumbered.”

“Oh, you are safe, surely. You have Lady Blackstone,” Auntie said. “But what of your Mr.Ratley? Was he as pleasant and agreeable as he was on our walk earlier?”

“He was.” Felicity couldn’t help smiling. He had been attentive and complimentary. She had only known him for one day, but she could not help feeling flattered by the attentions of a handsome young man, especially one who claimed to have such a large fortune that he did not need to marry well.

But that seemed a mercenary thought, as well as a hypocritical one, after all her self-assertions that she was no longer interested in getting married. The truth was, she would like Mr.Ratley even if he were poor. Still, happiness in marriage depended at least somewhat on being able to support oneself and one’s spouse. It would be unwise for her to marry a poor man with no prospects.

“Perhaps you should write to your father and mother to ask them to make inquiries about Mr.Ratley.”

Felicity hesitated, then said, “Yes, perhaps it would be good to see what we can discover about him and his family.” She disliked the thought of investigating his claims, but she also had no wish to form an unwise attachment to someone who was misrepresenting himself.

“I shall write the letter in the morning, then.”

Philip McDowell arrived at Doverton Hall while the sun was high, its rays sparkling off the gray stones of the massive Tudor-era house. The manor house’s three stories towered over even the trees in the old hunting grounds several yards to the west side of the house.

Wrangling an invitation to this party had taken months. He only hoped it would prove worth it.

As he was taking off his hat and handing it to the servant, Lady Blackstone appeared.

“You must be Mr.Philip Merrick! How delightful to welcome you to Doverton Hall.”

“Thank you, Lady Blackstone.” He already felt comfortable with his borrowed name. He took her extended hands and smiled. “It is so kind of you to invite me. I have been looking forward to meeting you and your guests.”

“Mr.Ratley and Mr.Cartwright have told me so much about you. How is your poor mother? Has her condition improved at all?”

“Sadly, no, but I thank you for inquiring.”

“Come. We shall make you merry, I dare say. Do you like to shoot?”

Lady Blackstone drew him forward, and soon he was meeting several of the guests who were playing billiards. He only knew a few of them but recognized many of the names that he had managed to learn from Oliver Ratley, and he noted the names he had not heard before, branding them on his brain so he could write them down later in his room.

After spending an hour with the other guests, Philip started up the stairs to his room where he encountered two ladies on the landing.

He was arrested by the green eyes of the younger lady whom he was certain he had seen at a ball, perhaps two years before. She had been standing and conversing with Nicholas Langdon’s wife, Julia Grey, before the two were married. But what was a respectable young lady, a friend of Julia Langdon’s, doing here? Had he been mistaken that this was to be a time of planning for the coming revolution?

No. He had heard the seditious words with his own ears, spoken by the very people attending this party. But surely Mrs.Langdon’s friend was not involved in an organized rebellion against the government and monarchy of England.

Whether she was or not, it was his job to discover the truth. The lives of many depended upon his being able to uncover whatever was happening here. And if he misinterpreted something or failed to convey correct information back to the Home Office, innocent people could be transported far away from their homes and families, or might even be wrongly executed. It had happened before.

But even worse was to allow an insurrection to endanger the safety of England’s government, monarchy, and people.

“All of the guests have now arrived, and you are certainly the most beautiful and ladylike of all.” Lady Blackstone had entered Felicity’s room rather suddenly.

Felicity looked up from where she sat at the little desk in front of her bedroom window and closed her book.