Page 46 of The Muse of Maiden Lane

“I do. My hair has often caused undue awkwardness for me. It’s why I resorted to that dye. I—”

“It isn’t at all the same.”

“I know that. All I meant was that I can comprehend how—”

“You altered your hair to make yourself ordinary. While I—”

“Not ordinary. I wanted to be beautiful, if only for a—”

“You are beautiful. If people discount it because of your hair, that’s their problem.” He thrust his remaining supplies into his art case. “Whatever their issue, it can’t compare with the bother my chair creates for everyone when I go out of doors. It’s trying even among friends. Among strangers, it’s something else. And with the weather, and the amount of effort—”

“What does a little commotion matter in the grand scheme of things? It’s a winter wonderland outside—all frosty and white. And there’s a full moon tonight. You could see the beauties of Sutton Park firsthand, instead of from the window. Not to mention…”

“What?”

Warmth crept into her cheeks. “It’s our last night here. Wouldn’t it be jolly to spend it having a sleigh ride under the stars?”

He gave her another of his unreadable glances. “With you?”

Stella’s heart beat heavily in her chest. “With me.”

His jaw tightened. For a moment, it seemed he would refuse. And then: “Very well,” he said brusquely, snapping shut his case. “I’ll come.”

Twelve

Teddy gripped hard to Jennings’s shoulder as Jennings slowly conveyed him down the curving marble staircase, step by laborious step. It was the usual method by which they managed stairs, with Jennings’s arms firmly around Teddy’s midsection, hoisting Teddy up so that his legs fell straight beneath him, and his booted feet just brushed the floor.

It would, perhaps, have been easier if Jennings had simply carried Teddy. That’s how Teddy had been moved from one place to another in the early days of his injury. How he’d abhorred that mode of assistance! The sense of helplessness—of somehow being less than a man—had been insupportable.

He far preferred the feeling of leaning on Jennings to that of being cradled by the man like a babe. It made it no less awkward with so many people watching.

Ladies and gentlemen trotted past them down the staircase on their way to the entry hall below, all of them bundled up in their warmest coats and cloaks in readiness for an evening of sleigh rides through snow. They threw countless pitying glances Teddy’s way as they descended. Alex and Laura, who were following close behind Teddy, no doubt registered every one of them.

Teddy marked them, too, but unlike his sister and brother-in-law, he did his level best to ignore the looks and the whispers. Over the past two years, he’d had a great deal of practice in ignoring such things.

That didn’t mean he was blind to the obstacles awaiting him this evening. He’d been contemplating the difficulties that a sleigh ride would entail all afternoon. It wasn’t just climbing into the vehicle that was at issue. It was the ordeal of descending to the hall, and then of making his way down the icy front steps to the sleigh below, all amid a flurry of goggle-eyed guests who hadn’t the sense not to gape at him like simpletons.

But Teddy had given his word to Stella. And really, this wasn’t so different from the tedious logistical maneuvering he dealt with every day. It was only that tonight there was a larger audience to it.

“I don’t object to you going sleighing,” Laura said as Jennings settled Teddy into his chair at the bottom of the stairs. “I only question your going alone.”

Teddy straightened himself in his seat. Gripping his wheels with his gloved hands, he rolled his chair toward the closed doors of the hall. “Who said I was going alone?”

Alex’s face was impassive as he kept pace with him. “You’ll be joining a young lady, I presume.”

Laura took her husband’s proffered arm, walking along with him. “Why would you presume that?”

“What else could have persuaded him to participate in an outdoor activity?”

Teddy shot a narrow glance at his sister and brother-in-law. “If you must know, I’ve agreed to join Miss Hobhouse.” He didn’t wait for them to respond. “Jennings? The door.”

Jennings darted ahead. Snowflakes swirled into the hall on an icy gust of air as he opened the door. Outside, a slim, velvet-cloaked lady waited at the top of the snow-covered stone steps in company with one of the footmen. It was Stella.

Steeling himself, Teddy wheeled his chair outside. “Miss Hobhouse.”

She turned sharply, a leatherbound book tucked under one arm and a fur-trimmed muff dangling from her hand. Her eyes brightened with something like relief. “Mr. Hayes.”

He realized then that she’d been uncertain of him. That she’d thought he wasn’t coming.