Page 28 of One Night with an Earl

Ana joined her friend. “They are both lovely. Lord Malvern will be happy you have thought to select a special gift for his birthday.”

Penelope did not look up. “But which one?”

“I’d pick the silver.” The artistry depicted a small garden.

“Good choice.” Penelope handed Ana the gold box and kept the silver one.

Ana’s father had enjoyed snuff, and he’d preferred apricot snuff. As she held the unwanted snuffbox in her hands, she could almost smell it. Apricots were from the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and the baron had grown to love them after his travels where he’d met Ana’s mother. His favorite snuffbox was a gold one with a miniature portrait of his wife inlaid in the mother of pearl.

“It looks like the shopkeeper can help me now.” Penelope headed for the counter with the silver snuffbox in hand.

Ana set down the unwanted snuffbox, then wandered to a display of jewelry behind a glass counter. A brooch with a cameo of a lady, a gold box to hold jewels, pearl earbobs, and a ring with a miniature of Queen Charlotte were on display behind the glass. Then she spotted another piece of jewelry. A turquoise scarab necklace with a thick silver chain. Her heart squeezed in her chest, and she felt faint.

Her mother’s necklace.

It was one of her mother’s hidden jewels that Ana had sold to another jeweler for funds to pay for her brother’s boarding school. The turquoise was her mother’s favorite, and she’d purchased it from a traveling Egyptian merchant while she lived in Lebanon. Ana could not tear her gaze away from the necklace. The silverwork was as fine as any piece here, the stone as large as a pigeon’s egg. The chain was thick silver. Turquoise was considered “lucky” in her culture. Pawning her mother’s jewels had been heartbreaking, but Ana knew, deep down, that her mother would have told her to do it to help her brother.

Ana reached out to touch the glass. How had the necklace ended up here? The jeweler she’d sold the piece to must have turned around and sold it to Rundell and Bridge for a higher price. Or perhaps another had purchased the necklace, then sold it to this jeweler or left it as surety against a loan. It was not an unknown practice.

“Ready?” Penelope joined her side. The snuffbox was wrapped in brown paper and tucked under her arm.

Ana glanced at the necklace once more before turning away. For a fleeting instant, she wondered how she could ever purchase it back.

Impossible.

Do not punish yourself with memories of the past.

“Yes, I’m ready.” Ana took Penelope’s arm, and they left the shop together.

“You were right earlier,” Penelope said as they stepped into the sunlight. Their carriage was parked down the street, but neither was in a rush to end their pleasant afternoon.

“About what?”

“I may have thought of Lieutenant Smithfield during the ball, but I did enjoy dancing.”

“That’s wonderful! You danced with several bachelors as I recall, not just Lord Falksly.”

“I did. Dancing is vigorous and fun, especially when I’m not under the thumb of my mother’s dancing instructor. As for Lord Falksly, even if I found him inspiring, which I do not, he is the second son of the viscountcy, and Mother aspires for more for me.”

Ana hoped Lord Malvern would stand up to his wife when it came to Penelope’s happiness. The girl may never be able to marry her soldier, but she could at least have some say in her future.

Penelope pressed a hand to her chest, her eyes bright. “But my most exciting dance was with Lord Drake.”

Ana’s step faltered, but she quickly recovered. “What do you mean? I thought the earl bored you.”

“Oh, he did when we rode in the park, but not last night.”

Ana struggled to keep her voice light. “Oh? Why the change?”

“Because he asked me questions about you.”

Ana stopped short to face her. “What could he have possibly asked about me?”

A teasing light brightened her blue eyes. “Oh, how long have you been my chaperone? How did Mother find you? Were you recommended by an agency? Do I like you?”

A fluttering stirred deep in her chest. She fought it down. She should be annoyed and worried that Oliver had inquired about her, not flattered. “Goodness. He asked you all those questions during one dance?”

Penelope shook her head. “He did. What on earth is going on between you two?”