Page 16 of Once Tempted

Six

Minerva kept to the shadows later that night on her way to the library. Since her brother had decided to send her away, and she was now willing to go, she decided to take her favorite books with her. Even if they were Humphrey’s favorites, too.

However, curiosity got the better of her when she heard the energetic playing on the pianoforte yet again. Mrs. Franks played beautifully, and though Mr. Stonebeck claimed he was not the man to turn her pages now, she wanted confirmation of his disinterest.

She peeked around every corner carefully on her way to the music room, and that was how she spotted Frederick Stonebeck for the second time that day.

He was seated in the music room, looking handsome and at ease at the back of the room, facing the pianoforte but with an empty seat left beside him. His fingers tapped along with the melody, and it was clear that he was enjoying the evening’s entertainment.

She studied him a long moment more, disappointed Frederick’s attention remained fixed on the front of the room, where the instrument took pride of place. Then she scurried away as silently as her slippers would allow to her original destination. Once in the library, she selected the five volumes of poetry she loved most, listening with half an ear to the performance ebb and flow.

She looked about the library again and saw that the news sheet had been left on the lectern. While she’d read it already, something in it had piqued her interest all day. She snatched it up and fled back in the direction of her secret room, where she’d spent most of the night.

She had already begun to pack. She would be certain to leave nothing she valued behind. It would be hard to go but, in the end, she didn’t want to remain where she was so little appreciated by her brother.

She hurried back to the hidden door and slipped into the stairwell. Breathing a sigh of relief at having encountered no one, she climbed the stairs to her private chamber and shut the door with another, heavier sigh.

“I find scurrying about in the dark utterly nerve-racking, too,” Frederick announced, standing up and bowing to her. “Good evening, Miss Chase. Did you find something worthwhile to read in the library?”

“Yes,” she admitted, startled by his appearance and wondering how he knew what she’d been up to that night. He’d seemed utterly engrossed in the performance.

He snatched a volume of poetry from her hand, glanced at the title page, and promptly handed it back. “I missed you at dinner.”

She winced. She had deliberately deceived him about her dinner plans for tonight, and he must suspect she’d done it to avoid him yet again. She had, but it was not only for that reason. Her brother had not wanted her there. “Shouldn’t you be downstairs in the music room doing all you can to make my brother jealous?”

“I’ve done enough to aid his cause today. It’s time for yours.”

“Mine?”

“I got the impression from your brother that you were never to dine with us again,” he said slowly, folding his arms across his chest and looking at her in such a way that suggested he already knew what was going on. But he couldn’t know what Humphrey had said about her. Surely Humphrey couldn’t be so cruel. “What is going on?”

She smiled and pretended everything was how it should be. “I don’t know what you mean. I was never explicitly required to join the party or dinners every day,” she assured him, but hated the lie. He was concerned. Being a friend. But that did not mean she had to confess her humiliation to him. “I was simply too busy and forgot to let you know I would not be joining everyone. The housekeeper knew, though.”

He looked at her with barely concealed suspicion. “Well, whatever the reason, I was sorry to have not had your company. I was looking forward to talking with you again.”

She laughed softly and turned away from him, setting her books down with the other things she’d gathered from the house. The paper, she folded to the page she wanted to read again. “Did you have more to confess? Have you made another wager with my brother?”

“I think I’m done with wagers for a good long while. They only cause problems between friends,” he admitted, offering her a hesitant smile when she turned around. “Do you trust me enough for us to become friends?”

She nodded. Friends was better than nothing, even when it wouldn’t be for long. She had been legitimately busy all afternoon, but when the dinner hour had arrived, she regretted she couldn’t attend to talk with him, too.

“Good, then let me tell you what you missed at dinner,” he teased, then regaled her with her brother’s poor attempts at capturing the widow’s attention, and him missing her flirtations back.

Although she might never forgive her brother for what he’d said about her, she did laugh. “I despair of him ever marrying.”

“So do I,” he agreed. “You should see him in a London ballroom. Two left feet.”

“I’m sure,” she said, and then pursed her lips. It was something she would never see again. London. Or ballrooms. All she had were memories. She shook her head, dispelling her regrets, which were many. “I was too busy with my own season to notice what he did when I was there.”

“I had not the pleasure of dancing with you that year,” Frederick admitted. “I was at home, mourning my mother.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said softly, but she really knew nothing of the Stonebeck family or his mother. “It is hard to lose a parent.”

“And I am sorry for your loss, too. By the time I returned to London, you must have been back here, mourning your father.”

“Yes, I imagine so.”

“Perhaps when you are in London next time, I might see you at a ball, and you might permit me the honor of a dance,” he said, his grin firmly back in place. “I’m a much better dancer than your brother.”