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‘Dominic, no.’ Sylvia grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and held on, her brightly polished nails digging into his arm through the fabric. ‘Look, the only way this blows over is if you and Faith act like it doesn’t matter. You can’t be all affronted and embarrassed. You have to bore them out of it.’
‘I’m not talking to her.’ Just looking at her, acting the perfect heiress she’d never been before, had made it perfectly clear she couldn’t be for him... It made his teeth ache his jaw was clenched so hard.
‘Well, if you won’t, I will,’ Sylvia said, marching off across the room before Dominic could react.
Any eyes that weren’t on him before swivelled round to catch the scene.
Bore them, she’d said. Somehow, Dominic suspected that wasn’t the most likely outcome of this situation.
* * *
‘Of course, I’ve always found...’ Lord Hassleton said, and Faith tuned out again, secure in the knowledge that the peer liked the sound of his own voice far too much to ever expect her to comment on what he was actually saying. As long as she nodded occasionally and kept a polite smile on her lips, she’d be fine. And maybe one day, if she was really lucky, one of those waiters with the trays of champagne would come her way and give her another glass. Or brain Lord Hassleton with the silver tray. She wasn’t fussy.
This was her role, for now. She’d got her parents to keep quiet about her return, hiding out in her room until the photographers outside Fowlmere Manor grew bored. But it seemed her father was deadly serious about them working together on the regeneration. She couldn’t hide for ever, not if they were going to save the Manor, he said. They needed to get out there, meet people, start making new connections, new networks. And no one pulled a guilt trip quite like her father, so here she was, shaking hands, smiling politely and wishing she was anywhere else in the world.
It was only until her father got everything up and running, she told herself. After the intense interest about her return in the media, she needed this new boring Faith to make people forget her past. Then she could get on with fixing her future.
‘Faith!’ The bright voice to her left made Faith freeze. She didn’t relax one iota when she realised who it was.
‘Oh, Lord Hassleton,’ Sylvia said, her tone light and happy and lots of other things Faith wouldn’t really expect from Dominic’s sister. ‘I’m so sorry to interrupt. But you don’t mind if I steal Lady Faith away from you for just a moment or two, do you? It’s been an age since I saw her, and I’m dying to catch up.’
Lord Hassleton looked down at Sylvia’s petite hand on his chubby arm and said, ‘No, no, of course not. You gels go and...talk, or whatever.’ He turned to Faith, and she quickly twisted her lips back into the fake smile she’d perfected in the mirror. ‘We’ll continue this another time, Lady Faith.’
‘I look forward to it,’ Faith lied.
But as she turned away from Lord Hassleton and let Sylvia lead her across the room, she started to think she might have had a better time listening to another hour’s rambling on sewage works near his estate, or whatever it was the man had been going on about.
Just steps away stood Dominic, watching her with wary eyes. How had she not noticed him come in? Too busy trying to stay awake while listening to Lord Hassleton drone on, she supposed. But now... Now she could feel the stares on her back, the anticipation in the room. Everyone knew they’d been together. Everyone knew she hadn’t been seen again since, until tonight. And everyone was waiting to see what would happen next.
‘I don’t think this is a good idea, Sylvia,’ she said, slowing to a halt.
‘Trust me, it is.’ Sylvia tucked a hand through Faith’s arm and dragged her forward, smiling like a politician. ‘Like I told him, the only way this ends is if you two act like it doesn’t matter.’
But it does matter, Faith didn’t say.
‘Faith,’ Dominic said as they reached him, his voice cold and clipped. ‘I wouldn’t have expected to see you here.’
‘I lost a bet,’ Faith joked, and watched as Dominic’s eyebrows sank into a frown.
Sylvia glanced between them, eyes wide. ‘You know what? I think maybe I’d better leave you two to this.’
‘Probably safest,’ Faith agreed with a nod. Then, glancing around the room, she watched as every person there suddenly pretended not to be staring at them.
‘Actually,’ Faith said, turning away so most people couldn’t see her face, ‘why don’t we take this conversation out onto the balcony, Lord Beresford? Fewer witnesses that way.’
