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‘Lady Standon convinced me she could persuade you.’ He smiled down at her ‘How lovely you look, my dear.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘I’ve been worried about you.’
‘I know.’ From somewhere Maude found a smile and saw him relax a little. ‘Now, shall we go and dance all night?’
It seemed to Maude, emerging from the end of the receiving line and hearing her name announced, that it would be some time before any of them reached the dance floor. Eva had attracted her usual crowd of admirers and friends and was holding court in the first reception room, Sebastian, Theo and Gareth at her side and a collection of some of the most notable guests, including four of the Patronesses, drinking champagne with them.
‘Honestly,’ Maude remarked with the first genuine feeling of amusement she had experienced in days, ‘trust Eva to pick up all the best-looking men in the room.’
‘Well, she can put mine down, for a start,’ Jessica said with a laugh, watching Gareth responding gallantly to one of Eva’s outrageous sallies. ‘Here, let me help you with your dance card—and if you try to tell me you intend to sit a single one out, I will set Eva on you.’
‘Yes, Jessica.’ Maude submitted to having the ribbon tied round her wrist. They had been late, almost past the point of fashionable lateness, and behind them the flow of new arrivals had subsided to a trickle. Maude accepted a glass of champagne from a passing footman, having no difficulty ignoring the more conventional choice, for an unmarried lady, of ratafia.
‘Lord and Lady Langford! The Marquis of Gadebridge!’ the footman announced. ‘Mr Ravenhurst!’
‘Who?’ Maude frowned at Elinor. ‘Theo’s over there.’
‘There’s more than one Mr Ravenhurst,’ Elinor said, smiling. ‘See?’
As she spoke the crowd parted, heads were turning, a buzz of comment swept through the room, overriding the gossip and laughter. And there, in the middle—tall, immaculate and looking exactly like Jessica’s description of the dark angel from the chillier regions of Hell—stood Eden. The whispering fell silent; his expression was enough to make anyone think twice about any speculation within his hearing.
Then, just at the point where the silence became excruciating, Bel left her position at the head of the stairs and linked her hand through Eden’s arm. ‘Well, I think I might safely desert my post now, Cousin.’ There was an audible gasp from all around. ‘Have you met the Grand Duchess and your Cousin Sebastian? There are so many of us, I quite lose track of who has met who.’
Ashe beside them, she bore down on Eva. It seemed the crowd were holding their breath, then Sebastian stepped forward, his hand held out. ‘Cousin.’ Eden shook it, bowed to Eva, then was swallowed up in the knot of Ravenhurst men.
‘Come on.’ Jessica tugged at Maude’s arm.
‘No.’ Her head was spinning. ‘No, you go, I am going to sit down.’ She waved her hand vaguely towards the ballroom and slipped away into the crowd before Jessica could catch her.
Inside the ballroom, people were unaware of the stir outside. The orchestra was playing a spirited tune for a set of country dances and Maude was stopped several times by friends eager to talk and gentlemen asking for the honour of a dance.
‘No, thank you,’ she kept repeating. ‘I have been a little unwell, I am just going to watch.’
At last she reached the alcove near the end of the long room and parted the heavy swagged curtains that gave a fragile privacy to the space and its gilded sofa and chai
rs. Later, couples would sit out there to cool off, flirt a little, but now it was empty. Maude sat down and tried to make sense of that had just happened.
Her pulse was racing, her breath came short as though she had been running and she felt dizzy. It was the shock of seeing him, of course, she told herself. She could—she must—regain some control. But what was he doing here, calling himself Ravenhurst, and why had the family accepted him, without any sign of shock or rejection? And what did it mean for her?
The curtains parted, the heavy fringing rustling a warning and Maude plied her fan, trying to look as though she was just sitting out in the cool.
‘Ah, there you are.’ It was Eden. He let the green velvet close behind him and stood looking at her while she got to her feet without any of her usual grace.
‘Eden?’ Then he held out his arms and she was in them, uncaring what had gone before, only that he was here, now, and she could hold him. ‘Eden.’ Her face was pressed into his shoulder, the edges of his waistcoat digging into her bosom, his fob chain pressing against her ribcage, his heart beating as hard as hers.
‘Maude.’ He set her back away from him. ‘My darling, I can’t kiss you with that damned tiara on, I’ll put my eye out.’
She gave a little gasp of laughter. ‘That is not the most romantic thing you could have said, Eden.’
‘No.’ He was smiling at her and hope began to grow in her breast, like a snowdrop pushing up through the snow towards the sun. ‘No, but I hope this may be.’ Before she could move, he was on one knee before her, lifting her hand to his lips.
‘You accused me—rightly—of letting my pride stand before our love. I have the consent of your father to address you, I have the support of the Ravenhursts, your friends, in using my real name—their name—despite the fact that it is my mother’s also. And I have her blessing to go and find her a daughter to love. I believe that if you will do me the honour of becoming my wife, you can do so without losing any of the friends that you value or the life that you are used to.
‘Maude, you have taught me how to feel, how to love and I love you, with all my heart, with my life, with my soul.’ He raised his eyes to hers and what she saw in them stopped the breath in her throat. ‘Will you marry me?’
‘Yes.’ Maude tugged his hand. ‘Oh, yes. Eden, I love you so much, stand up and kiss me—I don’t think I can bear it for a moment longer if you do not!’
He got to his feet. ‘There is going to be a hellish amount of gossip until people get used to me being a Ravenhurst. You are certain?’
‘For an intelligent man, Eden Ravenhurst,’ Maude said, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling his head down to hers, ‘you sometimes worry about the most foolish things. People have been gossiping about me since I put my hair up for the first time.’
