Page 1 of A Mistletoe Masquerade

CHAPTER ONE

December 12th 1816

'Your stepmother expects you to marry a murderer?' Lady Rowan Chilcourt stared at her white-faced friend. 'I go away for two years and when I come back I find you meekly allowing yourself to be led to the slaughter like some lamb?'

'Slaughter? Oh, do not say such things, Rowan! And how can I prevent it?' Miss Maylin turned even paler, although how that was physically possible it was hard to see. 'We do not know he is a murderer-surely he is not-but the stories are alarming, and Lord Danescroft- Oh, Rowan, if you could only see him for yourself-he is bleak, unsmiling, utterly sinister.'

'You must say no,' Rowan retorted as she paced, the skirts of her Parisian carriage dress swaying. This was so typical of Penny: she was the sweetest, most loyal friend anyone could hope for, but she was painfully shy and utterly incapable of saying boo to a goose, let alone to a formidable creature like Lady Maylin. And what Penny's stepmother lacked in breeding she more than made up for in sheer bullying determination.

'I cannot decline, for he has not yet proposed. I have not even met him-not face to face. I have only seen him from a distance at receptions during the Season. Not that he stayed very long when he did come. And he never talks to people. Or dances,' she added plaintively. 'Or smiles.'

'I read about his wife's death at the time.' Rowan frowned, trying to recall the stories she had perused. Acting as hostess to her father Lord Chilcourt, in the midst of the glamour of the Congress of Vienna, had been an engrossing whirl of activity far removed from the sedate and regulated pleasures a single lady of twenty-four might enjoy in London. The English news had seemed far away and alien.

Even so, Lady Danescroft's death had been a sensational and scandalous mystery, and as well as lingering on the horrid details of how she had been found by the butler at the foot of the servants' stair, with her neck broken, the reports had been full of veiled hints and coded phrases. Lady Danescroft had been 'lively', 'well-known amidst the younger set', and famed for her 'wide circle of friends of both sexes'.

The Earl of Danescroft had apparently shown no emotion at either the inquest or the funeral, had declined to speculate upon why his wife should have been on the servants' stair at all in the middle of the night, and had simply become chillier and more abrupt on the subject as time went on.

'Are they really saying he killed her?' Rowan demanded. 'The papers were full of innuendo, but nothing about an outright accusation, let alone a trial.'

'Not exactly.' Penny frowned. 'They say that it is very strange he does nothing to rebut the rumours. He did not go into mourning for her. And-' she blushed '-they say he dismissed his valet the very next day, and the valet was very good-looking.'

'He did not murder the valet as well, then?' Rowan asked, half joking.

'No! Oh, Rowan, do be serious for a moment.' Penelope dragged a curtain closed to hide the swirling snow outside. 'I am sure-well, almost sure-he is not a murderer. He's an earl, for goodness' sake. But he looks haunted by dark thoughts, seems plunged in gloom, and they say his small daughter is kept locked up all the time. Poor little mite.' She sat down, dragging a shawl around the shoulders of her gown. Rowan noticed it was at least one Season out of fashion, and not the work of a leading modiste, either. 'How could I marry a man like that?'

'He sounds like the villain of a gothic sensation novel. But one has to admit it would be an astonishingly good match,' Rowan pointed out, sitting down in a flurry of fine merino skirts with considerably more grace than her friend. 'You will forgive me being frank, but-'

'I am one of the unimportant Maylins,' Penny interrupted, nodding in agreement. 'I know. We have all sorts of grand distant connections, but we haven't any money-and no pretensions either. At least,' she added scrupulously, 'we had none until Papa married again.'

They were silent for a minute, contemplating the ambitions of the second Lady Maylin. If she had thought that by marrying a second cousin of the Duke of Farthinghoe she would be catapulted into High Society she had soon been comprehensively disillusioned. But that did not stop her from trying.

'So why should the Earl's eye alight upon you?'

'My godmother is the grandmother of Lord Danescroft. Apparently she has persuaded him that he must remarry for the sake of his motherless daughter and to get himself an heir.'

'Yes, but you-'

'I know. I haven't any looks or money, I'm so shy I go scarlet if a man speaks to me, and I have just had a disastrous Season,' Penelope catalogued with ruthless honesty. 'If I looked like you, Rowan-if I had your spirit-I could understand it.'

'They want a doormat because no one else of breeding will have him,' Rowan said grimly. There was no point in trying to persuade Penny that she was a beauty. She was not. She had mouse-brown hair, a figure that at the kindest could be called slight, and was so self-effacing it was a wonder anyone noticed her at all. She was also sweet-tempered, caring, wonderful with children and the most loyal of friends. None of these endearing characteristics was of the slightest value in the Marriage Mart, of course.

'Yes. And because I am such a doormat I know I will say yes if he asks me. No one will support me. Godmama has arranged for me to be invited to the Christmas house party at Tollesbury Court. He will be there, too, and he is going to propose.'

'What if he does not think you will suit?' Rowan asked. 'They might be able to bully you, but surely not him? Earls can do what they like.'

'Godmama says she has already discussed me with him and he says I sound eminently suitable. She says he is tired of all this horrid gossip and wants a sensible young woman who will not treat him to vapours and who will get on with running the house and looking after the child.' Penny sighed. 'It sounds very dreary: I wonder he does not simply hire a superior governess and a housekeeper.'

'Because they won't give him a male heir,' Rowan pointed out with brutal honesty. 'There must be something wrong with him if his wife was driven to taking the valet as a lover. Perhaps he beat her? Perhaps he squandered her marriage portion? Surely your papa would not force you if such things were the case?'

'No, he would not. But he says I am being hysterical about the mysterious death, and I cannot get him to see that I have taken Lord Danescroft in complete abhorrence.'

'Then we must find out something to the Earl's discredit. Then you will have a logical reason that your father cannot but see is an obstacle to your happiness.'

They fell silent, gazing into the fire. Rowan stretched out a hand and picked up a buttered teacake, biting into it as though into his lordship. 'Is your stepmother to accompany you?'

'No. Godmama said that would be certain to put Lord Danescroft's back up and that she will chaperon me. Even Papa was forced to agree, given what a good match it would be. Stepmama was furious.'

Rowan licked butter off her fingers and pondered the idea that had crept, fully formed, into her head. 'Remind me who your godmother is.'

'Lady Rolesby.'

'Hmm. She has not seen me since before I went to Vienna with Papa. I doubt she would recognise me now-nor would anyone else, come to that.'

'No,' Penny agreed. 'For you have grown so much. You were pretty before, Rowan, and you are truly beautiful now. But what has that to do with anything?'

Rowan ignored the compliment: Penny had always admired her vivid looks. 'Why, I shall go as your dresser. The servants always know everything-I will hear all the gossip, investigate Lord Danescroft and prove how unsuitable he is for you!'

'Oh, Rowan!' Penelope's unremarkable face lit up. 'Would you? Could you? I don't expect there is anything to find out about him really, but it would be so wonderful to have someone with me to confide in. But what are your plans for Christmas? Surely your father cannot have intended for you to simply go home alone?'

'No, Aunt Moore in Yorkshire is expecting me.' Rowan grimaced. 'I will write and tell her I have been invited to a house party full of eligible young men and she will be delighted. My handwriting can be atrocious if I try-she will not be able to read where we are going.'

'I am supposed to leave in ten days. Is that enough time, do you think?'

'To learn to be a dresser? Surely it must be? How hard can it be?'

'Miss Maylin? You cannot be serious-have you met her mother?' Lucas Dacre, Viscount Stoneley, crossed one booted foot over the other and stared at his friend. 'She's the most vulgar, scheming creature in creation.'

'Stepmother, I understand. But how do you know her? You've hardly been back in the country ten days.' The Earl of Danescroft raised an eyebrow. It was the greatest show of emotion he had exhibited since he had wrung Lucas's hand three days before. Lucas kept his own face bland, hiding his anxiety at the change in his friend. The last time he had seen him, five years before, he had been his groomsman and had danced at his wedding.

Now Will was gaunt, unsmiling, his expressive brown eyes shuttered, and all the joy had gone out of him. It was hardly surprising: Lucas had spent several hours at his club, buried in the newspaper archives, familiarising himself with the scandal Will obviously had no wish to speak about.

He had not been surprised to discover that Belle had proved to be as careless with her husband's heart and honour as she had with his money. He had tried to hint at her character when he had seen Will becoming attached-it had led to the only row they had ever had and he had held his peace from then on. I told you so was not going to be helpful now.

'I went to a reception at Fotheringham's last night. Frightful bore, but I promised Mama I'd look them up when I was in Town. Lady Maylin was such a sight- all purple satin and plumes and vulgarity-that I asked who she was. Then I overheard her in loud conversation with her cronies. Such a catch she had engineered for her dear Penelope. Such wealth, such a lineage. I removed myself-if I had known she was talking about you I would have stayed longer behind my potted fern.'

The Earl grimaced. 'My grandmother has assured me she will not be invited to Tollesbury.'

'Your grandmother, if you will pardon my saying so, must be all about in the head if she thinks a daughter of that house will be suitable for you.' Or deserving of you, Lucas thought bitterly. Will needed someone to love him, not a gold-digging nonentity who just happened to be sufficiently on the shelf to swallow the scandal in return for the title and the wealth.

'I am assured Miss Maylin is not at all like her stepmother. And she is apparently good with children. Louisa needs a mother.' Will might have been describing the appointment of a governess. There was no animation in his voice, no emotion.

Lucas felt the anger stirring inside him. This was the friend who had always seemed to be laughing, the man who had helped him out of scrapes more numerous than he could count. His best friend-the brother he had never had-who deserved someone to cherish him, someone to bring the laughter back. Someone to thaw his heart.

'And if she proves not to be what she is reported to be?' he asked harshly.

'Then I would not offer for her.' Will looked surprised he needed to ask. 'I cannot settle for anyone who would not be a suitable mother for Louisa.' He shook his head. 'But there is no fear of that: I trust my grandmother's opinion.'

'I'm going with you.' Damn it, all he can think about is whether his new wife will make a good mother to the child. What about himself? Wasn't he hurt enough last time?

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