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She managed to evade Nicholas in the maze of small passages that led off the ballroom, but one pursuer found her as she threw herself onto a heap of cushions in the window seat of the small salon, and finally burst into tears.
Someone gathered her up; for a moment, she struggled, then she saw it was Guy, not Nicholas, and capitulated, sobbing bitterly into his shirt front.
He waited patiently until the tears subsided, then found her a handkerchief and sat her back in the cushions. ‘Now, do not tell me there is nothing I can do to help. I can at least listen. Speak to me, Cassandra.’
Once again she found herself pouring out her story to him.
When the whole sorry tale was told, Guy was silent for several minutes. Cassandra sat staring blankly at a vase of flowers which swam in and out of focus before her tired eyes. Confiding everything to Guy had left her drained.
‘Of course,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘if it were only myself involved, I would go to Nicholas and assure him my lips were sealed. But there is Mariette. If I appeal to her good nature, which does not exist, she will know there is a scandal to be made. Yet if I say nothing, we can still be certain she will make trouble. She has no love for Nicholas. He has repulsed her too often and what he said to you shows he is aware of that danger.’
He fell back into thought. His solution, when it came, was so startling, Cassandra was jerked back to reality with a vengeance. ‘You could always marry me.’
She stared at him incredulously, scarcely able to credit what she had heard. ‘What? You mean elope? Guy, you don’t want to marry me, how would that help either of us?’
He shrugged insouciantly. ‘I have been thinking lately that perhaps I should marry, settle down. Domesticity has its charms.’ He smiled at her. ‘It might suit both of us very well, but, of course, I do not press you if you are unwilling. Naturellement, you would stay with my housekeeper and I will stay at an inn, so you can feel quite comfortable. We will announce our engagement: there will be some talk, but with my reputation, c’est le vie. That will convince Nicholas that he is free to do the honourable thing by Miss Lucy. And if you decide afterwards you do not wish to marry me, we can quietly break off the engagement.’
Cassandra rubbed one hand across her eyes, wondering if she were asleep and dreaming. She could never marry him, as he was so light-heartedly suggesting, but he was right, this would offer her a breathing space. And, more importantly, it would force Nicholas’s hand.
‘Do not worry, ma petite. You can trust me, you know.’
‘I don’t doubt that for a moment,’ Cassandra assured him. He might be a rake, but he was a gentleman.
‘So why do you hesitate?’ He shrugged, ‘We are friends, are we not? After a good night’s sleep, this will all seem simpler. Tomorrow is another day.’
Cassandra couldn’t believe she was even considering his offer. ‘Guy, I can’t do it. What of your reputation?’
Guy laughed. ‘It could only be enhanced by your company.’
‘No,’ Cassandra stood up. ‘I am sorry, Guy, but I cannot accept your offer, it would not be fair of me, nor honourable.’ She looked up and caught his wry smile. ‘But we can still be friends, can’t we? You are the only one I can talk to.’
‘Ah, ma petite, of course. And I will not accept this as final. My offer still stands if you change your mind.’
‘I must go and find Nicholas and make sure he says nothing to Lucy to break their engagement.’ She shook her head in bewilderment. ‘I do not know what he was thinking of, to behave so dishonourably.’
‘Do not judge him too harshly. He is worried about you and he did not take the time to think this thing through. I have a reputation as an intrigant, but he should know I would never risk the reputation of a lady.’ He raised her hand to her lips, then gave her a gentle push towards the ballroom.
Godmama and Miss Fox were sitting, heads together, on a satin covered banquette just inside the door, talking animatedly. Cassandra paused to make sure they didn’t see her as she slipped past and remark her reddened eyes, then was caught by what they were saying.
‘My dear Sophia,’ Miss Fox exclaimed, with unusual animation. ‘I do congratulate you. What an excellent match, what a charming daughter-in-law she will make.’
‘Well, I must admit to some anxiety, my dear Aram
inta. He seemed so slow to recognise what was perfectly plain to me, that he was in love with the girl. But men can be so dense!’ For a few seconds, the two ladies contemplated the frailties of the male sex, then Lady Lydford added, ‘It will be such a suitable match, she has the looks, the charm, the character, to make him happy. When he told me he was going to ask her this evening, I was overjoyed. I do wish he would come and tell me he has been accepted. Where is he?’
As the two ladies scanned the dance floor, Cassandra slipped past behind a column and began her own search. So he had told his mother about Lucy. It was even more important now to make sure he did nothing to break the betrothal.
She found him at last on the terrace, but to her horror, not alone. Lucy Hartley sat by his side, one hand confidingly on his sleeve while she listened intently to his words. It was impossible to hear what he was saying, but the effect was clear to see.
Lucy’s expression changed from concentration to one of shock and dismay. Then she fumbled in her reticule and dabbed her eyes with a delicate handkerchief, her face averted from Nicholas.
Cassandra did not wait to see anything else. It was too late to stop him now, but if she was out of the way, already ruined by some other action, then there was nothing to stop him marrying Lucy. And if she acted now, quickly, before the broken engagement became a public scandal, perhaps the gentle Miss Hartley might forgive him and take him back.
Lucy was not the sort of person who would blurt out the news of her jilting in public, she would have too much pride and sense of decorum. Cassandra thought she had until tomorrow morning at most to put things right, but she must act now and find Guy.
He was where she had left him. One look at her face as she entered the room brought him to his feet, his hands outstretched to her.
‘It’s too late, Guy, he’s already broken off the engagement.’
