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“What do you suppose might have happened if someone had intercepted that note?” she demanded.
“Is Jem going to live?”
“You risked my reputation to ask me that? Besides, why should you care?”
“Because I met him and liked him, and because of you—us—his life was put in danger. Of course I should care! I see you’re going to a masquerade.”
She stared at Araminta’s Spanish dancing girl costume, trying unsuccessfully to withstand the spasm of envy that, she feared, was plain for the other girl to see.
Araminta looked smug. “Tonight is very special. I intend a certain gentleman to make me an offer.”
“Lord Debenham?”
“Good Lord, no. Not after what I saw in that letter! No, Sir Aubrey. Although his reputation is somewhat tarnished, Sir Aubrey will have me to thank for restoring glory to him.”
Lissa gasped. “I thought you didn’t have the money to obtain the letter?”
Araminta looked uncomfortable. “Hetty has gone behind my back and somehow acquired the letter...but she won’t have it for long. I intend to retrieve it tonight. Lord knows what she was about, thinking he might look at her twice if she was the one to triumphantly brandish it in front of him. Now I really must go, while you no doubt have your governessing duties to attend to.”
She turned, saying over her shoulder, “Your concern is really most touching, but I’m sure Jem will be quite all right. He’s not dead, at any rate.”
***
Lissa dashed back to the Lamont household and had reached the first landing when a hand darted from seemingly nowhere and landed on her shoulder. She squealed and Cosmo stepped into the light, laughing. She hated his habit of accosting her from the shadows.
“Methinks only someone with something to hide could be so all-aquiver. What? Been to see your lover, have you? Well, that’s of no account to me, as long as you abide by our agreement.”
She shrugged off his hand and started to climb the stairs again, ignoring him, but he called her back.
“Clara is putting the girls to bed. I’ve told everyone you’ve been given the evening off to seek a remedy from your aunt.” At her open-mouthed shock, he went on, “That’s because you’re coming with me.”
She drew back,
frightened, as he made to reach for her, and instantly the sneer on his face told her she was unwise to make her distaste so clear.
Before she could ask his meaning, he repeated, “You’re coming with me to Vauxhall Gardens. It’s a masquerade, the perfect opportunity for you to do those lightning sketches you’re so good at, since you’ll be in disguise like everyone else.”
Excitement mixed with trepidation, for although Lissa had been envious of Araminta minutes before, the idea of being anywhere in close proximity to Cosmo was terrifying.
“My reputation—” she began, but he scoffed.
“Really, Miss Hazlett, you’re a governess, that’s all. Mama has an ancient domino rig-out she wore to a masquerade ball last century. The old-fashioned gown and cloak will fit you with room to spare. No one will ever know it’s you, and I’ll see you’re served ham so thin you can see through it and partake of all the Bristol Milk you desire. Don’t you want to know how the other half really lives?”
Lissa thought she heard resentment in his tone, for he was only a few steps farther up the social ladder than she was, looked down upon by those whose portraits he painted. His money was not inherited.
Her final, faint objections were made to his retreating back. However, when a little later she returned to her bedchamber and saw, lying upon the bed, a voluminous domino and a sculpted mask adorned with black feathers, she could not deny her excitement. Despite its antiquity it did offer Lissa the anonymity she needed. She whisked it up and saw that it came with voluminous pockets she could tie about her waist, enabling her to easily access her sketchbook. If she’d been wearing the narrow fashions of the day she’d have had to carry a reticule.
Of course, she should feel angry that Cosmo had given her no choice but to dance to his tune, but a night of rubbing shoulders with the haut ton, doing sketches for which she’d be paid, eating and drinking things that were not governess fare, did not come her way every day.
Clara appeared in the doorway rubbing her eyes, and Lissa quickly tossed the Domino upon the bed and stood in front of it.
“Master Cosmo said as you’d gone to visit your aunt.”
“I’m leaving shortly,” Lissa said quickly. What a rare opportunity to be granted a reprieve from her work. One arranged by the difficult-to-please young master who’d had it sanctioned by the rest of the family.
Nodding, Clara turned and left her in peace while Lissa dreamed of the excitement ahead of her tonight.
She would make the most of her freedom and she would do what Cosmo required of her, but she would not be at Cosmo’s beck and call all evening. Not when he’d neglected to pay her for all her sketches, as promised.
