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“Is everything all right?”
“Oh Ralph, I saw you dancing with Miss Lucinda, and then Lady Julia started speculating out loud about the merits of a possible match between you, since she has a fortune and you —”
“Miss Lucinda Martindale?” He looked as if he’d never heard anything so outrageous. “And me? Why, I’ve never met her and we danced but once. Surely Lissa, you can’t believe I’d…”
Lissa felt all the fight and energy and optimism she’d ever had drain from her. “Oh Ralph, I’m no good for you. You say you want to marry me, and nothing would make me happier, but the truth is that I have not a penny to my name and, in fact, no name to speak of. There are too many obstacles—”
“What are you saying?” He was clearly incredulous. And hurt, too, Lissa realized as he added, “Do you doubt my ability to rise in the world fast enough to enable us to marry before you’re too old to hobble up the aisle? Lissa, have patience.”
“Oh Ralph, I have that, and I have faith in you in abundance. But…” she was trying not to cry, she who was so brave, “…when I saw you with Miss Lucinda it opened my eyes to how many other eligible young ladies—and their mamas—would be eyeing you. And it made me realize that your family would be so much more amenable to you making a match with them. Anyone other than me. My father might be Lord Partingon, but that makes not a jot of difference for he’s never acknowledged me, and he won’t, and nor would it make any difference if he did for I was born in sin and my crime is too great. No matter what I do, I can never escape that fact. One day, the time might come when you have to choose between your family and me, and I can’t bear to be the wedge that—”
She couldn’t finish for he’d swiftly dipped hi
s head and stopped her with a very firm, albeit very brief, kiss. There was also a grim determination in his entire attitude, as he canvassed their surroundings before seizing her hand and whisking her through the closest door.
They happened to find themselves in a small, chilly antechamber that was in total darkness, which is perhaps why Lissa completely lost her head, she thought later, and succumbed to Ralph’s passionate kiss. If she’d had any consciousness of her surroundings, she knew she’d not have twined her hands behind his neck and pulled him down to her with such single-mindedness, as if to wring from their brief opportunity every last drop of passion.
She didn’t care. Neither then nor later, for the flare of feeling and the conflagration of need swept away her despondency, replacing it with fervent determination. This was so right. She and Ralph were of one mind, and someday the church would unite them legally as one.
“Oh Ralph, I do love you so very much,” she whispered when they drew apart breathlessly.
“Are you now convinced that my heart belongs only to you?”
His tone was back to normal—laconic, slightly amused, and ever so reassuring. His feelings for her had not changed one jot, and nor would they.
She reached up to touch his face, gently contouring the planes of his forehead, nose, and lips. Being unable to see him charged her senses, and she felt a calm sort of happiness bubble up inside her. “One of the things I love so much about you is that you are so entirely dependable, my darling.”
“And not likely to be any different, where you’re concerned. Now, let me tidy your hair.”
“You can’t see me in the dark, and besides, I’m wearing a hideous cap. It’s a wonder you can bear to have anything to do with such an unprepossessing creature.
“To tell the truth, it’s rather a blessing you’re required to appear so downtrodden and mousey, I’ve always thought because you are far and away the beauty of your family.”
“Heavens! Kitty is the golden-haired girl and considered one of the most beautiful women in London!”
“Clearly, you want me to elaborate.” There was a hint of laughter in his tone. “Kitty is lovely, granted, but I was thinking about Lady Debenham, whom you so closely resemble, and if you were wearing the gown she is tonight and she the hideous bonnet that obscures your beauty, no one would look at her twice, and I’d not get a look in to ask you to dance.”
“Hush!” Lissa said worriedly. “My name is never to be linked with hers. Think of the scandal!”
“Scandal? To whom? Why be concerned now, about what will be made public when we wed.”
Lissa didn’t know what to think about that. Her mind was in a whirl of…she didn’t know what. Possibilities, fears, and doubts.
Then Ralph put his arms about her and drew her close for a parting embrace, and all her concerns drained away as she relaxed against his comforting, familiar chest.
“Everything will be all right, Lissa,” he soothed, kissing her gently upon the forehead so that she felt the warmth and comfort only he’d ever given her seep all the way down to her toes. “Believe me.”
And she did.
Araminta had not come so far in life without having honed an unsurpassed ability to put on a brave face when all seemed totally wretched. Or rather, was wretched. She thought this as she glided through Lady Richmond’s ballroom, graciously acknowledging the numerous gestures of esteem sent her way. Ah, but the admiration in the eyes of the gentlemen was balm to her troubled soul, for the events of this evening had left her deeply rattled.
Her secret was dangerously at risk of being exposed, and she had not the first idea what she was going to do about it. Then she was reminded of the next disaster in her life when the Earl of Moncreith murmured, “By Jove, but you’ve returned to us more beautiful than ever.” Of course, he was referring to the fact she’d so recently had a baby, and Araminta felt like dissolving into a puddle of woe and despair right then and there. For in eight months or less she’d be suffering the agonies of childbirth, but even worse, she’d be thickening in just weeks, and then once again she’d become invisible to all these men who looked at her with such interest.
“Lady Debenham, you look ravishing.”
It was Lord Ludbridge, as boyishly generous with his praise as he’d ever been. “I was waiting for your husband to claim you, but he appears to be occupied with Lord Smythe and Sir Smithers.”
“Plotting revolution or planning whom next to blackmail, no doubt,” Araminta said with a curl of her lip before drawing Teddy into a quieter corner. “Oh, my dearest Teddy, I do hate him so much but what can I do. You’re not going to run away with me, are you?”
