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“Indeed?” Eva’s brow furrowed. “Perhaps it is true, but we have only just met…”
“That is true enough. But matches have been made with less social connection than that, I believe. And in any case, if such a renowned matchmaker as Lady Henrietta believes this match to be worth her efforts and her time, then who should deny it? I am certain I am not expert enough in matters of the heart to do so.”
Daniel folded his body into a low bow, then swept himself to one knee. “Miss Eva Darnell, I realize that our association has been quite short, in the traditional sense. Nonetheless, given the circumstances and the expert advice to which I have recently been informed, it is my pleasure, and my most willing inclination, to ask for the honor of your hand in matrimony.”
The world seemed to shudder to a halt. Time froze as everything inside Henrietta seemed to shatter into shards, a broken statue tumbling to ruin, or a mirror crashing into oblivion. Daniel down on one knee, holding Eva’s hand with an earnest if distant expression on his face. Eva, standing uncertainly, but not looking particularly unwilling, gazing down at her hand still gripped in Daniel’s own, and the handsome face before her.
She saw Eva’s mouth open, as if an image in a painting, suspended in time, and the word that ripped itself from her throat seemed a shriek of denial that shattered the tableau and created an almost physical impact upon the room.
“No!”
The word resounded throughout the salon of Almack’s, sending the musicians stuttering to a halt, and gaining the attention of the few individuals who had not yet taken notice of the events unfolding on the dance floor.
Eva and Daniel both stared at her in open amazement, and she shook her head, feeling the tears at last break free to stream down her face. “No.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
He had anticipated some reaction, hoped for some response from her in fact, but the impassioned refusal that Henrietta gave voice to was enough to surprise him and almost set him back on his heels.
She stood there, tears streaking down her alabaster cheeks, shaking her head and repeating her refusal in broken tones that tugged at his heart, despite all the feelings of anger and betrayal that had smoldered within him for the past day.
He gathered his composure, though a part of him wanted nothing more than to wipe away her tears and soothe her while apologizing for every one of his actions of the evening, and for his refusal to let her explain. The rest of him was still a boiling knot of painful emotions, his broken heart and wounded pride above all else. He rose smoothly to his feet without releasing Miss Darnell’s hand, and he fixed his gaze upon Henrietta’s with a cool expression of politely bemused disinterest settled firmly over his features like a mask of stone.
“No? But I had thought we were the perfect match, according to you, Lady Henrietta. Was it not your goal that Miss Darnell and I should be paired in matrimony by the end of the Season?”
Henrietta shook her head, grief written plainly on her beautiful features. “I confess, I had thought to encourage something of the sort, when first I came to your estate, Lord Salisbury. It was my original intention to see how well you would match to my friend. But as I came to know you, as I spent time with you, as I spoke with you...I swear it upon my family’s honor and before God himself, that by the second day of our association I had few such thoughts, and by the third day, I felt only distaste for the role into which I had placed myself and no desire to pursue my original plans.”
She shook her head again and turned to face her friend, who had reclaimed her hand, but stood silently to one side, listening to their discourse without speaking. “I am sorry, Eva, terribly sorry, for I know what you asked of me and how sincere you were when you spoke of wanting to find your match. But I also know, in my heart, that I do not wish to see you matched with the Marquess. In fact, I wish most earnestly that you and he had never met, because I have lost my own heart to him, and I do not wish to give him up.”
Her watery gaze returned to meet his, and he could see she was struggling to regain her composure, despite the tremor to her voice and the paleness of her face. “And to you, my lord...I offer you my most sincere apologies. I do not expect your forgiveness, but the truth is this—for many days, I have been far more interested in maintaining the charade of my original ruse for my own happiness, rather than any matchmaking designs I might once have harbored. Perhaps my deception has angered you to the point that you have no interest in any sort of association, but I pray you understand, and believe, that it was continued because I did not wish to be sent from your home and your company any sooner than absolutely necessary.”
“If you held me in such affection, then why continue to deceive me? Why did you not speak before now?” He managed to keep his tone cold, polite, distant, but in the face of that heartfelt and clearly sincere declaration, he was struggling to maintain the heat of his rage. It sounded genuinely like...he cut the thought off and dismissed it, but the uncertainty lingered and cooled some of the sting he had taken from her actions.
“I...I could not. That first night...it was so clear to me that you had seen many ruses to gain entrance to your home and were beyond wearied of them. I was afraid that I would be dismissed at once if my name and station were made known. That you would send me away with no chance of explanation or dismiss me with anger if I confessed the truth, that you would not accept that it was not all a ploy like the others you had endured. And I...I did not wish for you to send me away.”
“And why not?” He wanted to hear it. He needed to hear the sentiment spoken before his heart could have a chance at mending. He feared she would not speak the words, and that his composure might shatter if she refused to voice her feelings. He feared it might break even more thoroughly if she did confess to share the feelings he had for her.
“Must you ask? I suppose you must.” Bright eyes, still glimmering with unshed tears despite the clear marks of weeping tracing her lovely face, met his as she drew herself up and faced him, straight-backed, and chin up as Hetty—Henrietta—always stood when he challenged her, or she challenged him. “The truth is this, and may you and Eva both someday forgive me for it, but I have loved you for some time. I fell in love with your work, with your words, with the games of wit we played and the stories you told. I discovered that Daniel Thynne was so much more than the Marquess of Salisbury, or the wounded soldier recently come home from the wars on the Continent, and I fell in love with him. With you. I have felt it for many days, and I knew it for certain that night at the masquerade ball.”
Her voice cracked and trembled on the words, but they were clear nonetheless, and they hammered at the walls of his rage and the feelings of betrayal like a chisel wielded by a master bent on their utter destruction.
He took one slow step toward her, almost surprised that she did not back away from whatever she saw in his face, for he was certain that his mask had shattered, and all of his whirlwind emotions were plain for all to see. “You…” He could not continue, his throat locked up around the words as he struggled to control the turmoil inside him.
“I love you. And so I intended to tell you when the opportunity would present itself. I intended to reveal the truth of my deception and beg your forgiveness, and to make known my feelings whether you returned them or not.”
The walls he had erected around his heart cracked, buckled, and shattered to dust under the truth that shone in earnest from her expression, in her tear-stained cheeks and her watery eyes with their faded blue color, all light near extinguished, and her trembling rose-bud mouth.
He moved forward again, this time coming close enough to frame one side of her face gently with the palm of his hand, pleased that she did not draw back from him. “You would doubt my feelings for you?”
“I cannot imagine that you would return my feelings, after being deceived so.” Her voice was soft, spent, quavering. “I was sure that any feelings you might have had for me would have been destroyed by your discovery of the truth. Besides...I know well that anything you might have felt was for Hetty Smith...not Henrietta Stanton.”
“And what if I were to say that I found Hetty Smith the most enchanting, engaging creature I had ever encountered?” He bent close enough to murmur the words in a deep voice, for her ears only. “What if I were to express an opinion that perhaps Hetty Smith, my model, showed me a truer expression of the real Henrietta Stanton than a dozen formal social engagements might reveal? Would you permit it if I were to ask for the privilege of choosing to see Hetty and Henrietta as truly the same, propriety and conventionality be hanged…?”
“I would give you permission gladly, and entirely at your discretion.” There was a spark of hope in her eyes now, hope and love, and the spark was like a coal that offered to thaw the remaining shards of icy pain inside him.
“Then consider the question asked, and do not doubt that Hetty Smith has my heart already, and Lady Henrietta might well hold that and more, perhaps in the near future.”
He might have claimed a kiss, as a measure of his sincerity and hers, but they were interrupted. One of the patronesses, the Duchess of Devonshire he thought, had recovered from her shock at their indecorous behavior and descended upon the three of them in a whirl of skirts and outraged sensibility. “Such behavior, and in the midst of an Allemande, and the middle of this excellent establishment no less! Disrupting the dancing, proposals on the floor, interruptions, and such impropriety and not a hint of any apology...such scandalous behavior has never been seen in Almack’s, and I’ll have none of it now! Out, all three of you. Leave this instant, and do not dare to return until you’ve learned proper decorum and are ready to demonstrate the type of behavior that is expected here! And you, Marquess...I shall have words with your patroness about allowing a gentleman of such character as yours entrance. Now, depart, all three of you!”
