When the blue lacquered carriage came to a stop beside her, the footman jumped down and opened the door for her. Stunned, Bridget stared into the plush interior as if she had never seen or ridden in a carriage before.
Ellie, clad in a peach carriage dress, tilted her head to Bridget, then sighed. “What are you waiting on, Bridget? Do I have a stain on my dress or a smudge on my face? Come in, for heaven’s sake. You and I need to have a conversation, and this time I need you to listen to me.”
Apprehensive, she stepped into the carriage and sat across from her friend, hunching in on herself. Eleanor’s eyes grew concerned. “What’s wrong, dear?”
“Nothing,” Bridget replied, but her still voice and subjected form said otherwise. Knowing her friend was not going to accept that answer, she admitted, “Today I had another client that showed me how much I am disconnected from the ton, from the other ladies. A lady came in with her daughter, eligible for marriage, dressed as pretty as a picture.
“It’s… not my nature to be woe-is-me, but when these moods descend, once in a blue moon, I’d say, it shows me what I could have become, and knowing it might never be… it made me feel invisible and… hopeless.”
Sympathetic, Ellie reached for Bridget’s hand. “I know it’s been tough, Bridget, and the card life has played for youcanandwillbe shuffled. You might feel like a jester now, but you’ll be a Queen soon, and I know just how to go about it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have secured an invitation to a ball where, if the rumors are to be believed, a certain gentleman will attend that most eligible ladies of the ton would sell their eyeteeth to marry, while the lesser ones would sell much more for half a chance at that.”
Bridget blinked. “But if there are so many ladies after him, many with more fortune and higher station, I’d imagine, how would I ever get closer to gain his attention?”
“That is the magic of a masquerade, dear,” Ellie smiled mysteriously. “With a mask on, you may have the freedom to charm him more than if you had met him face-to-face.”
“I—” Bridget paused. “I do not know how to flirt. It is an art I never mastered.”
“Even better,” Ellie smiled. “He might be bored to death with women batting their lashes at him and their coy euphemisms. Your fresh honesty is your best bargain, and I know you can and will use it to your advantage.”
“Meaning… I have one chance and one only,” Bridget swallowed, her fingers tightening over her skirts.
“And you must use it wisely.”
CHAPTER 5
“Amasquerade?” William dropped the invitation. “You are jesting, surely? Do I look like a popinjay to you? A dandy perhaps?”
“No,” Colin crossed his legs. The light flowing in from his mullioned study windows turned his brown hair a burnished bronze. “You look like a man who severely needs female company, the good kind, not the women of night kind, not the paid courtesan that could spill your secrets kind. You need clean entertainment, Arlington. Do you even remember how to waltz?”
Narrowing his eyes, William added, “Do you remember how to shoot a pistol? Keep pushing me and you might meet me at dawn.”
Rolling his eyes at the empty threat, Colin poured another splash of brandy into his glass. “I know you’re busy running around from bed to gambling parlor and playing this masked boxer, butfor heaven’s sake man, try to repair your reputation with proper channels.”
Plucking the invitation, William fiddled with it, then said, “I’m not as free as I used to be, Thornbury.” He took a mouthful of whiskey and added, “I am joining the Circuit.”
“What?” Colin asked. “You’re becoming a lawyer? I knew you studied rhetoric at Oxford, but I had no idea you were willing to help people.”
This time, William rolled his eyes. “TheotherCircuit.”
It took Colin a hair longer than William expected him to catch on, but when he did, his mouth fell open. “ThatCircuit?” he dropped his voice to a strangled whisper. “The grand battle of prizefighters? Are you mad?”
“Yes,” William replied, then shrugged. “Or desperate, you could say. There is no difference. I just need to clear off my debts that are accruing interest every day, and there are only so many assets I can sell off without losing my family’s legacy altogether.
“If properly executed, it is the swiftest way to rebuild my fortune after I gambled away a good amount of money from the family coffers. Now that I have a shot at redemption, I will take it.”
“But…” Colin paused to consider. “…what if your true identity comes out? We know you have your pseudo-persona of the Masked… what was it again?
“Marauder.”
“But what if your true identity is revealed?” Colin leaned in. “This reputation you are trying to rebuild might be dashed if it gets out. A gentleman boxer is… unheard of, and surely you know that.”
Tracing the rim of his glass with the tip of a finger, William replied, “I might make a new trend. Who knows, and it matters not to me. My history will always be in the back of people’s minds, and I don’t think a damn thing will shock them anymore.”
“This is dangerous.”
