Virtue fanned herself, overheated now from more than the candles overhead and the hundreds of revelers about. “If you think it prudent to remain, I suppose we must. However, I find that I need some air. It is dreadfully warm in here, do you not think?”
“It is rather stifling, I must agree.” Lady Deering fluttered her own fan, the scene which had been painted on it looking almost as if it were coming to life, so swift were her movements and so intricate was the scene.
The action captured Virtue’s interest suddenly, for she had accompanied her sister-in-law on a visit to Bellingham and Co. earlier that day when Lady Deering had admired the frippery. She hadn’t, however, purchased it.
“The marvelous fan you were so favoring today,” she said. “When did you return to Bellingham and Co. for it?”
There scarcely seemed to have been time or opportunity.
A curious flush stole over her sister-in-law’s cheekbones, her pale skin and golden hair in stark contrast. “Perhaps a brief respite on the terrace will prove restorative!” she suddenly exclaimed instead of answering Virtue’s question, her tone overly cheerful and bright.
Lady Deering’s customary self-possession was so very infrequently out of place. Why, the last time Virtue had seen her sister-in-law looking similarly flustered, it had been the day she had spied her kissing the bodyguard, Mr. St. George. That had been the day Trevor had compromised her in the music room, and her life had become such a whirlwind since then, Virtue had never pursued the subject. Nor was she certain how she would do so, should she dare. It was hardly any of her concern whether or not her sister-in-law chose to have a dalliance with the man. She was a widow, after all.
Still, her reaction to Virtue’s question was interesting indeed, she thought as Lady Deering led the way through the throng to the doors that opened to a narrow terrace. Unlike so many of the recent days, it wasn’t raining this evening, which meant that the blessedly cool evening air welcomed them as they escaped from the din of the ballroom.
“There we are,” Pamela said, fanning herself a bit more discreetly. “Some fresh evening air to fortify our spirits. Precisely the thing! I don’t know why I didn’t suggest it sooner.”
She walked ahead of Virtue, her shoulders a tense, if elegant, line beneath her pink, Grecian evening gown, the fan flapping away as if she intended to take flight.
“Is something amiss?” she dared to ask her sister-in-law, trailing after. “You seemed suddenly nervous at my mentioning of the fan. I hope I didn’t overset you. It’s a truly lovely piece.”
Pamela issued a laugh that was unnaturally high, bordering on shrill. Also most unlike her—her voice was ordinarily carefully modulated. “Of course you haven’t overset me, dearest. Why should I be overset by something so insignificant as a fan?”
Why indeed?
“If there is anything you wish to tell me, I am always eager and ready to listen,” she told her sister-in-law, increasing her pace to fall into step at her side. “You will find me an excellent confidante.”
She had always longed for a sister, and now that she had one in Lady Deering, it was true that she would be more than happy to play that role. She had also come to care for Pamela, who had always been unfailingly kind to her despite her eccentricities. It was the nearest she would come to blurting out what she’d witnessed that day.
“Thank you, my dear.” Pamela closed her fan and flashed Virtue a grateful smile. “I am so pleased to have you as my sister now. I must say that Ridgely has never seemed so happy as he has since you wed. I scarcely recognize him these days.”
Virtue answered with a smile of her own, for her days as a married woman had been surprisingly and unexpectedly fulfilling thus far. There were untold depths to Trevor, and she was enjoying learning them all.
“And now, it would seem that I must thank you in kind. It contents me to know that you think I may have, in some small way, made him happier.” For Trevor William Hunt, Duke of Ridgely, deserved happiness. Like Virtue, much of his life had been laden with disappointments. Troubled relations with his parents, the loss of his brothers, his days as a spy, the unexpected inheritance of a title he’d never been meant to bear.
It had startled her to realize just how much she and her husband had in common.
Pamela was about to respond when the sudden arrival of another guest on the terrace gave her pause. Her spine stiffened even more, chin going up, and her countenance may as well have been hewn of ice.
“Come, dearest,” she told Virtue,sotto voce, “I do believe we’ve managed to take just enough air. Ridgely is likely wondering where we have disappeared to.”
Curious, Virtue turned to find the source of her sister-in-law’s sudden displeasure. A dark-haired woman in a stunning gown of white muslin and crimson velvet approached. She was, even in the flickering torchlight on the terrace, undeniably beautiful, her hair contained in a braided chignon, a matching crimson ribbon wrapped around, her bodice shockingly low, the better to put her ample breasts on display.
“Lady Deering,” the woman called. “How delightful to find you and your companion enjoying the air.”
Pamela was even more rigid at Virtue’s side, but her face was a polite mask.
“Lady Carr,” she acknowledged. “We were just about to return to the ball. If you will excuse us?”
“Pray, do not rush away from the terrace so quickly,” Lady Carr said, her tone oddly smug. “Indeed, I confess I saw you leaving the crush and made haste to join you outside so that I might be introduced.”
“Of course,” Pamela said stiffly. “Her Grace, the Duchess of Ridgely, I present to you the Countess of Carr.”
The countess’s smile was insincere. “How lovely to make the acquaintance of the lady who has at last ensnared Ridgely.”
Virtue frowned, studying the woman before her, who watched her with a strange intensity. Her eyes appeared opaque in the torch light, almost obsidian.
“Ensnaring sounds rather reminiscent of a hunt,” she returned calmly, thinking she did not like Lady Carr. Not at all. “I shouldn’t like to think of a marriage in such terms.”
