I know what you will say. At once, you will insist your place is no longer amongst the ton. You will tell me that the ton will cast scorn upon your head because of your financial position, but this night is not about that. I want you there as my friend because there is no other that I’d rather celebrate with. If anyone gossips about you, then they will answer to me for their rudeness.
If you can spare the time, please come. You are more than welcome to stay in my house for a few days afterwards. I would greatly enjoy seeing you again and introducing you properly to Callie. I am certain you will like her.
Your friend,
Marcus.
He broke off from the letter and read over what he had written. It was a long shot, but he had to try. He had to try and get Gregory out of living in the shadows.
Chapter 18
Alaina peered out the window, down at the stable yard. It was easy to find Caroline at a glance. She stood in the stable doorway, talking to someone who was standing in the shadows.
Alaina pressed her face closer to the window of her bedchamber just as the person Caroline was talking to stepped out into the light. She knew it would be David before his face appeared. Whatever he said to Caroline made her laugh most joyously. He looked about the courtyard, clearly checking no one was there to watch them, and then tried to take Caroline’s hand. At once, though, she pulled back from him.
Whatever passed between them was whispered softly. Alaina caught just enough of David’s expression to see him smiling somewhat sadly, then Caroline turned and walked away, heading back to the house.
With the two masks clutched in her hands, she sat down on the window seat, deep in thought at what she had seen. It struck her like a bolt of lightning that although she could never marry Marcus, for she was a penniless orphan and he needed money, really, there was no obstacle to Caroline marrying David other than her father’s disapproval. Caroline’s dowry could set the pair up for life and give them a comfortable home from which David could run their business.
Alaina’s heart was hammering in her chest as she thought of such things with hope. Those thoughts were only disturbed when the door opened, and Caroline hastened into the room.
“What are they?” Caroline asked, looking down at the masks in Alaina’s grasp.
“This could be the solution to all our problems.” Alaina beckoned for Caroline to come towards her. “The ball is to be a masquerade ball.”
Caroline practically tripped on the edge of the hearth rug in alarm. She paused, her lips parting in astonishment, and then she suddenly smiled.
“Alaina, you are a genius!” She crossed the distance between them and joined Caroline on the window seat, taking one of the masks from her. “How did you persuade him to do that?”
“I just suggested it. He talked of masquerade balls, and it made me realize that perhaps there is a way we could have this ball, and no one need know the truth.” Alaina pressed the mask to her face. “Marcus and I bought this today. When he wasn’t looking, I went back and bought this identical one.” She gestured down to what Caroline was now holding onto. “Look, they cover most of our faces.”
Caroline lifted her mask to her face and pressed it over her features. The white and gold mask was quite astonishingly beautiful, with gold thread embroidered leaves curling up one side of the mask, ornately framing one eye. The cheeks were fully covered, offering just a hint of their lips beneath.
“We could style our hair exactly the same way,” Alaina went on. “We’ll wear the same clothes, and then we can both attend the ball. We can slip in and out of the room. Whenever your father or your known friends are there, you can be there. I can be with Marcus.”
“It’s brilliant. Quite brilliant!” Caroline said with eagerness.
Alaina beckoned Caroline to stand. They crossed the room together, strolling to the nearest mirror. They stood side by side, holding the masks to their faces. Their masses of dark hair were nearly identical. With their faces completely covered, the only thing that really gave them away was the difference in their head height and their eyes.
“You’d have to wear heels,” Alaina said, abruptly uncertain if this was a good idea at all.
“I can do that.” Caroline nodded, standing on her toes so she was at Alaina’s head height. “Then the only problem would be …” She trailed off. In unison, they both stepped towards the mirror, looking like odd surreal images of one another. “Our eyes.”
Alaina sighed. The colours were not the same. If Marcus came across Caroline, he would know at once it was a different woman, just as the earl would realize Alaina was not his daughter.
“Maybe this is mad,” Alaina whispered.
“It could work.” Caroline had her old animation back. She lowered the mask and turned to face Alaina. “Think about it!” she said with excitement. “One last night. You can be with the duke, and I can pacify my father. We can come clean after that to Marcus, and it will be very easy to tell the ton that I simply decided against the duke’s offer of marriage.”
“You make it sound simple.” Alaina lowered the mask, certain it was anything but. She longed for this last night with Marcus, not in any rush to end it, but was it too much to hope for? One last evening dancing with him as if she were a true lady of theton? She knew the dances. Caroline had made Alaina practice with her when they were young so that she was ready for her debut.
“I think this is the best way,” Caroline insisted, taking the mask from Alaina and laying it down on the bed behind them. “We do not want Lady Markworthy getting wind of what has happened. If we come clean now, it may start gossip about me acting like a maid and you pretending to be the daughter of an earl. The staff might spread it far and wide. If Lady Markworthy hears it, she will spread it all over the scandal sheets within days. We need her to see with her own eyes that I’m here so if news of our switch ever gets out, they won’t believe it. They’ll believe the proof of their own eyes instead, that I was always here.”
Alaina chewed her lip, wondering if they were taking too great a risk for the sake of her spending one last night with Marcus.
“He’ll hate me,” Alaina whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“Who?”
