Susanna’s parents looked startled to see him and Daniel. “Lord Hawksridge, Lord Weston we did not expect to see you in Brighton,” Lady Dearborn said.
“We did not expect to be here. I am so glad to have run into you. Have you seen Susanna? Is she with you?”
Lord Dearborn stepped forward. “Why would we see Susanna? She is at home in Marbury.”
Miles swallowed around a lump of fear in his throat. God, if she had not met up with her parents then where was she? His gaze slid to the stage. Would she still be with the colonel and his wife?
*
“Are you absolutelysure about this?” Clara asked as she fussed with the flower crown on Susanna’s head. Her friend had asked her this question several times since she had explained her plan to her this morning on the boat ride to Brighton.
Susanna nodded but inside her heart was breaking. “He said that I had taken away his choice. That hehadto marry me. Tonight, I will set him free.”
“But don’t you wish to be married to him? It’s plain that you love him, and he would provide for you.”
“Not like this.”Not when he is not willing to love me back.“Besides I have been selfish. This way he can walk away without censure from society. No one will expect him to marry a scandal no matter how many days we spent on the road together. I’m not what he needs.”
Colonel Hadley walked up. He and his wife shared a look filled with silent conversation. Clara shook her head imperceptivity and then the colonel turned to Susanna. “Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes.” As ready as she would ever be. Her parents were going to murder her when they found out. She cringed at the thought. This wasn’t about her anymore, this was about freeing Miles from his damned need to always do what he deemed was the right thing. She walked over to stand in between her two horses. “Hello pretty girls. Ready to perform?” She gave each a stroke down their neck.
Colonel Hadley came up behind her and with two hands at her waist boosted her up so she could balance with one foot on each horse’s back. After she adjusted her balance correctly, he then passed her the reins for both and gave her a wink. “Good luck. Enjoy your debut.”
Applause rang out as the acrobats took the stage and Susanna took in a deep breath as she and her team moved out from behind the curtains and into the center ring.
*
A trumpet blasted,heralding the start of the show. The crowd moved closer to surround the ring as Maddox stepped onto the stage. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” His voice boomed and the audience hushed, everyone’s rapt attention on the stage. “Tonight, we have a very special performance for our royal highness.” He bowed dramatically to King George, who sat on a high dais right in front of center stage. “Tonight, we presentA Midsummer Night’s Dream!” He clapped his hands and the curtains opened.
Acrobats dressed as fairies, male and female, cartwheeled onto the stage in frothy costumes made of sparkling gauzy fabrics. Miles recognized Giorgio walking across the stage on his hands. His sister, executed a handspring and landed sitting on top of her brother’s feet with a flourish, her hands waved to the guests. Applause rippled through the crowd.
Then two stagehands removed a section of the ring. From behind the curtain two horses emerged. Miles’s breath caught in his chest as Susanna rode into the circle, one foot on each horse’s back the reins wrapped together in one hand and her other raised high. Her hair flowed out behind her from a flowered headdress, its copper strands on fire in the torch light. She wore a dress with a voluminous skirt of pink gauze that ended mid-calf over white stockings. The bodice sparkled with bejeweled silk flowers. Susanna rode around the circle balancing between the horses like a damn goddess in an ancient chariot race. She stole his breath away with her beauty.
Next to him Lady Dearborn gasped. “Susanna?”
But Miles couldn’t tear his gaze from Susanna. She moved her center of balance to one horse, letting go of the reins of the other. He held his breath as she pirouetted and ended in a graceful arabesque which she held steady as the horse cantered around the ring again. Then in a slow motion move she lowered into the saddle astride. Reaching down into a bag that hung from the side, she did one final lap around the ring tossing rose petals out in joyful handfuls into the audience. Her smile as bright as the sunshine she always reminded him of; she was magnificent.
As she trotted to exit the ring the shocked murmuring of the crowd rose to a crescendo. The reality of the situation rushed through him. Susanna had just destroyed her reputation, in front of the king no less, for what? A chance to perform her tricks? He shook his head. That made no sense. He turned to Susanna’s parents but they had disappeared.
From next to him Daniel let out a low whistle. “What would possess her to do that?”
“I have no idea.” Miles stared blankly at the ring as it filled with other performers that included several men on horseback, one who wore a paper mâché ass’s head upon his shoulders. “But I am certainly going to find out.” He stalked toward right-hand side of the stage.
“Wait, Miles. What are you going to do?” Daniel called out.
He rounded the corner of the scaffolding and entered pure chaos in the backstage area. Performers were lined up to climb onto the wooden stage, horses held in place by stagehands neighed softly into the evening air, while two men practiced their act with a half dozen dogs that were dressed in tiny clothing. Miles spotted Susanna on the other side of the chaos. Her father, his face like a thundercloud, dragged her away by her arm. Lady Dearborn hurried after them. Susanna looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened when she spotted him. But in the next moment she was gone. Disappearing into the shadows beyond the torchlight.
The next person he saw was Maddox coming down the steps from the stage. He wiped his sweaty brow with a handkerchief. Miles stepped in front of him. “How could you let her do that?!”
“Why would I not? The drama, the scandal! The king loves nothing better. Everyone will be talking about my show. It is the best kind of publicity.”
“But at what cost to her? To her reputation?” Miles retorted.
“She came to me with the idea. She is a woman who makes her own choices, and has her own reasons. If you wish to know them, I would go talk to her. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a show to finish.”
“Well, that was cryptic,” Daniel muttered from beside him.
Miles could not wrap his head around why Susanna would run away and then purposefully ruin herself in front of half of polite society. He strode off in the direction he had seen her be dragged. Daniel kept pace with him.
