“But it is on a Wednesday night.”
Ah. The same night as Almack’s Wednesday Night Balls. Now I see.
Helena ran the timings in her head.
“If we leave early from Lady Lister’s dinner party, we can still make it to Almack’s for the Wednesday Night Ball. How is that?” she told Chastity with a placating smile.
“We shall be very late.”
“Well, yes, but there will still be enough time to enjoy the ball.”
“Barely,” Chastity said, jutting her chin.
“Chastity, that is the best I can do without giving affront to Lady Lister,” Helena said wearily. “It will have to do.”
Chastity sniffed.
“It seems that I have no choice but to accept.”
Then, without another word, Chastity walked off, leaving her sisters silent in her wake.
“This is the third time in two days that I have wanted to throttle her,” Faith said with a disgusted look at the space Chastity vacated. “By your leave, Helena, I shall do it now!”
Faith started to rise, and Helena, half laughing, reached over and stayed her.
“I shall thank you for doing no such thing to your sister.”
“She’s always so short with everyone now,” Grace complained. “I just asked her yesterday if she saw the number of invitations on the foyer table, and she told me that there was no use to her seeing them, then she stalked off as if I had said a very bad thing.”
“My dears, you must be patient with Chastity. The pressures of the London season for young ladies are not a slight matter. It is getting to her, I think,” Helena said placatingly. “We must stretch our patience a little more. When it is your turn, you shall see.”
“I shall never be that surly,” Grace vowed. “Especially not to you, Helena.”
“Grace wants new ribbons to trim her blue bonnet,” Faith said drolly.
Helena laughed aloud at her sisters. She was very glad that these two at least still saw her as an ally and not as an enemy. And she fervently hoped that it would remain such.
With her two youngest sisters, Helena pretended that everything was in order, that she was still capable of handling Chastity.
“I shall talk to Chastity,” Helena said.
“You already tried to reach out to her,” Faith replied. “She keeps answering with one-syllable words. How do you plan to do so now?”
It was true, Helena felt that nothing she did seemed to help; in fact, Chastity only seemed to become more irritated at her. Neither Faith or Chastity’s efforts did any good.
There was a moment when Helena had considered asking her mother for help, but she knew that would not be a very good idea. And of course, she did not want to appear as if she could not handle the responsibility. She was barely handling it now. She let out a long sigh.
“I am not yet quite sure.” Helena’s brows furrowed. “But this can go on no longer.”
It had been three days since the night she went to Matteo’s townhouse.Thatnight. She felt heat run through her as she recalled how it had ended. Her heart had felt like it would explode. So many feelings coursed through her all at once. Helena had felt that if she did not leave then, she would never be able to go through with her decision.
But for those few seconds she stayed, it was as if he held her in thrall. For those few seconds, Helena had given him her heart and, indeed, it felt like she had claimed his.
Three days since he had kissed her, or she had kissed him. She was not sure who started it, but Helena was very sure that they had both wanted the kiss. Her cheeks felt hot.
Looking at her reflection in her vanity mirror, she touched her lips.
She had always wondered what it would feel like to be kissed. When they were younger, Celine, Dahlia, and she had giggled over the topic of kisses, imagining their first time and what it would feel like.
