She moved toward the door and patted his arm as she exited the room. They walked up the hallway together in what she felt was an uncomfortable silence. But as they reached the stairway, she glanced at him. “Mr. Banfield was looking for you, Hugh.”
He jerked his gaze to her. “Was he?”
“Yes. He stopped to briefly discuss the garden and then said he would join you. I assume he’s in your study.”
Hugh examined her closely and then nodded. “Well, I will join him then.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I hope you will save a dance for me tonight.”
“You know I only ever dance with you,” Lizzie said with a laugh. “But I will save as many as you’d like.”
“Very good,” he said. “I’ll see you later today.”
Then he was gone, heading up the long hallway to find Morgan. And leaving Lizzie to grip the banister until her knuckles went white. She had spent the past few years in such a fog and now she was seeing the consequences of that.
But it was time to change it all. Time to reenter the world with a bit more confidence, if only to keep her family from worrying. If only to keep the unwanted feelings toward men like Morgan Banfield from forcing her to make another mistake.
Chapter 12
“You look lovely, Lady Elizabeth,” Nora said as she slid the last jewel-encrusted pin into Lizzie’s hair and stepped back.
Lizzie looked at herself in the mirror and stifled a sigh. Shelookedready for a ball, that was for certain.Feltwas another story, but the appearance mattered.
She wore her favorite gown, a gray-blue silk elaborately threaded through with silver. Her hair was done elaborately, curled and lifted and pinned through with sapphire and diamond hairpins she had inherited from her late mother. She never wore them, but tonight she wanted to. They completed the costume, after all.
The costume of a woman who had not a care in the world. Perhaps if she pretended hard enough, that would be true.
“You did a lovely job,” Lizzie said with a smile for Nora.
Nora blushed and curtseyed. “Thank you, my lady. Do you need anything else?”
Lizzie almost laughed. There was a question she couldn’t answer appropriately. Not tonight. “No, I’m fine, thank you.”
“I hope you have a good time.”
Lizzie took a deep breath as her servant departed, then followed her into the hallway. She had made it a few steps when she saw Katherine, the Duchess of Roseford, coming down the hallway from the opposite direction. Her heart leapt a little. Of course she adored her friend, but Katherine was Robert’s wife. Morgan’s sister-in-law. Seeing her was like a slap-in-the-face reminder of what had happened this afternoon.
“It’s good practice,” she muttered to herself, and forced another smile for Katherine. “You look beautiful, as always,” she said as they met at the top of the stairs. It was a true statement. Katherine was one of the most beautiful women Lizzie had ever known. Tall, with dark hair and eyes, she always exuded a natural confidence that made people turn toward her whenever she entered a room. Lizzie rather envied her that.
“As do you,” Katherine said, and leaned back to look her up and down. “That color brings out your eyes, my dear.”
Lizzie’s cheeks heated and she ducked her head. “Thank you.”
Katherine linked arms with her and they started down the wide staircase together. “Robert went down early to have a drink with the other men.”
“Ah,” Lizzie murmured, but couldn’t help but wonder if that included Morgan. The two had fought a few nights before, but since then she’d noticed a shift in them. Some kind of truce, it felt like. And she was happy for Morgan. She knew the benefits of a close relationship to a sibling and she wished him nothing but the same. “Well, I’m sure he’ll enjoy seeing you sweep into the ball in all your lovely glory.”
Katherine tilted her head back and laughed. “You do know Robert’s flare for the dramatic. Shall we enter in our glory together?”
Lizzie hesitated and looked up the hall toward the ball. The doors were open and she could see the room was already busy. Music filtered out into the house along with the buzz of lively conversation. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m not sure I have much glory, especially next to all of you duchesses.”
Katherine turned to face her and her expression softened. “My dear, you are lovely, both inside and out. I recognize confidence is difficult. Especially when one has been through something…painful. It was very difficult for me to return to Society after my first husband’s death and all the talk about it.”
Lizzie’s lips parted. The duchesses on the whole were such a powerful, elegant and confident group that she sometimes forgot many of them had difficult pasts. It was easy to when they didn’t seem to be troubled by them as she was by her own.
“I had all but forgotten,” she whispered.
Katherine smiled. “Well, you are the only one, I assure you. My point being that I understand your hesitation. But as a fellow survivor, may I give you some advice?”
Lizzie’s cheeks felt hot, but she nodded regardless. “I would be very happy to hear it.”
