Alice wrinkled her nose. “Doughy and too small to be a true Sally Lunn.” But she finished it, anyway.
“London Bath Bun,” Adam muttered, cramming the rest into his mouth before he wadded up the paper and shoved it into his pocket. “Ridiculous name.”
They were approaching an exhibit of life-sized Native Americans standing in their colorful costumes before a teepee, when someone touched Alice’s arm.
“Lady Fairclough, where on earth have you been?”
Chapter Eighteen
Alice turned to see Lady Devlin, who had been Lady Mary ahead of her in line when they were presented to Queen Victoria. They’d encountered one another many times at balls, and she’d married Lord Devlin a few months after Alice married Richard. Devlin was a tall man, given to squinting, who was constantly pushing spectacles up his nose, but Alice had kissed him, anyway. Only once, if she recalled, next to a fountain at Osterley House.
She didn’t think Lady Devlin knew that. In any case, the man was not in evidence. Instead, her old acquaintance was with another familiar face, Miss Kilbey, who Alice didn’t think had ever married and who’d been nearly as flirtatious as herself.
“We knew you weren’t in mourning to that dog of a husband,” Lady Devlin said. “Some of us thought you’d gone abroad.”
“And found a new romance,” said Miss Kilbey, taking Adam’s measure and obviously liking what she saw.
“This is my husband, Lord Diamond,” Alice said, not giving them any other explanation. She ought to have allowed Adam to put an announcement in the newspapers regarding their marriage. Hoping to avoid people discussing her return, particularly Gerald, she had begged him not to make a fuss. Yet Alice was sure he didn’t appreciate hearing her addressed as“Lady Fairclough” each time they ran into someone who knew her.
To Adam, she said, “This is Lady Devlin and Miss Kilbey.”
“A pleasure to meet you, ladies,” he offered, sounding as kind as usual.
“TheLord Diamond?” asked Lady Devlin.
“There are technically two of us,” he responded. “My father and I share the same title as an oddity, since we use our family name for our title, too. Thus, I suppose I am nottheLord Diamond, but I amaLord Diamond.”
Both the ladies laughed. “What a delight,” Miss Kilbey said. “And if your reputation is correct, my lord, then your wife has found a good man the second time around.”
“I thank you, ladies,” Adam said, appearing calm and confident, while Alice’s insides were fluttering. They could say anything about her past behavior, as they’d witnessed some of it. Strangely, they didn’t seem to be judging her or holding any of her past against her. Nevertheless, the shorter the conversation, the better.
“We have much yet to see,” she said, tugging on his arm. “As I am sure you do, as well.”
“Perhaps you will take dinner with my husband and I,” Lady Devlin added before moving off. However, over her shoulder, she added, “I’ll send you an invitation soon.”
Alice stared at Adam. “You are effortlessly charming.”
“Thank you. It’s easy to be kind, more so now that I have the wife of my dreams and don’t have to look twice at any other females.”
He was a singular man, indeed. She squeezed his arm, and they continued on their attempt to see all fourteen thousand exhibitors, while knowing it to be unattainable.
They laughed until they cried at a bed with a timer that stood the sleeper up on end when it was time to get up. And Alicedeclared the hall of stained glass from around the world to be her favorite exhibit.
But when they were leaving, her thoughts lingered on the unexpected encounter.
Unlike her worst fears, the women had seemed nice enough, although she would wager they had walked away still wondering where she’d been for two years and speculating aloud. But when that invitation came, she might tear it up. The alternative, having dinner with a man with whom she’d once flirted and kissed — while her husband and his wife didn’t know it — that would feel like a betrayal she couldn’t bear.
Unless she simply told Adam.
If an invitation came, she would confess her earlier conduct and let him decide if he wanted to dine with the Devlins.
Thrilled to have finallygot Alice to go out in such a public and crowded place as the Great Exhibition, Adam guessed it would be easier to take his wife to balls and whatnot. Her reserve slightly lessened, but nothing tempted her like a concert.
Thus, their next outing was to see an Italian opera at Covent Garden. A brilliant performance of Rossini’sSemiramideleft them both humming with exhilaration. As they awaited their carriage, Adam spied Fairclough with a well-dressed woman.
Turning away so his back was to his wife’s former brother-in-law, he hoped the man hadn’t seen him. The last thing he wanted was another tense conversation, especially after an otherwise splendid evening.
“He is coming,” Alice said softly, and Adam didn’t need to ask who.
