“I’m also going to hire a new maid. Parson is too much under my mother’s thumb.”
“You know you are perfectly welcome to stay with me as long as you like,” Lorelei said.
“Thank you. Oh, dear.”
“What?” Ginny said.
“They’re playing a waltz—”
The duke appeared in front of her. “Lady Alymer, I believe this is our set.”
So the night went. After Oxford, came Stockton, followed by Beaumont, Greenwood, Lexum, Lampert, and Hamilton. She lost track of the order, but by the time the supper set came around, and Dorset made his appearance, Maeve thought she would faint from the pain in her feet.
“Lady Alymer. You look as if you require a rest.”
“Would you mind horribly, my lord? I have not sat for two hours.”
“You have had some enthusiastic partners tonight,” he said smiling.
“That’s one word for it,” she muttered.
Dorset held out his arm. “Perhaps we can sit on the terrace for a bit of air, if you don’t mind it being cool.”
“I would be most grateful,” she told him, placing her hand atop. “But we’d best make our escape before my mother is onto us.”
The Marquis of Dorset was Oxford’s exact opposite. He was taller than Maeve and younger than Oxford by at least a decade. He had a pleasant voice and pleasant mien. His hair was light and his eyes green. He found them an empty bench next to a fountain, in full view of the ballroom.
“I heard you’ve finally married off the last of your four sisters. The house must seem quite quiet now,” she said.
“You heard correctly. I never thought I would admit to my home being too quiet. And, yet it is.”
“I was an only child with an overbearing mother. I thrive in the quiet. Give me a good book or a project to research and I am quite the ghost.”
“Ah, yes. I believe that is one of the things Alymer seemed to admire most about you. You are unique in your diverse topics of interest. He was working on a text for ancient societies, as I recall.”
“Yes, he was.”
“Did anything come of it?”
The cool air, stirring her hair, felt heavenly. “No, but it was recently suggested I carry through his wishes of publication. It hadn’t occurred to me, but I am taking the recommendation to heart.”
“I have contacts in the field. You’ll let me know if you desire my assistance?”
“Thank you,” she said softly. “I shall. Thank you very much.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a time, the hum of conversation spilling out of the ballroom along with the lights. As did low-lying conversation from the paths below. “What of the Athenaeum?”
Maeve wouldn’t have noticed it had their urgency not been so fierce.
“Shut up, you fool.”
The voices were not loud enough for her to recognize.
“Are you ready to return inside, Lady Alymer? You should eat a bite before heading home.”
That was the last thing she wanted. “I suppose I should locate my hosts and see when they are prepared to leave.” She glanced over her shoulder as she stood but didn’t see anyone, the voices had moved on. “Is the Athenaeum a new literary club? I’ve never run across it in my working with Alymer.” She laughed. “It sounds like one of those secret societies Alymer would have enjoyed investigating.”
“Nor have I,” he told her. But Maeve thought he stiffened slightly and seemed intent on hurrying her back inside. “Would you care to take a drive with me in the next day or two? I realize you are staying at Kimpton’s.”
