“Only what?” he prompted. She glanced about so frequently he was getting nervous too. Did she expect someone? He felt like an utter fool. He had no reason to follow her and no coherent thing to say to her now that he’d chased her and stopped her.
“Only, I’m…I must go,” she said, her eyes still darting back and forth.
“Very well,” he replied, feeling like an ass. He had no excuse for accosting this poor young woman. “But…I wanted to tell you something.”
“What?” Her eyes went wide, and she looked at him hopefully, seeming on tenterhooks waiting for his pronouncement.
“I…” He licked his dry lips. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you…all year.”
A shy smile spread across her pretty face and her dimples made his knees weak. “I couldn’t stop thinking of you either,” she admitted in a whisper before whipping around to leave.
He frowned again. She’d thought of him too? Then why was she in such a hurry to leave? “Wait.” He searched his mind for something to say. Something to keep her in his presence for one moment more. “May I…may I ask your surname?”
She turned back to face him, and her mouth formed a wide O. “Oh, no,” she exclaimed, shaking her head vehemently. “No.”
Justin frowned. “No?”
He was debating whether he should ask her why, while telling himself he should simply take no for an answer and leave, when she grabbed him by the lapels of his black evening coat, pushed herself up on tiptoes and kissed him full on the mouth.
Only moments later, before he had a chance to react, let alone make the kiss good, she pushed away from him, gathered up her skirts and continued her flight up the stairs. “Good-bye, Mr. Whitland,” she called, waving a gloved arm at him as if he were a sailor about to ship off. “It was nice to meet you. I do hope you have a lovely life.”
Chapter Seven
Maddie rushed up to the tiny bedchamber she shared with Anna and scurried inside, shutting the door firmly behind her. Her breath came in harsh pants while her heart raced so quickly it hurt. She closed her eyes and recited a brief prayer. She hadn’t been seen, thank heavens. A miracle. It had been madness, dashing through the house and rushing up the staircase, only to be stopped by the man she had been trying to find.
All these months, she’d been unable to forget her dance with Mr. Whitland. The dance had been magical. But it was also fanciful to keep thinking about it. She’d tried to put the entire episode behind her. But late at night, as she fell to sleep on her small cot, she closed her eyes and dreamed of waltzing with him, his strong arms locked around her, his dark eyes shining down on her, the quirk of a smile on his firmly molded lips. The smell of sandalwood and the hint of music in the air. She’d sigh and fall into a sated slumber.
But each morning she’d wake to the reality that she would never save enough money to bring her sister to town. The bit of money Maddie made was paid monthly and while she’d saved nearly every shilling, it would take her more than a lifetime to buy Molly gowns, let alone all the other things she would need to make her debut. She’d asked Lady Henrietta if she might take some of her old, discarded things, but the lady had refused, insisting the rubbish heap was a better place for the clothing than giving them to Maddie. It had physically hurt not to take the precious garments, but Maddie was no thief. She may have borrowed Lady Henrietta’s clothing, shoes, and earbobs tonight, but she had every intention of giving them back in the same condition.
Maddie still cringed when she thought of the circumstances that had brought her and Molly to this fate. She’d been reckless. That had always been her problem. She followed her heart when she should have followed good sense. But she had spent the last year doing her best to concentrate on being an excellent maid to Lady Henrietta. Maddie had stopped doing whimsical things like trying to dance at parties. Over and over these last months, she’d reminded herself how selfish she’d been putting her sister’s future at risk for a silly dance. But as the Twelfth Night Ball approached again this year, she thought about him more and more. She couldn’t stop herself from wondering if he would return.
She also had made the mistake of mentioning the subject to Anna one too many times. Anna was adamant that she should dress up again—just once more—and go back to the drawing room to see if he came to find her.
“It will be so romantic,” Anna had insisted, clasping her hands together near her ear. “Just imagine. What if he’s been thinking about you all year too?”
Of course, Maddie had scoffed at such a notion. She’d never take such a risk again. Why in the world would a gentleman as handsome as Mr. Whitland give their inconsequential dance a second thought? She was certain he had not. But as the night of the ball drew near, she’d been unable to stop thinking about it. What if? Those two words haunted her day and night. What if he was there? What if he did come looking for her? What if they danced again? Would it really be so horrible to check? She could be down and back in minutes, and if he wasn’t there, well, then he’d never know she’d come looking for him, would he?
She’d made the final decision just this morning. She would do it. Just once more. She’d go into Lady Henrietta’s rooms, pick out a gown, some slippers, and even a bit of jewelry this time, and go to the drawing room. Nowhere else. Not the ballroom. She’d never risk attracting that kind of attention again. It would be much less risky than what she’d done last year, showing her face in the ballroom, and nearly being seen by Lord Hazelton.
She’d done it. She’d picked out the lovely pink gown, one that Lady Henrietta detested, but Maddie thought was gorgeous. She’d slipped on a pair of too-large satin slippers, and she’d borrowed a pair of diamond earbobs that were no doubt worth a small fortune. One last night of pretend and she would be satisfied forever.
Only, it hadn’t gone at all the way she’d planned. When she’d reached the drawing room, she’d peered in from the corridor, at first delighted to see her Mr. Whitland, only to realize he wasn’t alone. He was surrounded by three beautiful young women. Of course, he was surrounded by beautiful young women.
Maddie’s heart had sunk. She’d realized her mistake immediately and rushed away, only to be utterly shocked when Mr. Whitland himself followed her. And when he'd admitted that he had thought of her all year, she had been overcome with emotion. Enough to kiss him of all reckless things!
Maddie’s throat closed as she stared off into the darkness outside the small window between the beds. A memory came floating back to her. A memory of a night when she’d made the most reckless decision of her life.
The day Mr. Leopold Herbert came to town had been the worst day of Maddie’s life. It was funny, actually, how the worst day of one’s life could resemble so many of the days before it, without a hint that one’s entire world was about to change forever.
As they had every morning since Papa had passed away, Maddie and Molly had awoken, dressed in their shabby yet serviceable dresses, and gone about making the best of their circumstances.
Apparently, Papa hadn’t made arrangements regarding where the sisters should live. He’d been counting on the fact that his cousin Harry would come and take care of both Maddie and Molly.
Only, a letter written to Cousin Harry’s address had been returned with some awful news. Seemed Cousin Harry had died a few months earlier in a carriage accident. Word had never got to Papa apparently, or if it had, he’d already been too far gone with consumption to do anything about it. A distant cousin named Leopold Herbert would inherit all Papa had, including the estate and the title of Baron Atwood. Mr. Herbert would be coming from Carlisle in Cumbria, where he’d worked as a farmer for the last thirty years.
Maddie and Molly had never heard of Cousin Leopold. Papa had certainly never spoken of him. They had waited patiently for months before the man graced them with his presence. He barged into the house that afternoon, slamming the door open so forcefully it cracked the plaster on the wall behind it.
Maddie had been startled from her work in the basement where she was washing the laundry for their tiny household. There had been no money since Papa’s death because it had all been entailed to Cousin Leopold.
