Either way, it was too late.
While Octavia and Elowen had done remarkably well in laying out the drawing room and preparing a menu, people were all over the place. It only took Verity a few steps to start corralling people and leading conversations with everyone.
There were nearly twenty guests in attendance beyond those who had attended the wedding. It was a crowded and disorganized space for all.
“Isn’t this marvelous?” Octavia said with her cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk once Verity paused to catch her breath. “I told you I could do this.”
“I hope you are doing more to practice your hostess skills because I cannot always be here for you,” Verity pointed out. Then she poked her sister’s cheek, unable to help herself. “You did well for your first time, Octavia, thank you.”
Another smug smile. “You’re welcome! Oh. Lucien left. He didn’t say where, but said to offer you a final round of felicitations for your happy union.”
“He left?” Verity frowned. “I was hoping he might stay a little longer.”
“Afraid not. Took a few gentlemen with him.”
It was true. There was a quieter shift now to the dining room she’d brought everyone, leaving a corner empty. Noting everyone, she saw that Cassian was returning like he had been away for a spell. It was beginning to feel like he was avoiding any risks of real conversation with her these days. Talking with him now would be much harder…
And Dominic, Verity realized, had disappeared.
“Pardon me,” she murmured to her sister before rounding the small tables set up for the food.
Glad she had set her bouquet somewhere, she considered the open hall and opened terrace doors for where Dominic might have gone. Hopefully he was returning in a moment. She didn’t think he would have left her here alone. Perhaps he was lost?
“And that’s when I told her I couldn’t possibly chaperone her niece any longer,” murmured the grandmother of Octavia’s friend, Anne. They were a full family of women as the men didn’t seem to survive long in the Qintby family. “I cannot have a kleptomaniac loose on London, can I?”
Verity slowed her steps as she felt around. She didn’t have her reticule today. But her dress had subtle pockets just enough to hide a small notebook and pencil.
Dominic should be all right on his own. I’ll find him when I’m done. He’s probably not even thinking of me.
CHAPTER 7
Dominic stepped out onto the terrace after speaking to Cassian. If one could call that a conversation.
“The deed is done,” the viscount had told him firmly. “Treat Verity well and I trust the past is buried for good. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Dominic had confirmed.
Then Cassian took his leave down the hall instead of returning to the party. Dominic wasn’t inclined to the festivities just then himself, and had stepped out the side door outside where the sun was shining and there was hardly a cloud in the sky.
Footsteps followed quietly as a voice called, “It is a beautiful day for a wedding.”
Turning, Dominic was stunned to see Mr. Peter Starling coming over to offer him a glass of brandy. The fellow was shorter with a sinewy build and round glasses since he was nearly blind asa bat. He had a charming enough face that Dominic recognized from two years past, but much about Peter was new. His hair was longer, his glasses were larger, and he walked with a slight limp; a wooden cane was hitched under an elbow on his impeccable suit.
“If I had known you were in town, I might have invited you to the church,” he commented while accepting the glass. “Thank you.”
A pleasant surprise all the same. They were old chums from university but rarely saw one another these days since Peter’s trade in antiquities took him all around the globe. Peter’s great uncle had been a wealthy marquess who had a son who would inherit, a very annoying one, but he’d done what he could to help Peter and his two siblings make their way into the world.
“I only arrived this morning.” Peter tapped his glass to Dominic’s before taking a long sip. “My ship made better time than we expected. I managed a wink of sleep before my sister was telling me to get up since James was still fast asleep.”
Dominic watched for him when he could. James was young and careless but good at heart. He just loved a good tavern most of all. “Drunk, I assume?”
“Of course.”
“And how is Eve?”
“Trouble as ever. She’s best friends with your wife’s sister, Octavia. I hear more about my siblings’ activity in the newspaper and journals more than in my letters from them,” Peter sighed in aggravation. “How fortunate you are not to have siblings.”
He took a slow swallow to savor the taste of the brandy. It was richer than expected, and he felt inclined to asking about the bottle before he left. A servant might know, or at least the butler. Then he considered Peter’s words.
