Page 39 of Engaging Sir Isaac

What was he to say to that? He could not answer. He was not certain of himself. Not in the least. But when the moon caught upon her, as it did just then, he rather felt like leaning down and kissing her.

He must not give in to such a foolish whim. It would not be gentlemanly. She certainly would not welcome that action.

“Sir Isaac.” She said his name the way one might speak an endearment, bringing him out of his befuddled thoughts. “Are we friends or foes, sir?” Though her lips pressed together, she smiled at him.

Perhaps she would welcome a kiss, given the dancing mischief in her eyes.

A burst of song, loud and wobbly, led out by Mr. Matthew Barnes, Jacob’s eldest brother, put an end to all thoughts of a stolen kiss.

A laugh escaped those all too kissable lips. “Come. You can tell me how much you detest me another time.”

With a gentle tug of his arm, she led them to the benches set about the fire, where many of his friends sat and sang a ridiculous song. Once seated next to each other, Millie joined in the singing.

Her sweet soprano gave him yet another reason to enjoy having her near.

Chapter 13

The house thundered with the clamor of servants, the doors in the corridors opening and closing, all the day long. The guests had arrived for the house party, fully a dozen of them along with twice as many servants, and their voices filtered through the cracks around Millie’s door. She remained in her room, in a chair she had dragged to the window. Sarah stayed with her, sitting within arm’s reach of Millie. The maid’s presence was the only comfort Millie could rely upon.

Millie’s gut twisted whenever she thought of Lord Carning. He could have been the first guest to enter the house, or perhaps hadn’t even arrived yet, but the knowledge that he resided under the same roof as she made her abominably ill.

In an attempt to distract herself, Millie thought of Mr. Weston. He was yet another of her targets, at the behest of Mrs. Cecilia Vanderby. Millie had absolutely no idea why the woman could not find happiness with her wealthy Dutchman and leave her former suitor to his own devices.

“Misery seeks its own, miss,” Sarah had said when Millie voiced her confusion. “People can’t accept that they’re the only ones unhappy. They’re jealous, and waste their time trying to make others feel the same, when really they ought to put their energy into fixing their own problems.”

Millie could not agree more with her servant.

“I am only to find something for Mrs. Vanderby to use against Mr. Weston in Society. It need not even be the man’s darkest secrets. Only something she might taunt him with before others.” Millie massaged her temples. “How very juvenile.”

“That’s Society, miss.” Sarah kept at her tatting, a nearly complete lace collar resting upon her apron. “Everyone wishes to prove themselves better than anyone else. No matter the cost.”

Not for the first time, Millie wondered at her mother’s desire to rejoin such a herd of unscrupulous men and women. Though, the reasons her whole family needed to regain their footing were easy enough to understand. Better opportunities for her father, for their income, and for her own advantageous marriage.

Sir Isaac’s crooked grin flashed in her memory. Millie brushed it aside rather than dwell on the fact she must hurt him, too. What choice did she have? The previous evening, sitting next to him while the Earl of Inglewood told ghost stories that left everyone shuddering, she had wished Isaac would put his arm around her. Comfort her and protect her from the unseen ghosts. But she had sat on his left side. Even had he wanted to, and he most certainly did not, there was no arm there to wrap around her.

How ridiculous. How utterly foolish of her to entertain any notions of friendship, let alone greater affection, existing between them. She had tried to do the right thing, and Lady Olivia effectively destroyed that plan.

“What will you do if Lord Carning attempts to speak to you?” Sarah asked when the dinner hour drew near.

“Make certain I am never alone with him. That will require that anything he says to me remain appropriate for others to hear.” Millie shuddered, remembering the one and only time she had been in a room alone with the man. “He never acted as anything other than a perfect gentleman until that night, Sarah.”

Sarah said nothing, merely rose to prepare Millie’s evening dress. They said little except what was required for Sarah to prepare Millie for the evening. She chose a gown of blue with a glimmering silver overlay. The gown had always reminded her of a starlit sky. And thinking on such a scene now reminded her of standing beneath the stars with Isaac.

Perhaps the warmth of that memory would be enough to protect her from the cold gaze of Lord Carning.

After Sarah looped and twisted Millie’s hair into an intricate swirl upon her head, she put her hand on Millie’s arm. “There’s one thing more I’m putting in your hair, miss.” She pulled out a long pin with a bright blue stone on its end. She held it up in the mirror, showing Millie the point. “We’d normally use it with a fancy cap. But I can make it look like it belongs in your hair. Like this.” The maid carefully put it through Millie’s hair, concealing the six-inch metal most cleverly, running it from just above Millie’s forehead through to the back of her auburn curls.

“A weapon?” Millie asked, her hands went cold inside her gloves. “You think it necessary—”

“I hope not. But it’s there. My mum, she always told me to keep something at hand to defend myself. A rock in my coat pocket. A pin in my apron. A needle. Anything.” Sarah met Millie’s eyes in the mirror. “It’s not a fair world for any of us, miss. I just want to look after you a bit.”

Millie’s eyes filled with tears at that kindness. She sniffed and found a handkerchief to quickly swipe at the moisture in her eyes. “Thank you, Sarah. What would I do without you?”

Sarah only offered a smile that did not quite make it to her eyes. “Well, miss, you’d not have nearly such well-made hair.” She sniffed and tipped her chin up as though proud.

Millie laughed and rose, then wrapped her arms around her maid in a brief embrace. “You are a wonder, Sarah.”

Then the two of them looked over her dress one more time and applied the smallest amount of scent behind her ears and at her throat. Sarah handed Millie a fan to hang at her wrist before opening the door to allow her mistress out into the rest of the house.