They were referring tohim, Nicholas realized. It was he whose father had made a promise of marriage to Lady Hannah. And now he knew why. Lord Codfield was in debt, and they hoped to use his fortune to solve his financial woes. Nicholas had always known that Lady Hannah had been a schemer, but he hadn’t realized this.
More than ever, now, he was reluctant to marry her. More than ever, he was determined to make sure she knew that it would never happen.
He felt the small, scarred hand slip out of his and looked over to see what had happened.
She had taken advantage of his distraction. Hood still up, identity still obscured, the mysterious young lady was fleeing across the grounds.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Nicholas went into the house, his thoughts in a whirlwind.
He found himself looking around as he stepped inside, as if he might see a lady in a cloak wandering about the place. He wouldn’t, of course. She would have shed that disguise the moment she stepped indoors.
But any of these young ladies around him might be the one. He looked from one to the next, hoping to see something that might serve as a clue. He knew her approximate height and build, but those were factors that could apply to a great many people in this room. He knew, from the masquerade, that she had auburn hair, but there were several ladies who did, including Lady Marina, and she couldn’t possibly be the one.
The one detail that would give his quarry away was that scar on her hand. But what could he do—walk up to every young lady in the room and ask to examine her hands? He would appearmad, and they would be quite right to refuse him such a bizarre request.
But she washere.That was the thought he simply couldn’t get out of his head. She was here in the house right now, here at the party for the rest of the weekend and that meant he had the best chance he ever had or ever would of trying to find her. He couldn’t let that slip away from him.
If only he wasn’t in an argument with Phineas! Phineas was exactly the person whose help he would have liked to solicit for something like this. Together, they could conduct a survey of the hands of all the ladies at the party. They would be able to see twice as many if they worked together. With someone to help him, finding the lady he sought would not have been such a daunting task. It nearly seemed easy when he thought about it that way.
But he would never find her if he was forced to look by himself. He had no faith in his ability to do that.
Still—he had to try, didn’t he?
He returned to the ballroom. Not everyone was there, but the great majority of party guests were, and he thought his odds were good that the lady he sought was in this room. He looked around, seeking someone with auburn hair. There were far too many of them. The shades of their hair were different, but subtly so, and he had been in the dark when he had met the lady the first time. He felt as if he remembered every detail about her, but he had to acknowledge that he couldn’t be sure of theprecise shade of her hair. It would naturally look different in the moonlight than it would here in the ballroom.
He would simply have to dance with as many ladies as he could, that was all. Dancing with them would naturally mean taking their hands, which would give him the excuse he needed to see if any of them bore that distinctive scar. If only he could find it, he would know for certain, and then?—
And then what? What would he do?
He had met her twice, and both times she had guarded her identity. It seemed to him that she didn’t want to be known. What would he say? Would he tell her that it had been him on both occasions and that he wished to court her? He felt he had to try to win her affection, but it seemed perfectly likely that she might simply run from him. And if she did, he could hardly allow himself to chase her. It would go against his conscience to chase after a lady who had indicated that she didn’t wish to remain in his company.
Oh, this was fraught! He wanted more than anything to know who she was so that he might have another conversation with her—the times they had spent in each other’s company had been much more rewarding than anything that had ever happened to him at a ball or a party. If he knew that he would be able to see her, he would attend every social event of the season gladly. Better yet, he would miss them all and simply devote his time to her—but there could be no guarantee until he knew who she was.
As he looked around the room, hoping to see the lady he sought, he found himself coming face to face with Lady Eleanor. In fact, the two of them collided, and as she let out a cry, he realized that he had caused her to spill the drink she held on her down.”
“Oh, dear,” he said. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
She looked up at him—and then looked away quickly, almost as if she was frightened of him. That was most unlike what he had seen of her thus far. What cause did she have to be frightened?
“It’s all right,” she said quickly.
“It’s all right?” he repeated. “That’s all you have to say?”
“What would you like me to say?”
“If I haven’t upset you then I’m glad, of course. But it seems unlike you to simply be at peace with people colliding with you and spilling your drinks.”
“It hasn’t happened to me so far. I don’t know how you can claim to know what my response would be when it does.”
He shook his head. “Well, one way or another, I apologize.”
She looked up at him again, and once more, he saw something in her eyes that he didn’t quite understand. Itwasn’tfear, hedecided. Not really. There was something deeper there. It was as if she both had some sort of expectation of how this encounter was going to go—and also, and the same time, didn’t like what she anticipated. His suspicions were confirmed when she turned and ran away before he could speak again.
He chose a young lady at random, one of the many who seemed as if she might fit the description he was looking for. “Good evening,” he said to her.
She was breathless at once. “Good evening, Your Grace!”
