And it is because of him that I am blushing furiously!
“Well, I suggest we discuss this Matchmaker business.” Matilda plopped herself down in an armchair. “We have avoided the subject long enough, and I should like to know everything!”
Olivia nodded. “As would I. I have been following the Matchmaker’s excellent work ever since she began, and if I had known that it was my own beloved friend, I would have celebrated each success twice as vigorously!”
“There is nothing much to tell,” Anna said shyly. “I got the idea from a book, though I do not remember the name. I tried it, it worked, and… the rest is history. It was, anyway.”
Phoebe cast her gaze downward. “If we still had our monthly Spinsters’ Club meetings, would you have told us?”
“I do not think so.” Anna hesitated. “You must understand, it is like two separate people. I am Anna, and the Matchmaker is the Matchmaker. Does that make a jot of sense? I suppose it does not.”
Beatrice smiled. “It makes perfect sense, dearest Anna. We are all different beings. We all hold different titles. We are all pieces of a whole.”
“Yes, thatdoesmake sense,” Phoebe agreed.
Olivia leaned forward. “But have you never wanted to use your own methods to find your own love? You must know everything there is to know about everyone in society. Is there not someone who might be suited to you?”
“She is far too honorable for that,” Matilda jumped in immediately.
Anna sipped from the empty glass, realizing her mistake. “Is there more port? I may need it.”
“Have as much as you desire,” Matilda replied, passing the bottle across.
Anna poured a measure and set the bottle down by her feet. “It is true that I… have kept a vast secret from you all, in hiding my secret identity, but… as I do not know when we shall all be here together again, I believe I must… find my courage and… reveal another.”
“As long as you are not about to tell us that you are venturing off to a nunnery, we shall be glad to hear it,” Matilda encouraged, as she had always done, in her own way.
Anna took a breath. “I have… developed feelings for someone, and I do not know how to proceed. I do not want to be falling in love with this man—indeed, I do not know how they have even begun to form—but… I fear it is rather too late for that. My heart… It will not stop aching, and I cannot stop thinking of him. But he does not want me, and… I do not think I can endure another… crushing blow.”
“Is it Percival?” Phoebe said softly. “Is that why you wrote to Caro, dissuading her?”
Anna jolted as if she had been pinched in the leg. “Goodness, no! I would never dishonor the Matchmaker’s values like that.” She swallowed uncomfortably. “I did not know that I… had affections for him then. Indeed, I did not like him at all. I thought him rude and arrogant and mean, and I could not understand what other ladies were swooning over. But… he is not what I thought he was.”
“But itisPercival?” Olivia prompted.
Heat bloomed in Anna’s cheeks, until she could not bear to look upon the intense gazes of her friends. “It started when I sent a croquet ball flying into his skull.” She fidgeted awkwardly. “Perhaps earlier, though I cannot be sure anymore. You see, I think back on all of our quarrels and bickering, and… I wonder if it has been there for much, much longer than I realize.
“I have never been shy around him. I have never had any difficulty speaking with him, albeit mostly in sharp remarks. I have never blushed so furiously that he has asked if I have a fever. I have never stumbled so badly over my words that I have been accused of having an impediment. My throat has never closed in his presence… not until recently, anyway. And I find myself wondering why.”
Leah smiled, clasping a hand to her own heart. “So, you were not quarreling in the Orangery? Did he ask you to meet him there?”
“No, he was… trying to save my reputation. Ironic, I know.” Anna laughed tightly. “He thought I was going to meet with Lord Luminport, and wished to prevent it. He called me foolish, I told him he did not know what he was talking about, and then… he kissed me.”
A collective gasp exploded into the room, as loud as the earlier fireworks, and just as bright in a dazzling display of hope.
“He kissed you! And you did not begin with that, while we have been harping on about all manner of nonsense?” Matilda cried, grinning from ear to ear.
Beatrice chuckled. “Was it averygood kiss?”
“It was… the best moment of my life,” Anna replied. “And then he said it was a mistake, or something of that ilk.” She repeated what she could remember of the aftermath, though her mind had been rather hazier than usual, fogged over by the lingering thrill of the kiss.
When Anna looked at her friends again, it was as if someone had opened a window on a freezing winter’s day, letting all the warmth out. But instead of heat, it was hope that had abandoned the private drawing room.
“So, I am right to think it a hopeless infatuation?” she said flatly.
Matilda raised a hand. “Not necessarily. Are you certain he said, ‘it was shameful’ and not ‘it was shameful ofme’?”
“I am certain.”
