Page 48 of Dropping the Ball

Cedric was teasing and Alden narrowed his eyes at him in disapproval for it. But he also had a point. The initial shock of his eccentricities had passed, and nearly all of the guests had remained.

Several minutes later, once they had all arrived in the conservatory and taken the seats that Smythe and the footmen had arranged earlier, Alden wondered if he might not end up fleeing the horrors of his own party.

“My lords and ladies,” one of the mamas, Lady Bronwyn, said, tugging her clearly shy daughter in front of the piano to begin the entertainments. “I present you with my beautiful and well-mannered daughter, Lady Glenda, who will sing for you this evening.”

A polite smattering of applause followed before Lady Bronwyn sat at the piano and began to stalwartly pound out the opening notes of one of the more militant hymns Alden sang in church, when he could be bothered to attend.

After the prologue, Lady Glenda began to sing … or so Alden assumed. The poor thing could barely be heard over hermother’s pounding, though her mother did not seem to take any notice, and as the song progressed, the unfortunate maiden shook so violently that Alden held his breath, waiting to see whether she would faint before the end of the song.

Lady Glenda did not faint, and the assembly seemed to applaud mostly for her relief as she rushed to take her seat again once the song was over.

The next lady had rather the opposite problem to Lady Glenda. Lady Elizabeth sang with such enthusiasm that she continually leapt ahead of the accompaniment, played by her sister, Lady Agatha, or fell behind when she wished to hold a note for longer than was intended. She gestured wildly with the song as well, to the point where Alden feared for the arrangement of flowers on a stand near the piano.

“I may, perhaps, adjust my opinion on whether this entire endeavor is a success,” Cedric leaned over and muttered in Alden’s ear as Lady Alyce took a turn at the piano, playing a love ballad beautifully, but weeping copiously the entire time. “I do believe you are attempting to kill us all with entertainment such as this.”

Lady Muriel elbowed Cedric hard from his other side and scowled furiously at him. That had the paradoxical effect of bringing Alden nearly to the point of laughter. He was forced to raise a hand to cover his mouth as Bernadette introduced the next lady to perform.

“We will now hear Lady Wendine play a violin solo for us as Lord Dudley accompanies her,” she said, looking like a sweet breath of fresh, summertime air, even though they were in the crowded and increasingly stuffy conservatory.

Alden’s eyes stayed on Bernadette as she stepped aside and allowed Lady Wendine to perform. The music was quite good. Lord Dudley certainly seemed to think so, as he spent more time smiling at Lady Wendine in surprise than studying his sheetmusic. It was the perfect accompaniment for the feelings Alden had about Bernadette.

He wished that everything was different, that there were no curses or prior marriages, or anything of the like. Of course, none of that would be of any consequence if he could convince Bernadette to run away to South America with him. Or perhaps not as far as that. There were a wealth of interesting species of reptiles and amphibians in Spain, and he had heard society there was much more willing to accept matches that were not quitede rigueur.

He daydreamed through the next performance, thinking about what sort of small cottage he and Bernadette could occupy. Perhaps they would live by the sea. He could most definitely imagine Bernadette by the sea, walking along sandy beaches, gazing out at crystal waters. He could see the wind ruffling through her hair and a smile on her face as she turned back to where he’d fallen behind and reached out her hand to him.

Alden was startled from his thoughts as the most beautiful voice he’d heard in a long time rose up in a plaintive ballad. He blinked and shook himself out of his reverie, curious about which of his guests had the voice of an angel.

To his great surprise, it was Lady Gladys who stood before the piano, hands clasped in front of her, singing so beautifully. Alden sat up to listen better, astounded by the quality of Lady Gladys’s performance. She looked right at him as she sang, which Alden found he did not mind as much as he thought he might. When his eyes met hers, she smiled, and her enthusiasm for her song doubled.

When had Gladys learned to sing? She had never been much of a songstress before, but then, her life had changed entirely since Edward had died. Perhaps she’d had lessons, or perhaps she’d merely grown into her voice by practicing.

“She’s the one you were in love with decades ago, is she not?” Cedric whispered beside him.

“She is,” Alden admitted, still watching Gladys.

“Why did she throw you over again?” Cedric pressed on.

“For Edward,” Alden said, old feelings stirring in him.

“She’s a widow now, if I understand correctly.”

Alden nodded, glancing to Cedric with a frown, irritated with his interruptions.

Cedric shrugged and said, “You might as well go ahead and marry someone you used to love, someone closer to your own age, than entertain any of these silly young women who see your fortune and title instead of your soul.”

Those words shouldn’t have hurt as much as they did. Because there was a great deal of wisdom in them. He and Gladys had a past, and it was entirely possible they could have a future together as well.

Not a future of love. Not by any stretch. Alden was quite certain he would only ever love Bernadette, now that they had been brought together. But if it meant avoiding a tragic curse, if it created any possibility of him being able to maintain a respectable front with theton, perhaps he could marry Gladys, but run away and spend his life with Bernadette.

The applause that marked the end of Lady Gladys’s performance shook Alden out of his thoughts. He told himself at once they were mad and impossible. But as Lady Gladys took her seat, smiling coyly at him as she did, the whisper of possibility continued to tickle at the back of Alden’s mind.

The musical entertainment continued on for another, painful hour, although there were some ladies of genuine talent amongst the chaff. Half of the ladies should not have been forced to stand up before the assembly the way they were. Whether it was because of their timidity or their lack of any discernable talent for music, they should have been allowed to stay as membersof the audience. But their mamas were still deeply focused on displaying them.

One thing Alden began to notice, however, was that, for many of them, if not most, he was no longer the center of any lady’s focus. The young bucks who had been drawn to the event were the ones receiving the lion’s share of batted eyelashes and sweet looks. The only ladies who consistently glanced in Alden’s direction were Bernadette and Lady Gladys.

“Clearly that Lady Gladys invited half the eligible young men in Wessex to turn the other young darlings’ heads,” Lady Muriel said once the entertainments were finally finished and the guests began retiring to their bedchambers. “She’s trying to divert the competition so that she can have you all to herself.”

Alden fought down a grin. Lady Muriel apparently did not have the same opinion as her husband when it came to who Alden should marry and why. She made no secret of turning up her nose at Lady Gladys, even when Lady Gladys glanced their way.

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