Page 36 of The Earl's Wild Bride
“I will,” Amelia promised, heading back out with the herbal brew.
Now, all she had to do was find her husband. He had alluded to the fact that he slept wherever he liked, which meant she had an entire manor to search. The only place she knew he wouldnotbe was his bedchamber, unless he had suddenly decided that he liked beds after all.
She began in the library, working her way through the rooms of the lower floor, finding each one empty in turn. Even his study was empty of him, though she paused there for longer than the other rooms, listening out for any sign of his nightly distress.
Puzzled and increasingly desperate, she began a search of the upper floors, leaving only the servants’ quarters on the topmost floor undisturbed.
But her husband was nowhere to be found, as if he had known that she might look for him, and though she did not want to admit defeat, the cup of medicinal tea had already gone cold. Disheartened and dismayed, she trudged back to her own bedchamber and slipped into the comfort of the bed, the end of it heated by a warming pan so her feet would not get cold.
Setting the untouched cup of tea on her bedside table, she frowned at it for a moment, unease prickling through her.Where on earth could he be?
Amelia had hoped to ask Lionel where he slept the night before, but his evasion tactics had bled into the following day. She had breakfasted with Caroline and Rebecca, wandered in the gardens for a while, had luncheon with the two women, then headed to the library to read. She had barely managed a couple of hours of peaceful reading before she had been ushered upstairs to prepare for the evening’s ball.
Even in the carriage on the way to the ball, some two hours away from Westyork, she had not caught so much as a glimpse of Lionel. Apparently, he was going to meet them there, though Amelia could not escape the feeling that she probably would not see much of him that night either.
Surely, he should tell me if I am at fault. It would be the gentlemanly thing to do.She had become ever more certain that Lionel’s desire to keep his distance from her had something to do with the moment when she had thought he might kiss her. Still, she would have liked an explanation—anything to stop her mind from racing with worry.
“Do not be nervous, dear girl,” Caroline said, mistaking Amelia’s silent anxiety. “They are all just people. Indeed, in my own youth, all I had to think was, ‘every last one of you has and usesa chamber-pot’ and I found that not a single soul could ever intimidate me or make me nervous again.”
Amelia blinked at the older woman, still getting used to her unique sense of humor. “If I thought that, I doubt I would be able to look anyone in the eye again.”
“Iprefer to think of them all washing their faces and reaching for a cloth that is too far away,” Rebecca interjected, grinning. “No one looks frightening or serious doing that, half blinded by water, helplessly fumbling. Why, we have all looked foolish in our lives, so I imagine them in place of me, during my silliest moment, and all is well again.”
Amelia nodded slowly. “I shall remember that.”
“Your name shall be on everyone’s lips, dear Amelia,” Caroline continued to enthuse. “I doubt I have ever seen a more regal Countess in all my years, and I am so very, very old. That gown is exceptional.”
A different breed of nerves began to jitter in Amelia’s veins. She did not like to be the center of attention. Why, she had avoided it diligently since her debut. But she had been so preoccupied with thoughts of her absent, distant husband that she had not stopped to think of what the guests at the ball might have to say about her.
I doubt I have yet been forgiven for stealing away the most eligible bachelor in the country…Dread sank like a stone in herstomach, though they were too far now to turn back to Westyork. She could not avoid the intense scrutiny to come.
“Are you certain that Lionel will be attending?” she blurted out.
Caroline gestured to the carriage window. “He rode past us not long ago, so I should hope he is attending, otherwise he is going on an extensive and pointless leisure ride.”
Amelia had not seen him pass by, but she had no reason to think that Caroline would lie to her. The ball seemed to be just as important for Lionel’s grandmother and sister as it was to him, like this really was some manner of grand debut.
“Can you hear that?” Rebecca said suddenly, leaping off the squabs to press her face to the window.
Amelia pricked her ears. Sure enough, a pleasing sound drifted toward her—muted by distance but unmistakable. Music. The kind that encouraged dancing, but had always encouragedherto retreat to wherever she would not be spotted or approached.
Surely, Lionel will not want to dance with me tonight.
He had mentioned that he did not like to dance if he could help it, and though it had fleetingly disappointed her at the time, she hoped he would stand by his remark that night. No one needed to see her stumbling and floundering on the dance floor, especially as she had not practiced in the exquisite gown she wore.
Before long, the carriage passed through a set of towering gates and rattled down a short gravel driveway, joining a line of other carriages that were waiting to deposit their passengers.
“Oh,” Rebecca cried, clapping her hands together, “I feel like this shall be a night to remember!”
Or one to quickly forget.Amela held a hand to her chest, feeling her pounding heart.
“You make sure you are on your best behavior,” Caroline warned her granddaughter in a mild voice. “It is by the generosity of the Duke of Thornhill that you are invited tonight, even though you are not yet ‘out’ in society. Do not draw too much attention to yourself.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes. “What do you take me for?”
“An overly excited young lady who cannot help but cause mischief,” Caroline replied with a grin. “I should know; I used to be just like you. But this is Amelia’s night. Remember that.”
Amelia was about to protest that she would be glad of someone else taking the attention away from her, but the carriage stopped outside the manor entrance, and the door opened to a familiar face.
