Page 29 of The Heiress in Disguise
“Well, if you’re able to guess my name, I’ll tell you you’re right.” Though he would only confirm if she guessedLord Stephens.He wouldn’t admit to being the Earl of Cambridge. And since, as far as he was aware, she wasn’t expecting any guests by the name of Stephens, he thought he ought to be in the clear as far as that went.
“It’s a riddle, then?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I suppose.”
“Well, it hardly seems fair,” she said. “But I suppose itisa masquerade. Anyway, I’m glad to have you know who I am. You know, you’re the talk of the party.”
“Am I?” As if he wasn’t aware.
“When a handsome man walks in and nobody knows who he is, it’s bound to stir up gossip,” she said.
“You sayhandsome?”
“You must realize that you’re one of the best-looking gentlemen at this party.”
“I hadn’t given it any thought,” he told her truthfully.
“Well, you are,” she said. “I’m sure there are plenty of young ladies who have their eye on you—but it’s my good luck I got to you first. Of course, this being my parents’ party, everyone understands that I ought to have my first pick of dance partners anyway.”
She certainly was brazen. But Antoine didn’t mind the idea of a dance. What mattered was to keep her talking—that way, hopefully, he could find out more about what was happening with Angelique. “I’d be honored if you’d favor me with a dance,” he told her.
“It would be my pleasure.”
He led her out onto the dance floor. She was beaming with pride and pleasure. “Everyone is staring,” she informed him. “I’m sure they’re all jealous of us—me, because I’m with the gentleman everyone is talking about, and you, because you’re with me.”
“You may be right,” he told her. He didn’t think much of the way she spoke about herself, as if she was so desirable that it went without saying, but he couldn’t deny that she was lovely. It was apparent that she was Angelique’s cousin through and through—they had the same pale hair, the same ivory skin, and the same wide eyes.
Angelique’s features were softer and lovelier, and even if she hadn’t been his close friend, Antoine wouldn’t have had any trouble deciding which of the two of them he preferred. But Lady Gwynethwaspretty. It was probably very true that there were many men here who would have liked to be in his shoes right now, with her in their arms.
“So this house belongs to your father?” he asked her.
“That’s right,” Lady Gwyneth said. “Of course, we usually live at our manor in the country, but when we’re in the city, it’s so nice to know that we have this place ready and waiting for us.”
“I imagine it would be,” Antoine agreed. “I wonder if you can answer a question for me, though.”
“I’d be happy to try.”
“It’s just that I heard this house belonged to the Marquess of Somerset,” Antoine said.
Lady Gwyneth stiffened in his arms. “Where did you hearthat?”
“Well, to tell you the truth, I was in London once when I was a child,” Antoine said. “My father had a business relationship with the marquess.”
Everything he was saying was pure fabrication. His father’s relationship with the marquess had been much more neighborly than business-related. And he had encountered the family many times, not just once on a trip.
But he cleared his throat and went on. “I thought I remembered them having a young daughter as well,” he said.
“Why are you asking these things?”
“I suppose I merely wondered what would prompt them to give up a home like this—if indeed it did belong to them.”
“The Marquess of Somerset died years ago,” Lady Gwyneth said. “So did his wife.”
“Oh, I see,” Antoine said. “And what of the child?”
“I believe she was sent to France to live with her mother’s family.”
It was the same lie that had reached Antoine via his informants—that Angelique was no longer here, that she’d been sent away. So, Lady Gwyneth was in on the scheme—she wasn’t an innocent bystander in her parents’ machinations. She was actively working to cover up what had happened to Angelique.
