Page 38 of The Heiress in Disguise
There was a knock at the door. The earl went to open it, revealing the countess on the other side. She was also unmasked, and she had a look of displeasure on her face.
“Here you are,” she said to her husband. “The gentlemen are saying that you went off with a stranger—I suppose this is the man?”
“Not so much a stranger as a new friend,” the earl said with a smile.
“Yes, but you know what we talked about. You know it’s unwise for you to wander about the place with people we don’t know well, especially when you’ve been drinking.”
What did that mean? Antoine wondered if the countess mistrusted her husband’s ability to keep the story of Angelique’s life a secret. It seemed so important to these people to keep that secret—more important than anything else—and the countess would understand that her husband had a tendency to become loose-lipped after a few drinks. Of course she wouldn’t want to see him on his own with people she didn’t know if they could trust.
Well, she was right to be suspicious, if indeed she was. Theyshouldn’ttrust Antoine, for he meant to learn the truth of what was happening there, and tear it all down.
“The fellow just wanted a tour,” the earl defended himself.
“Come back to the ballroom,” his wife ordered. “People are asking where the both of you have gone. Perhaps we can all have a tour a bit later.”
“I apologize, Lady Leicester,” Antoine said. “It wasn’t my intention to take Lord Leicester away from where he ought to be. It’s just that your house is so lovely that I couldn’t resist asking to see a bit more of it.”
The three of them went back down to the ballroom together. They had barely reached the door when Lord Leicester’s son appeared. The young baron was sour-faced and unhappy. “Where is Ella?” he demanded of his parents, not bothering to greet Antoine or even look at him.
“I’m sure she’s working with the rest of the staff,” Lady Leicester said.
“Well, I need her. My friends and I are going to a private room, and we want drinks served to us. I want Ella to be the one to do it.”
“What’s wrong with asking another member of the staff? I see several right here in the room.”
“No. It has to be Ella. She ought to serve me when I order her to! If I can’t call Ella to serve me whenever I wish, she might forget her place. Besides, I want to show her off to my friends.”
Antoine felt a spike of fury. How dare he speak about Ella this way—as if she belonged to him? It was very wrong.
“Don’t be rude,” the countess said. “We have a guest here. You ought to greet him properly.” She frowned. “Though I don’t know who he is.”
“I like this aspect of masquerades,” Antoine said. “I like being able to wonder at who everyone is. You may be sure that I was issued an invitation to the party, Lady Leicester—Iamsupposed to be here. I hope you don’t think me rude for not revealing my identity to you just yet.”
“Oh, not at all,” Lady Leicester said. “It’s a masquerade, after all. Some of the other guests are starting to take off their masks.” She gestured around the room, and Antoine saw that it was true. “But there’s certainly nothing compelling you to do so until you’re ready. Be as mysterious as you would like!”
“I’m going to find Ella,” the baron said with an unpleasant expression on his face. “I want to show my friends how obedient she is to me—how in control of her I am.”
Antoine forced himself not to curl his hands into fists. He ached to strike the baron for his comment, but doing so would show his hand, and he would be ejected from the party. Then he would never be able to get Angelique out of here.
But he was beginning to doubt his conviction that the best thing to do was to gather information. Maybe he ought to find her and simply run away with her.
But if I do that, how will she ever regain her inheritance?No, he had to try to do as much as possible for her while there. It wasn’t about simply getting away. He had to remedy this awful situation and restore the life she should have had, if he could.
The countess was now looking past Antoine. “Oh, this is too much,” she murmured.
Antoine followed her gaze. She was looking at a young lady in a yellow gown. The gown didn’t suit her—it fit her poorly, and the color was wrong for her. The young lady had a piece of bread in her hand, and she was smiling and speaking to someone Antoine didn’t know.
The countess pushed past him. Curious about what might be about to happen, Antoine followed.
“Grace,” the countess said, “what do you think you’re doing?”
The young lady, whom Antoine now understood to be Lady Grace, the younger daughter of Lord and Lady Leicester, looked up as if she had been caught in the act of committing a crime. “Mother—I didn’t realize you were here.”
“And so you thought you would eat a piece of bread, is that it?”
“I’m hungry.”
“We’ve discussed this. You know you’re not to eat at parties, and certainly notbread, little pig. Perhaps you’d be happier up in your room with plates of food instead of at the party!”
