Page 58 of Unmasking the Silver Heiress
"I prefer you in your spectacles," he replied with a grin, "but you are fetching, as ever."
"Flatterer," she teased as the door was pulled open, momentarily blinding them both with the dazzle of torchlight arranged along the pathway leading into the manor.
It was not snowing tonight. Not yet, anyway.
The piles of sparkling crystalline white on either side of the drive bore testament to how frequent the snowfall had been this year, and how lasting the result of each storm was. Still, it was an otherworldly frame to their entrance, and Nell felt there was something rather magical about the combination of the fire and the ice, as her feather-lined dress brushed against the stone walkway while she clung to Nathaniel's arm.
The air was somehow electric, the charge of anticipation of being done, of completing a final night under her aunt's employ, crackling through the furs on her shoulders and spiraling down the bare arms she hid beneath.
They deposited their invitation on a gilded platter at the entrance and allowed masked footmen to relieve them of their coats.
In true masquerade style, there would be no announcements of guests tonight, on the assumption that they were well disguised in their finery. Nell rather thought the whole ruse a bit silly, especially for herself. After all, what good was a disguise when you were a head shorter than everyone else in the ballroom?
They were pointed down a candlelit corridor, covered in metallic sculptures imitating the winding of vines and leaves, coming together in a thicket overhead like a summer alcove in an enchanted garden.
Neither of them spoke, for it would have interrupted the effect of the decor, and perhaps might have lessened the impact of the moment they emerged into the ballroom, glittering in gold and white as dozens of couples spun in dance at the center of the floor.
Nell was entirely certain that she'd never seen anything half so striking, except, perhaps, when beholding the man next to her.
"Might I claim the first dance?" he asked, his voice low in her ear. "I fear we are quite tardy in having our first spin 'round the ballroom."
"I never dance before champagne," Nell said with a laugh. "You will not find me particularly gracefulen mouvement."
"I appreciate the warning," he said with a smile as he gestured toward a table of glinting champagne flutes arranged before a half-circle of bottles. "I wouldn't love you half so well without your candor."
Nell was momentarily speechless, and very glad for the impending relief one finds in a sip of spirits. Had he just professed to love her? She thought so, but didn't dare ask, lest she was mistaken. In any event, they were intercepted by Gigi and Lady Dempierre en route to the table.
"Nell, my darling, there you are!" called Gigi, raising her arm to wave them over. She was bedecked head to toe in periwinkle chiffon, hand-embroidered with a peacock and peahen in the midst of their mating dance. Of course, her mask was more peacock than peahen, but she had reasoned with Madame Bisset that "were the birds men and their ladies women, the standard of dress would be the other way around."
Evidently, the avian theme extended to the family, for Lady Dempierre was wrapped in white and wore a dove's face over her own.
Nathaniel gave a small, barely perceptible sigh of disappointment, which Nell met with a light jab of her elbow into his side. His distaste was not directed at Gigi. Indeed, he had been genuinely supportive of Nell nurturing a friendship here in Kent. Rather, he was exhausted of Lady Dempierre's unseemly enthusiasm toward his company and her unrelenting ability to monopolize it.
Nell could not entirely hide her amusement at his distress, for she never would have imagined Nathaniel Atlas so utterly exhausted by a middle-aged woman. Then again, she'd never have imagined he was ticklish either. Such were the discoveries of marriage.
"Oh, I am so pleased to see you!" Gigi exclaimed, stretching her hands out to tug Nell closer as the latter squeaked in alarm at nearly spilling her newly poured champagne. "Mamanhas been an utter bore, and Mathias keeps making bird puns. How did I arrive into such an insufferable family?"
"Every family is insufferable," Nell told her, sipping at her drink. "Were any of the puns particularly clever?"
"Of course not," Gigi sniffed. She glanced at her mother, who was having animated conversation with a tolerant Nathaniel, and lowered her voice. "I have been thinking about your proposal, that I join you in London this spring. I desperately want to, Eleanor, but I'm afraid my parents will be quite cross at even the suggestion of such a thing."
"Why are they so opposed?" Nell asked, unable to hide her exasperation with it. "You deserve to pursue a life of your own!"
"Do I?" Gigi sighed, taking a healthy swig of her own drink. "I suppose they can't stop me, if I set my mind to it. Are you certain I won't be a bother? I've never even visited London."
"You will be anything but a bother," Nell assured her. "Nathaniel will be much occupied once Parliament resumes, and it would be a great happiness for me to have a friend to pass the Season with. I can introduce you to my dear friend Tatiana. I think the two of you would get on famously."
Gigi pressed her lips together, attempting to contain her excitement. "I shall have to trust Mathias to care for my birds."
"You can bring a pair along, if you like," Nell said. "I know how dear they are to you, and I am fond of birdsong myself."
"What are the two of you conspiring?" Nathaniel asked pleasantly, appearing at Nell's side with a warm hand to the small of her back.
"Oh, all manner of criminal activity," Gigi replied easily, ignoring the irritated huff from her mother. "Sadly, your wife has nixed my dastardly plans."
"She has a habit of doing that," Nathaniel returned with a chuckle.
"Oh, you must excuse me," Gigi said, laying a hand on Nell's arm. "I promised this dance to that ridiculous Jean Catroux. Don't vanish on me!A bientot!"
