Page 59 of The Fiancée Farce
Prudence wagged her tail as Gemma and Lucy continued to bicker. Tansy pressed her fingers to her lips, praying Prudence would just stay quiet for a few minutes longer. Long enough for Tansy to grab her stupid earring and make a quick getaway, Gemma and Lucy none the wiser.
The floor behind Tansy squeaked.
“You have to have heard that.”
“Maybe?” Gemma said.
Tansy turned, watching as a shadow fell against the wall, growing larger as whoever was approaching came closer. She cast a glance around the hall and winced. There were no doors nearby, only a window.
She frowned.
A window with floor-length curtains.
No.
No, that was absurd.
Tansy had a limit to the amount of absurdity she was willing to inflict upon herself, and she had reached her limit. The idea of hiding behind a curtain was above and beyond... oh, to hell with it.
Tansy ducked behind the curtain in the nick of time. Her heart thundered as a pair of men’s dress shoes turned the corner just before the gauzy red curtain fell back into place and darkness surrounded her.
“I need to go,” Gemma said. “I need to get back to—to the party.”
“To Tansy, you mean.”
“Lucy—”
“Just do us both a favor and be straight with me, Gemma.”
Gemma laughed. “Impossible.”
“Gemma,” Lucy snapped, sounding beyond exasperated.
“Fine, yes. I need to get back to Tansy. Are you happy?”
Lucy scoffed. “How can you ask me that?”
“Don’t twist my words. I didn’t mean—you know what? Forget it. I’m sorry, okay? Let’s just drop it.”
There was a pause, a moment of silence just protracted enough that Tansy could make out the sound of footsteps approaching, stopping just shy of the end of the hall.
Exactly in front of where Tansy stood, hidden by the curtain.
Perfect.
A sharp burst of copper flooded her mouth as she bit down too hard on the inside of her lip, cursing herself for being so hasty, hiding behind a curtain like a coward when she should’ve waited. She could’ve... she didn’t know, intercepted whoever it was, but instead they were out there, able to hear everything Gemma and Lucy were discussing, while she was stuck, trapped behind the curtain. She couldn’t exactly pop out without looking like a total ninny.
To make matters worse, Prudence still had her earring.
“If you were really sorry, you wouldn’t go through with this,” Lucy said. “If you really cared about me, you wouldn’t.”
“That isn’t fair, Lucy, and you know it.”
Tansy fought the urge to squirm, feeling unduly exposed even though no one could see her.
“Maybe you should stop expecting to have your cake and eat it, too,” Lucy said.
“I’m nottryingto—God, will you please stop trying to make me out to be some sort of villain?” Gemma’s composure frayed, her voice cracking, and Tansy’s chest panged withsomething. Sympathy. “I’m not the bad guy here.”
