Page 17 of Unmasking a Wicked Marquess
“Amelia, calm yourself.” Philip chuckled as he took his place at the head of the table and poured out two cups of tea, one for himself and one for his wife. “Asking Edward to decide in the space of one evening if he wished to marry a lady or not is a bit much, do you not think?”
“You made your intentions clear after the night we had met.” Amelia’s firm words made Philip turn a little pink as he poured the milk into his cup.
“One night?” Edward asked, his lips stretching into an amused smirk. “You work fast, Father.”
“I called on her with flowers. I did not declare an all-consuming love, nor did I get down on one knee and propose there and then.”
“I suppose not.” Amelia seemed put out about the idea as she turned in her seat to thank her husband for the tea. “Still, Edward could tell us if a lady caught his eye.”
“I thought one did catch your eye,” Jane spoke up, putting down her teacup with an alarming clink that drew everyone’s attention.
“Truly?” Amelia made her own crockery rattle for she leaned forward so far.
“Ahem.” Edward cleared his throat, stepping into their conversation. “No lady caught my eye more than any other last night.”
At least, I am not yet sharing her.
“No?” Jane asked, her mischievous smile still in place. “I could have sworn there was one lady that you danced with whom you seemed a little more –”
“Speaking of which, when is your wedding, Jane?” Edward saw an opportunity to stop her mischief by causing some of his own.
“In a month, they are to be wed; why do you ask?” Philip said, putting down the milk jug at the head of the table.
“Just with how close Jane and dear Fred seemed to be last night, I would have thought it would be sooner.”
Jane’s foot thudded under the table in a way that suggested to Edward she was trying to stamp down on his foot to halt him from saying anything further. He tucked his feet out of her reach, knowing full well that there had been a period the night before where he had not been able to find his sister and Fred.
“The month will be fine. Everything is all set,” Jane said simply and sat back in her chair. She had clearly taken the hint that if she spoke about that particular lady from the night before, he would bring up how she had gone missing in the company of her betrothed, for she said nothing more on the subject, even when Amelia pressed her.
“Oh, come on, Edward. You must be able to satisfy my curiosity with something. Who is this young lady?”
“There was no young lady.” Though Edward knew even if he had wanted to tell his mother, he could not answer this specific question. He had no idea who the lady beneath the white mask had been, though he longed to know her name.
“Then you will have to attend more events of the ton,” Amelia said with finality. “See who else you can find.”
“Very well, but not yet. I’m going to assist the groomsmen with training the new horses over the next few days.”
“Must you?” Amelia sighed heavily. “You are almost as bad as your father used to be.”
“We take pride in our work.” Philip winked at him. “That is all.”
“There must be time for family too, and for starting a family.” She looked pointedly at Edward with these words.
“I’m not starting one yet!” He objected to the amusement of his father and sister. No matter how much his mother pressed him for more information, he refused to speak of the lady from the night before, though he had to accept something to himself.
Someday, I will find her. I cannot imagine going through my life without another of those kisses.
***
“Well, that is infuriating.” Violet huffed and dropped down into the chair beside Juliet’s own in their library.
Juliet lifted her head from where she had been staring at her atlas. It was a well-thumbed book that she had perused many times, paying particular attention to the pages that discussed the great animals to be found across the globe. Today, she had spent many minutes dwelling on the pages about India, longing to ask the gentleman she had met at the ball two days before if the illustrations in her atlas were accurate or not.
“What is infuriating?” Juliet whispered, raising a finger to her lips and showing her sister they had to be quiet.
Across the room and sat by the fire was their mother, fast asleep. Cecily had been suffering from heated spells all morning but was now chilly and tired, huddled by the fire in the corner of the library with a blanket on her lap. Juliet was the one who had threaded that blanket around her mother and now watched on.
“I have asked everyone I know,” Violet started again in a much lower tone than before, “who that masked man from the ball was. You know, the one you were so smitten with.”
