Page 55 of Til Death Duke Us Part
He dodged out of the way. “It’s true! The man’s been smiling. It’s unnerving.”
“It’s interesting,” Lady Bowen corrected. “I suppose we wanted to meet you to know if… if you are simply sleeping together or if… you are more.”
Persephone’s heart shrank. It could probably fit in her palm, and it hurt to have it feel so tiny. “The former, my lady.”
“I don’t believe it.” Sir Nicholas shook his head. “The man’s been working hard the past fortnight, and I doubt he came up with the idea of working all on his own. He met you right around the same time, as far as we know. And there is the… jewelry. And he’s refusing to meet any more marriage prospects.”
“Yes. You’re right.” Lady Bowen patted her husband’s arm. “There is that. I do think he has honorable intentions toward you, Mrs. Graves.”
“And you want to scare me off.” Persephone stood. It was time for her to leave.
“Absolutely not!” Lady Bowen’s curls bounced as she shook her head.
“You don’t have to be nice,” Persephone said. “I do not intend to chain him. I?—”
“You’re going to the park with us.” Sir Nicholas bounded toward the door.
Lady Bowen stood, hooked her arm through Persephone’s, and dragged her toward the front door. “Excellent idea. It’s almost time. We should be on our way.”
“No. What park?” Persephone dug her heels into the ground, little good it did. So she simply just gave up to the force that was the Bowens and soon found herself in the street between them.
“Hyde Park, of course.” Lady Bowen frowned. “Do you not know? About Victor’s show today?”
Show? “I guess I do not.”
“Why in heaven’s name would he not tell you?” Lady Bowen’s brows knit together. “I’m convinced, as is Nico, it’s all for you. Well you must come, whether Victor wants it or not. And even if it doesn’t go as he plans, don’t let him throw you over.”
Because she didn’t seem to be able to fight them, Persephone let the Bowens drag her into Hyde Park. Her hair streamed down her back, and her gown marked her as different from all the other finely-garbed strollers. She felt their stares, ignored their wrinkled noses.
But the Bowens didn’t seem to mind. They stayed close and spoke with her like she had always been at their sides, had always been part of their family.
How different from her parents, who had seen Percy and sneered at him because his clothes were not as expensive, his manners not as refined.
Her eyes burned. Why was she such a watering pot these days?
“Look,” Lady Bowen said when they reached the far side of the park. She pointed to a small stage erected in front of the Round Pond. “It’s starting.”
A man climbed the steps to the stage, and a large crowd had begun to gather round it. The man, with his slumped shoulders, looked oddly familiar.
“What’s happening?” Persephone asked.
“You don’t know?” Sir Nicholas said. “As an old Manchester girl?”
She saw it then—the crowd, the man on the stage, the device in his hand. And she knew, too, why she recognized him. He was the alchemist they’d seen in Manchester, the one with the hot air balloon device.
She pushed closer to the crowd, breaking away from Lady Bowen and Sir Nicholas. She could not break through the back edge of it, but she was now close enough to hear the alchemist speak. The same speech from Manchester, but…
A hot air balloon appeared in the air behind him, gathering shape and form out of dazzling light. A glamour.
As the alchemist spoke, the balloon was thrown about by wind. Its passengers screamed, one fell to the ground. Dramatic. She knew the rest of the story, and she tore her eyes away from the glamour claiming the sky behind the alchemist to look for?—
Yes, there.
Victor. He stood behind the stage, hands on hips, gaze on the glamours above his head. Oh, she wanted to kiss his furrowed brow, his crooked lips, his broken nose. He was doing it.
By the time the second hot air balloon landed safely on the ground beside the pond and disappeared into thin air, she could barely see Victor. Her eyes too full of tears. She covered her mouth with both hands to keep everyone from seeing how wide she smiled, how completely she was in love with the man behind the stage.
But she heard the roar of the crowd’s appreciation and laughed through her tears.
