Page 60 of Finding Hope
Patience wore rose, Grace a pale green. Joy had decided not to attend the ball and instead join the other young ladies who were not yet out.
“What lovely flowers!” Grace exclaimed as she spun about into the room, pretending to dance with the floral arrangement. “Are they pansies? Do they grow this time of year?”
“Anything can be grown in a greenhouse at an estate such as this, but they look more wild to me,” Patience reflected onthem as Grace set them on a side table. “I believe they may be henbane.”
“Either way, they are quite pretty. Who are they from?” Grace asked.
“I have not yet had the chance to look,” Hope stated the obvious as she pulled on her gloves to finish her toilette.
“Well, there is a note,” Patience prodded.
Hope snatched the attached card, then her body froze as she read the words.
You cannot hide from me.Keep your distance or beware the shadows.
“Hope?What is it? You just turned as white as a ghost,” Faith said.
Patience took it from her hands and read it aloud. “Keep your distance from whom?”
“Why is someone doing this to you? As disturbing as Sir Julian was, at least I knew who was threatening me,” Faith declared. “I am glad Westwood is arranging for his friends to protect you.”
“Maybe it would be safer if I stayed with Joy,” Hope whispered, trying not to tremble.
“But Hope, if you do not come to the ball, then they win,” Patience argued.
“I care not about winning. ’Tis not a duel! I just wish to be safe!”
“Whoever it is will be pleased if you hide,” Patience insisted.
“Maybe it would be for the best if we leave on the morrow,” Faith said.
“Do you not wish to know who is doing this?” Grace asked shrewdly.
“I just want it to stop,” Hope pleaded as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“There is no guarantee it will stop, even if we leave,” Patience reasoned.
Hope knew why Patience did not want to leave, and she had no desire to spoil her chances either.
“I can endure it for a little while longer,” she said. “I would like to put an end to this once and for all.” She stood up and took her fan from the table.
“You are quite certain?” Faith asked.
“Let us go before I change my mind.”
If the situationwith Hope were not enough to occupy his mind, his parents were at loggerheads. Max had been walking through the hall earlier in the day when he’d heard them arguing and the Duke had finished by banishing the Duchess to the Dower House. What they had been arguing about, he could not say, but the Duke had been in a rage such as Max had not known he was capable of, and there was a little doubt that the Duchess had been the cause.
By the time Max intervened, the Duke was having a spell and had to take to his bed. Dr. Cafferty had diagnosed an apoplectic fit and had urged the Duke to rest and calm himself.
Neither the Duke nor Duchess was fit for company, so hopefully Diana could help him invent an excuse for neither of them attending the ball that evening. It was the worst possible time to have to leave his father in order to entertain over a hundred guests. Thankfully, his father’s devoted valet was by his side.
The seating arrangements for dinner had quickly been altered, and Max presided over one end and Diana oversaw the other. With a sweet smile, she had announced that their father and mother were indisposed. As likely as not, everyone assumed it was due to the Duke’s illness.
He had wanted to escort Hope into dinner again and shout to the world that she was his choice—his future duchess, but Hope had arrived late again and had not even looked at him. What the devil was going on?
Then he had to excuse himself early to stand in the receiving line with Diana, and thus not be able to exchange a single word or glance with his beloved since the day before. Had his passion scared her away? He could not think so. She had seemed willing to be kissed at the time—and had clung to him as much as he had to her.
He needed to speak with her—he intended to open the ball with her. There was not much time left, for guests continued to straggle in until the last minute. When he was finally free, he looked out over the crowd, but Brosner was already leading her onto the floor. “What the devil?” he muttered.
