Chapter 5 #2
“I have been present at a great many balls,” she answered truthfully. “I do not know why you have not noticed me before.”
Yes, she did.
“I shall not make that error twice,” Lord Deveraux said. “I find you to be charming and clever. And somehow familiar.”
Kitty sucked in a breath, certain her subterfuge was over.
But the dance ended before Lord Deveraux could ask further questions or expose her for who and what she was. Although the two of them lingered in their spots for longer than was ordinary, Lord Deveraux eventually had to offer his arm to escort Kitty back to the side of the room .
“I am loath to leave you here without your chaperone,” he said once they were off to the side. “Do you see her anywhere?”
“I—” Kitty did not know what to say. She’d told Lord Deveraux already that she did not have a chaperone, which she knew was unheard of. That was likely why the man did not believe her.
“Deveraux, dearest,” the Marchioness of Russell approached before Kitty could say more, leading a younger woman with a ridiculous arrangement of brown curls piled on her head with her. “Lady Catherine here would like to partner you for the next dance.”
Kitty held her breath and took a step back, lowering her head as the marchioness came close enough to look at her.
“Good evening, Lady Catherine,” Lord Deveraux greeted the new young woman graciously. Kitty hoped the slightly stiff note in her champion’s voice was reluctance, but she could not truly begrudge the other lady a chance to dance with the most eligible bachelor in the room.
“Good evening, Lord Deveraux,” Lady Catherine said with a deep curtsy and a beaming smile.
“Would you introduce me to your friend?” Lady Russell asked, smiling at Kitty.
Kitty’s heart beat so hard she was surprised it did not pop straight out of her bodice. Surely, if the marchioness looked at her too closely, she would see all.
“Mother, this is the charming Miss Kitty Dryden,” Lord Deveraux introduced her.
“Charmed,” Lady Russell said, smiling…and squinting slightly.
The opening strains of the next dance sounded, and with a quick apology and a final smile for Kitty, Lord Deveraux offered his arm to Lady Catherine, and the two of them departed for the forming dance lines .
That left Kitty alone with Lady Russell and a sharp wave of panic.
Lady Russell continued to smile and squint at her as she asked, “Are you Lady Postum’s niece?”
“I—” Panic gripped Kitty. She had not settled on a story or any sort of explanation about who she was or how she had been invited to the ball.
Now she saw the error of her ways as her mind drew an utter blank in the face of the question.
Perhaps she was not truly Miss Kitty Dryden after all.
Perhaps she, he, was merely an impostor attempting the impossible.
She was rescued in the most unlikely of ways.
“She is my charge.” Of all people, Lady Everly arrived in the conversation, taking up a position by Kitty’s side, like a mother hen protecting her chicks.
It was not just Lady Everly. Georgiana and Alice were with her. They quickly circled ’round, grinning at Kitty in excitement.
“Miss Dryden is your charge?” Lady Russell asked.
Kitty said a prayer of thanks for the marchioness restating her name so that Lady Everly would know and avoid mistakes.
“Yes, she is,” Lady Everly said, sending Kitty a delighted, wicked smile. “She has just arrived from the country.”
“How lovely,” Lady Russell said with a genuine smile. “And who are your people, Miss Dryden?”
Another bolt of panic hit Kitty, but once again, she was saved from having to explain by the busyness of the ball.
“Lady Russell, could I have a word with you?” a middle-aged woman with a younger woman just behind her interrupted them. “Only, I was hoping my Millicent could secure a dance with Lord Deveraux.”
Lady Russell turned her attention to the other woman, and as soon as she did, Lady Everly, Georgiana, and Alice whisked Kitty off to the side of the room.
“This is astounding,” Alice squealed, looking Kitty up and down once they were secluded in the corner. “I never would have guessed it was you had Lady Everly not pointed it out.”
“You are so daring,” Georgiana added with great admiration.
“I feel as though I have taken my life into my hands,” Kitty whispered, pressing a hand to her stomach.
“You may very well have,” Lady Everly said, “if anyone had noticed you.”
“Lord Deveraux certainly seemed to have noticed him…er, her,” Alice said, her cheeks going pink. “Did you see the way he looked at…her?” She glanced around as if to gauge whether anyone was listening to them.
No one was, so Georgiana spoke more freely. “I think he’s smitten,” she said. “How exciting!”
Kitty appreciated her friends’ comments and support, even while thinking they were daft to play along with her. It was Lady Everly’s opinion that truly mattered to her, though. “Do you think I am mad to do this?” she asked.
“Yes, of course,” Lady Everly said, but with the broadest of smiles. She took Kitty’s hand and held it between her own. “I have never seen you look so lovely or so much like yourself.”
Kitty nearly burst into tears, a habit that had grown all too frequent for her of late.
Lady Everly had always seen her, truly seen her.
She did not have to recognize her or her true self.
Truth be told, she should have counseled her to be the man she’d been born to be and not to fly against God’s will by seeking to be someone else, like Kitty imagined nearly everyone else in the world would have.
Lady Everly had always seen past the dry strictures uttered from the pulpit to the heart of things that no book, no matter how holy, could contain .
“I feel so…settled,” Kitty whispered. “I am shocked that no one has called me out or stripped me of this gown to reveal the truth underneath.”
“Shocked?” Lady Everly blinked at her. “My dear, you are clearly comfortable as you are now. Why would anyone doubt that you are anything other than what you should be?”
Kitty sent her a flat look that said she should know the answer to that.
Lady Everly shook her head as if Kitty had actually spoken those words and replied with, “Most people are so caught up in their own concerns that they have no space left to meddle in other people’s, unless they affect or benefit them directly.
I am certain that if some gentleman of the ton were to take a fancy to you only to discover you are not who you appear to be, then they would take issue with you.
That is the only reason I could imagine anyone denying you this truth about yourself.
If it does not affect them, they will not care what you do. ”
Kitty was not certain she believed that, but Lady Everly had seen so much more of life than she had.
“Lord Deveraux certainly seems to have been affected by you,” Alice pointed out with an impish grin.
“Is he the sort of man to be bothered by that?” Georgiana asked, her expression indicating that she suddenly understood why Lord Deveraux’s interest in Kitty Dryden might be a bad thing for Kitty in the end.
Lady Everly hummed. “The man does have a chequered reputation,” she said. “He may be more open to variation than society might like.”
It was a strange and potentially volatile comment, but Kitty found herself grasping hold of it and wishing it were true.
She had felt a certain kind of heat between them the other night when Lord Deveraux had rescued her as Lord Castleton that seemed to hint that Lord Deveraux was open to a great many things.
“What will you do now?” Georgiana asked after a few moments of silence.
“You should stay and enjoy the rest of the ball as our friend,” Alice suggested excitedly. “I am certain a great many more gentlemen would wish to dance with you.”
Kitty blew out a breath. “I do not know if I could,” she said. “One dance with Lord Deveraux was enough to reveal to me that I need a great deal more practice in dancing the female part of the dances I’ve known for years before I will be comfortable with anyone else.”
“So you plan to attend other balls as Miss Dryden?” Georgiana asked.
“We can practice together,” Alice said at the same time.
“I will hire a dancing instructor,” Lady Everly said.
Kitty glanced between her friends, so overcome with gratitude for their acceptance that her throat closed up and she could not speak for a moment. “I do not know if I could do this again,” she managed to whisper hoarsely.
“Of course you must,” Georgiana said, taking her arm like she was her sister. “You were so happy dancing with Lord Deveraux.”
“You must,” Alice echoed.
Truer friends could not be had. Kitty loved hers so dearly.
“I think I need to go home,” she said at last. “Not because I have not enjoyed myself, but because I am thoroughly worn out.”
Georgiana and Alice made disappointed sounds, but Lady Everly nodded as if she agreed.
“I have learned a great deal this evening,” Kitty said, stepping away from Georgiana, “and I should like to make some adjustments before I appear in public as Miss Kitty Dryden again. For one, I need a clearer story of my origin. ”
“We can help with that,” Alice said, her eyes alight.
“We can,” Lady Everly confirmed. “But do as you must tonight.”
They exchanged a few more words as Kitty said her goodbye. She would have hugged them all and wept over their kindness, but even a lady could not get away with such behavior at a ball.
She left her friends reluctantly and started across the ballroom, hoping that her valise was still where she’d left it. More than a few gentlemen and ladies watched her or smiled and nodded at her as she passed through, but thankfully, no one attempted to speak to her.
Until she reached the edge of the ballroom.
“Miss Dryden, are you leaving so soon?” Lord Deveraux asked, jogging after her.
“I—” Kitty pressed a hand to her stomach and turned to see whether anyone might be watching them. Quite a few of the ladies observed their interaction with curiosity or jealousy. “It is late for me. I must return home.”
“You will not dance with me again?” Lord Deveraux asked, seeming genuinely disappointed.
Kitty’s heart all but melted. Lord Deveraux wanted her. The look in his eyes was clear enough.
But no, Lord Deveraux wanted Miss Kitty Dryden. He did not know the conflicted identity of the person she was. If he knew, it could change everything, and Kitty was not yet ready to have that much change.
“Perhaps we shall dance again at another ball,” she said with a warm smile.
Lord Deveraux’s shoulders relaxed, and he smiled back. “I should like that.”
“Goodbye, my lord,” Kitty said, managing a clumsy curtsy. That was something else she needed to work on .
“Goodbye, Miss Dryden,” Lord Deveraux said. “Until we meet again.”
Kitty sent him a smile so full of joy and affection that it made her dizzy.
She then turned and sped out of the room as quickly as she could get away with.
She felt every bit like a fresh debutante who had made her first conquest of the season.
And even though she would have to go back to being Kit as soon as she left the ball, with any luck, she would be able to continue her ruse and deepen her attachment with Lord Deveraux to the point where she could tell the man the truth.