Chapter 6 #2
Penelope clenched her hands into fists. Dash it, why couldn’t she manage to simply mind her own affairs? God knew she was in enough of a tangle, what with Silas and Florentina to manage. Didn’t she have enough to worry about without taking everyone else’s troubles onto her shoulders?
What she was contemplating was pure foolishness.
Irresponsible. Rash. The worst kind of recklessness.
Yet she was going to do it, just the same. Her mind was already working, turning over ideas, writing the lines in her head…
If being a gentleman meant Lord Archer had to marry a viper like Lady Lavinia, then Penelope would rather see him remain a rogue.
* * *
She was dressed as a prostitute again tonight.
“Good evening, Miss Hervey. I’ve brought my sister.”
Will hadn’t needed to escort Maddy backstage, but he hadn’t been able to come up with any other plausible excuse to see Miss Hervey before tonight’s performance.
Lady Lavinia was waiting for him in the audience, her lips already white with fury, but as Will’s heated gaze roved from the curves rising from Miss Hervey’s clinging bodice to the trim ankles peeking out from under the ruffled hem of her skirts, it was difficult to care about Lady Lavinia’s fit of pique.
Penelope was bustling about the stage, readying it for the performance, but she stopped when she saw Will and Maddy, and a brilliant smile lit her face. “Good evening, Lord Archer. Are you ready for the Second Act, Lady Madeline?”
Will took in Penelope’s bright eyes and the hectic color in her cheeks, and uneasiness shot through him.
She seemed overly excited, as if she were nervous about tonight’s performance.
He opened his mouth to ask if she was all right, but before he could say a word she seized Maddy’s hand and hurried her over to the other side of the stage.
“Is there something else I can do for you, Lord Archer?” She waved a hand toward the stable boys, who’d taken their places on either side of the curtain. “We’re about to begin.”
“Yes, of course. Excuse me.”
Will bowed and began to withdraw, feeling like a fool, but before he could leave the stage, Miss Hervey called to him. “Lord Archer?”
He turned back to her and tried not to stare at her lips as he waited for her to speak.
“The play. It’s…well, it’s only a silly farce, you know. Nonsensical—a pure folly. It means nothing.” She gazed hard at him, as if she wanted to say more, but then she blew out a breath and nodded to the stable boys, who stood ready to draw back the curtain.
That little speech did nothing to curb Will’s uneasiness, but whatever tonight’s performance held, it was too late to do anything about it now.
He ducked under the curtain and wandered to the front of the stage. The drawing room was crowded with house party guests, and once again a row of servants standing at the back. Every face was alight with anticipation.
Every face except one, that is.
Lady Lavinia’s.
“My lady.” He bowed politely, but aside from a cold nod, she refused to notice him.
It took all of Will’s patience not to roll his eyes as he took his seat beside her.
She’d taken him aside this afternoon and demanded he banish the “scandalous harlots” from Cliff’s Edge.
Will had flatly refused—on Maddy’s account only, of course—and Lady Lavinia was still in a snit over it.
The curtain was pulled aside. A white sheet had been hung behind the players, with an enormous rendition of London Bridge painted across it. It seemed Lord Rakehell had taken his search for his one true love to London.
Penelope was alone at the center of the stage, and Will forgot all about Lady Lavinia.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Second Act of ‘Boughs of Folly,’ in which our troubled hero continues his search for his one true love.”
Penelope darted off stage, and Lord Rodrigo Rakehell came out.
“Foolishness,” Lady Lavinia hissed. She shot Wil a disgusted look, but he took no notice of her. His attention was fixed on Oliver, who’d flung his arms wide and let out a tragic moan.
“Far and wide I’ve searched for my one true love, just as the Christmas Angel bid me, but alas, my love has eluded me. Twelfth Night draws nigh. If I don’t find my true love in London, I will be denied heaven for all eternity!”
A ripple of laughter went through the audience at Lord Rakehell’s woebegone expression, but then they turned their attention to Dinah, who sauntered down the stage in a bar maid’s costume and stopped beside Lord Rakehell.
“Are you my one true love?” Lord Rakehell asked her, his hands clasped under his chin.
“What use have I for your calf-love?” Dinah snapped her fingers in his face.
She strolled off stage, out of the audience’s sight, but she appeared again immediately.
She was wearing the same costume, but this time she was carrying a milk bucket, and Will presumed she was no longer a bar maid, but a dairy maid.
“Are you my one true love?” Lord Rakehell pleaded, with his hand over his heart.
Dinah scowled at him. “Begone, fool!” She upended her bucket over his head, and the audience laughed as poor Lord Rakehell was showered with torn bits of paper.
Dinah ran off stage, and then it was Penelope’s turn. She minced her way over to Lord Rakehell, hips swaying. “Are you my one true love?” Rodrigo asked, falling to his knees at her feet.
“’Course I am, luv! For as long as ye’ve coin to spend!” Penelope gave the audience an exaggerated wink, then skipped off the stage to a roar of laughter.
“Shameless,” Lady Lavinia hissed, quivering with fury.
Will ignored her, his gaze following Penelope until she vanished behind the curtain.
Lady Madeline came out in a governess’s costume next, and then Dinah again, dressed as a lady’s maid. At last Penelope took the stage once more, her red hair hidden under a dark wig.
“Are you my one true love?” Lord Rakehell asked her, tears streaming down his face.
Penelope gazed at him in pity. “Alas, I’m only an actress. But you’ve a kind face, sir, and a gentleman’s manners. I wish I was your one true love, so I could ease your troubled heart.” She gave his cheek a tender pat, then ran off stage, her face buried in her hands as if she were crying.
“Will I never find my one true love?” Lord Rakehell fell to weeping and tearing his hair, but his despair was cut short by Dinah, who’d thrown a coat and hat over her previous costume, and now appeared on the stage dressed as…
Will’s eye widened as he took in her fur-trimmed pink cloak, and her pink hat, adorned with an enormous ostrich plume fashioned out of white paper.
Oh, Christ. She was dressed just like—
“How dare she?” Lady Lavinia let out an outraged gasp and half-rose from her seat, as if she were going to rush on stage and snatch the hat from Dinah’s head.
Will took her arm and urged her back into her chair. “Sit down. You’ll only make it worse if you take notice of it.”
Lady Lavinia looked around and saw Christopher tittering behind his hand. She sank slowly into her seat, her face flushed with humiliation and fury.
Will brought his attention back to the stage, where Dinah was circling the weeping Lord Rakehell, a calculating expression on her face. “Who are you, sir?”
Lord Rakehell ceased his weeping and looked up at her. “I’m Lord Rakehell. Are you my one true love?”
Dinah tapped her lips with the tips of her white-gloved fingers. “Perhaps I am. It depends. What is your rank, sir?”
Lady Lavinia let out an outraged squeak.
“I’m an earl, madam. The Earl of Rakehell.”
“Hmmm. An earl. And have you a great fortune?”
Lord Rakehell staggered to his feet. “I do, madam. The greatest fortune in all of England.”
“Then it seems I am your one true love. I’m Lady Pristine Proper, a lady of birth and breeding.
You must marry me at once and make me the Countess of Rakehell.
Only I can make you reform your rakish ways and turn you into a proper gentleman.
” Lady Pristine Proper snaked her arm through his, and before he could say another word, she dragged him away.
There was a moment of stunned silence, then Lady Madeline floated onto the stage, dressed as the Christmas Angel in her rosebud wreath and gauzy white robe. She watched as Lady Pristine Proper yanked Lord Rakehell away, then turned so she was facing the audience and sadly shook her head.
“Alas, our hero has been led astray. Will he ever find his real true love? Lord Rodrigo’s fate will be revealed tomorrow night, in the Third and Final Act of “Boughs of Folly.”
Lady Madeline curtsied, the stable boys pulled the curtain, and the audience burst into enthusiastic applause.
Lady Lavinia didn’t wait for the players to come out and make their bows. She rose to her feet, gave Will a look that would have frozen water in an instant, and hissed, “A word in your study, Lord Archer.”
She vanished in an outraged whirl of blue skirts, but Will didn’t follow her right away.
He remained in his place to watch the actors take their bows.
His gaze lingered first on Maddy’s flushed, happy face.
Her cheeks were pink from the enthusiastic applause, her whole face lit with a beautiful smile.
But it wasn’t his sister’s face that made his heart skip a beat in his chest.
It was Penelope’s.
She was watching him, her brown eyes anxious, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. She looked as if she half-expected him to jump onto the stage, toss her over his shoulder, and dump her into a carriage on its way straight back to London.
Will held her gaze, his lips pulled into a grim smile.
She should be worried. She should be very worried, indeed.