Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
“They have been engaged in conversation since supper, where they were seated next to each other,” Helena motioned to Chastity and Lord Clifton. “And indeed, as soon as you gentlemen returned from your glass of port, he had sought her out again.”
The small dinner party that Matteo, Helena, and Chastity had been invited to the next day was hosted by Lord Algate’s sister, Lady Olivia Metternich, Countess of Carinthia. She and her mother, Lady Algate, had travelled back to England from Austria to attend a cousin’s wedding.
The honor of the invitation was, of course, Chastity’s, for Lord Algate remained a constant suitor to hers. The invitation was for Helena was well, and thus, was extended to Matteo.
Matteo watched the couple discreetly. Sitting across from them, they were engaged in a seemingly pleasant conversation while having their tea.
“She seems to be enjoying his company,” Matteo observed.
“I have been watching them, Lord Clifton appears to be an agreeable gentleman; he appears to be exactly what a gentleman ought to be.”
“But?”
“How did you know that I was about to say that?”
He smiled as an answer and bade her continue.
“But I wish there was a way to know his character, for we know nothing about Lord Clifton.”
“Are we to find out more now? Or wait until he becomes serious in courting her?”
Helena could not help but feel warm at his use of ‘we’. It made her feel that they really were a team.
“Perhaps we should wait and observe,” Helena said after a while.
“Alright.”
Matteo and Helena sat next to each other, enjoying tea and slices of ratafia cake.
Since the ladies separated from the gentlemen after supper, Helena had been secretly hoping that the seat beside her would remain empty.
And indeed, it had. So, when Matteo spotted the empty seat, he went directly there and claimed it.
Tables for cards were placed around the room; the pianoforte, played by one or another young lady, added to the lively atmosphere.
“Dahlia called on me,” Helena said to Matteo, glancing at him sideways.
“How strange,” Matteo replied with a smirk. “Peter went to see me at the club as well. It was not his usual day to be there, so I know that he had gone with the intention of seeing me.”
Helena sighed before she turned to Matteo. Then, upon looking at each other, they grinned at their friends’ actions.
“What did Dahlia tell you?” Matteo asked.
“Tell me first, what did Peter tell you?” Helena said, studying him.
“As you wish,” Matteo bowed his head. “But you must forgive me if I do not use his precise words, for I fear I will offend quite a few ladies if they happen to hear Peter’s original choice of words.”
Helena covered her mouth with her hand, giggling as she imagined Peter giving Matteo an earful.
“In that case, you will please give me the abbreviated version of his speech.”
“Challenging, but I shall try my best.” Matteo grinned.
He paused for a while, then, adopting a serious expression that was very similar to Peter’s, he continued.
“What the holy, er, place where bad people go when they die, are you doing, Matteo?”
Helena burst into laughter so loudly that the other guests turned to see what was happening. Across them, Chastity, who was still conversing with Lord Clifton, turned to look at her sister. Helena waved at her, eliciting an amused smile from her sister.
“To save the other guests from being deafened by your laughter, I shall just use my own words.” Matteo chuckled. “He basically told me that I better not be treating you as a mere conquest, that he would make sure that I shall never see the light of day if I pull any of my tricks on you.”
“Peter threatened you?” Helena asked wide-eyed.
“Indeed, my lady. His oldest friend in the world. The one who has stood by him when he was the most unpleasant man in the world.”
Helena fought back another laugh.
“Matteo, I beg you, please stop.” Helena wiped at her eyes. “Chastity will be so embarrassed by me, for I have been so loud!”
“Have no fear, that is the gist of Peter’s address to me. Now, tell me about Dahlia’s call.”
“Well,” Helena started. “She started by saying that she understood the feeling of being scared to be alone.”
Matteo instantly sobered. He leaned closer to Helena as he listened to her words.
“She said that she could not blame me for my decision, but she hoped that I would not end up getting hurt.”
Matteo lifted an eyebrow.
“And how, pray tell, are you supposed to get hurt? I am afraid that she alludes to my hurting you?”
“That was the allusion, yes.”
“Hmm.” Matteo rubbed his chin. “It seems to me that I am considered the villain in this story.”
“I cannot be the villain!” Helena protested.
“And why not? You, my lady, are quite capable of hurting me, I wager.” Matteo insisted. “In fact, I dare to venture that you could wound me to the quick.”
Helena bit her lip and laughed again, tapping his arm playfully with her fan.
“Case in point.” Matteo grinned. “Judging by your past behavior, with this assault, you are downright flirting with me, Helena.”
Helena stood by the tea table when Chastity walked that way. Smiling at her sister, Helena took her hands.
“Are you having a pleasant night, dear Chastity?”
“Yes, very pleasant, Helena.” Chastity’s smile was wide.
“I am glad to hear that. It is a very enjoyable event.”
“And you, Helena?” Chastity asked in return. “Are you happy?”
Helena tried to read her sister’s thoughts. She had noticed that the past few days, she had become more accepting of her betrothal to Matteo. At the very least, she seemed less suspicious.
Perhaps it is not worry, but genuine curiosity.
Despite the additional effort that she and Matteo had to put in to make Chastity believe that their engagement was real, Helena was still glad to see that Chastity cared for her enough to question her decisions.
I do this for you, my sisters.
“I have always been happy, have I not, Chastity dear?”
Chastity smiled at her.
“Yes, you have.”
And you, Helena? Are you happy?
She repeated the question in her mind. Was she?
The night had turned crisp. Matteo and Helena stood just outside Lord Algate’s front door, waiting for Chastity to come out as she bid their host and hostess a good evening. Matteo’s carriage, which had conveyed the sisters there as well, was to bring them back to Huntington House.
“I have been watching Lord Clifton as well,” Matteo whispered to Helena.
“And what have you observed? Perhaps a man’s eyes will see something that a woman cannot.”
“He seems well-mannered enough,” Matteo replied.
“But?” Helena smiled imitating him.
Grinning, Matteo touched her nose with his finger.
“But he also seems too eager to impress Chastity.”
“What do you mean? How is he too eager?”
“Well, for one thing, he appears to agree with everything that she says. And—I have been listening to their conversation, remember—all his opinions are the exact same opinions as Chastity’s.”
“Well, that, I will admit, is quite strange,” Helena said, frowning.
“He does not have a reputation of being a rake that is known in London, at least,” Matteo added. “But that shall not be my basis in determining his good character.”
“You are right,” Helena said.
She could not feel comfortable until Lord Clifton could be vouchsafed by a trustworthy source.
Indeed, I agree with Matteo.
Chastity appeared from the front door, a smile on her face, prompting Helena and Matteo to drop the subject for now.
“What a thoroughly lovely night that was, Helena,” Chastity said, twirling in the corridor to their bedrooms.
Not just a pleasant night, not a good night, but a thoroughly lovely night. Helena raised both eyebrows at her sister.
“I am glad that you found it so, Chastity.”
The flame of the candle she held flickered as Chastity’s twirling movements almost blew it out. Moving slightly away, she blocked her sister’s hand as it almost knocked the candle down. In the process, Chastity’s reticule slipped from her wrist and fell to the floor.
With a gasp, Chastity bent down to retrieve the reticule and its contents, which had spilled on the floor.
“My goodness, Chastity!” Helena laughed. I have not seen you this excited since your first set of ball gowns was delivered.”
She placed the candle on a window ledge and was in the act of bending down to help when Chastity stopped her.
“No! It is alright, I have everything I need!”
Chastity’s hands moved quickly and gathered her things. But not fast enough for Helena’s sharp eyes to notice that she tucked something hastily back inside her reticule while her other items—handkerchief, calling cards, and smelling salts—she merely grasped in her hands.
Was that a piece of parchment? A letter? She thought incredulously.
Is Chastity hiding a letter from me? But why would she feel the need to hide correspondence?
Chastity had resumed walking, and Helena followed her.
She was about to call out to her as the question formed on her lips, when she remembered their last argument.
How Chastity felt that Helena was controlling her whole life for her.
If she prodded her sister, a repeat of that night’s happenings might occur.
She would be lenient with her, at least for now.
They had reached Chastity’s chambers, and before she had any more fantastical ideas, Helena bade her sister a good night.
Inside her own chambers, Helena placed the candle on her desk and rang for Sally.
She moved to her vanity table and started undoing her hair from its chignon.
From experience, she expected Sally to arrive just as she needed help removing her stays, for, by Helena’s own instructions, she should help Chastity first.
Thus, was her surprise when Sally entered her chambers much earlier than she had expected.
“Have you finished with Chastity? That was exceptionally fast.”
Sally curtsied.
“No, my lady, she said that she could manage after I helped her with her stays,”
“Oh. Alright.” Helena murmured more to herself.
When her toilette for the night was complete, she bade Sally a good night and entered her bedroom.
Thoughts of Matteo flooded her mind when she was finally alone.
It was as if she had pushed open the drapes and let the morning sunlight in.
His handsome face floated around her mind; the way his eyes sparkled when he was teasing her, the tone of his voice when he was trying to charm her, even the shameless way he flirted with her.
Things between them had changed. The tension which had normally been there when they met—at least on her part—was gone; in its place was something softer, something quieter. But Helena could not name it, or perhaps, more accurately, she refused to name it.
But one thing she could not deny, and it was that she looked forward to seeing him every time. The days that she was to spend with him were days that held more color for Helena. Life had somehow become more alive. It was as if she had seen color for the first time.
Abruptly, she stopped herself. What was she thinking?
Walking to the windows, Helena pushed open the drapes and watched a sleeping London. She looked at her reflection in the windowpanes.
“What are you doing, Helena?” she murmured to her other self. “It is not real, have you forgotten that?”
“Of course I have not,” she replied to herself as well.
But a small voice, she pretended not to hear, was whispering that, indeed, there was something real in all of it.
Not very far from Huntington House, Matteo was having a conversation in his own mind as well.
But it was a lady with cornflower blue eyes and golden hair who replied to him. A lady with a face that he could not quite get out of his mind. A face he was beginning to welcome—in his mind or in the open light of day.
Inside his bedchamber, he paced the length of the room, a glass of brandy in hand. Matteo did not normally have a bottle, or a decanter, of spirits in his chambers, but his valet had left the decanter for him, as if sensing the restlessness that pervaded him that night.
He had answered Peter quite sincerely when he had directly approached him with his questions. No, he had no intention of hurting Helena. Yes, he had entered this engagement with her with their mutual benefit in mind, and no, he had in no way coerced her into agreeing to it.
His word had been enough to satisfy Peter, but his friend knew, as he did himself, that there was indeed something else in this arrangement. And that something else was rendering him restless tonight.
The news of his engagement to Helana had reached the farthest circles of the ton. A duke’s betrothal was a noteworthy thing, after all. And so it was that he was met with more than one regretful eye from the ladies. A few of them even blatantly asked him if he was sure.
He laughed, recalling Helena’s reaction upon hearing that conversation. Her eyes had spit fire at the thoughtless, forward lady. She had grabbed him by the arm and led him away. All the while hissing how she now understood why he needed her protection against her fellow females.
But how was it that a man who considered himself knowledgeable in the ways of women found himself completely green this time? With this woman, with this lady.
“What is it that you want of me, Helena?” he spoke to the glass of brandy he held. “And what is it that I want from you?”
The lady must be the one to say yes; he had always followed that. But now, with Helena, he found that he wanted to do everything he could to convince her to…
“That may not be the best path to take, Matteo,” he said aloud.
He took a drink from his glass and moved to the bed. He just needed sleep, yes, that was it. He needed a long, restful sleep. And when he woke up in the morning, he would be master of himself again.
He put down the glass of unfinished brandy on the bedside table, snuffed out the candle, climbed into bed, and lay quietly back against his pillows. He closed his eyes. Breathing deeply, he let the quiet envelope him.
It took Matteo a full three hours before he gave up on falling asleep easily.
He opened his eyes again, and above him, he could see the canopy of his bed.
The bed hangings, having been left open, allowed the light from the fire to flit through.
Was it his imagination, or were the shadows merging and forming Helena’s face?
He pulled himself up from his bed and picked up the glass of brandy once again.
He muttered a curse. It was going to be a very long night.