Chapter 22
“We’re going to have to return to our old habits tonight,” Norman said as the carriage pulled up in front of Montgomery Manor. “We’re going to have to put on a show.”
Susan nodded. “I’m ready for it,” she assured him. She had thought it through and understood that it had to be done.
“We won’t stay too long,” Norman said. “But it’s vital to appear in public now that our honeymoon is officially over. We need to let people see that things are good between us—that we are still very much in love.” He glanced at her. “At least, that has to be the public story.”
“And it will be,” Susan told him confidently. “We may have our problems, but this is one thing we know we can do convincingly.
The truth was, her faith in her ability to lie about her feelings for Norman had been rocked by Lady Keethroad’s visit to the house.
It seemed clear to her now that Lady Keethroad understood that the whole thing had been a farce.
In fact, Lady Keethroad had seemed to think there was even less care between herself and Norman than there actually was.
That would be difficult to accomplish. They were so distant from one another that she couldn’t imagine there being less there.
And yet, there was still the strange camaraderie of sharing in a lie. That bound them together, even if nothing else did.
And there was also the fact that Susan really was starting to feel something for Norman. The strange, unexpected times they’d opened up to one another. The night she had fled to his room in fear, and he had allowed her to stay, taking the settee for himself.
He had become someone she could rely on, even if there were no feelings between the two of them. Not lovers, but allies, perhaps—and that was more than Lady Keethroad believed them to be.
Which means our farce hasn’t worked on her. She should think us madly in love.
She steeled herself. Maybe Lady Keethroad hadn’t fallen for it, but others had.
Even Marina, who knew Susan better than anyone in the world, had believed her to be in love, and that meant that the ruse had worked.
Lady Keethroad had seen through it for some reason, but that was no reason to believe it wouldn’t work tonight.
The Montgomery Ball was a new event to the season’s lineup, hosted by the Earl of Montgomery in honor of the fact that his eldest daughter had made her debut.
The Earl had four daughters, all close in age, so it was reasonable to expect that this ball would continue until all of them were married.
Walking in, Susan noticed the younger ones clustered on a balcony, looking down at the partygoers in awe, and thought of her own family.
Would the Earl insist that his daughters marry in order of their ages, or would one of them be allowed to move ahead of another if she happened to find the right gentleman sooner?
Norman’s arm wrapped around her waist, and his hand came to rest on her hip.
A shiver passed through her at his touch.
She didn’t remember it affecting her at the beginning of their time together.
It had always been unfamiliar and exciting to be close to a man, of course, but there was something specific about Norman now that drew her in, as if no one else would have been capable of stirring her in quite the same way.
She could barely spare any attention for anyone else in the room.
And so it was that her father managed to take her by surprise. “Here you two are,” he said, approaching from an angle so that Susan didn’t even see him until he was standing right in front of her. “I was beginning to wonder if maybe you weren’t coming.”
“Why wouldn’t we be coming?” Norman gave a lighthearted laugh that didn’t sound like him at all.
A delicious shiver ran down Susan’s spine.
It wasn’t the laugh that had done it, though.
She had heard gentlemen laugh like that countless times.
No, it was the shared secret, in combination with his hand on her hip.
It was so intimate. She knew him in a way no one else in this room could claim.
She knew what was happening in his mind.
“Marina and her husband were here an hour ago,” Susan’s father explained. “They’re in the ballroom dancing right now. I waited to see you arrive, but you never did, and I thought perhaps you had decided not to attend.
“We wouldn’t miss this event, Father,” Susan assured him. “The Montgomery Ball has been talked about for weeks. Even as we were enjoying our honeymoon,” she paused and gave Norman what she hoped was a furtive, secretive look, “we were sure to plan to be available for this.”
“That’s right,” Norman agreed. “Little though I liked the idea of ending the honeymoon early, a ball like this one—where I could bring my new wife out and show her off—was too good an opportunity to pass up.”
“Yes, I suppose you would want to,” Susan’s father agreed, the expression on his face loosening. “You’d want everyone to see that you made a good match for yourself.”
“That’s exactly right,” Norman said. “A respectable and beautiful young lady, with charm and class, from one of the best families…” He nodded to Susan’s father in deference.
Susan was hard-pressed to keep a smile off her face. One of the best families? Her father was respected, certainly, but that was carrying it a bit far.
But her father was always only too ready to believe compliments about himself, and now he puffed out his chest in obvious satisfaction.
“Well, I’m glad you made it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to come and visit you at Heathmare, too, of course, to see how married life has been treating the two of you.
I would have come sooner, but I didn’t like the idea of disrupting the honeymoon. ”
Norman nodded. “Yes, we haven’t welcomed any visitors in a while, although my aunt and my cousin were at Heathmare quite recently,” he said.
“You were happy to have them disrupt your honeymoon?” Susan’s father lifted his eyebrows.
“It was really no trouble,” Susan said. “They came for dinner, that’s all.”
“Of course, but I would have thought—as in love with one another as the two of you so clearly are—that you would want to seize every possible moment for yourselves. That’s why I’ve been staying away,” her father said.
“I’ve done the same for Marina, and I know it’s been meaningful for her and for her husband to have that time to themselves.
I think if someone had come knocking at their door, they would have been immediately turned away!
And not by Gilbert himself, either. He’d have to have asked the staff to handle it, because I can’t imagine he would tear himself away from his wife. ” He guffawed.
Susan’s face grew hot. “We have to have dinner,” she said. “There was no harm in Lady Keethroad joining us for the meal.”
“Not if that’s what pleases you,” her father said. “Though I must say, I’m less surprised now than I was to find you attending this ball. It seems you weren’t as caught up in one another as I imagined you might be.”
He eyed them shrewdly, and Susan had the sense that he was trying to figure something out.
Her stomach dropped.
Of course, it didn’t matter if he figured it out.
For Susan to be in love with Norman, and he with her, had never been one of her father’s stipulations here—all he cared about was that she was married.
And she had satisfied that requirement. He wouldn’t mind learning that there was no romance between the two of them.
But if she had failed to convince him, that meant that she wasn’t doing a good job of selling the lie.
That meant that other people might also glean the truth.
And that wouldn’t be good for either of them.
People would question why they had married so quickly.
They might wonder if she had tricked Norman into it.
And the whole thing would make him look bad, because people would find his position in society a bit less convincing if he was known to have married for the sake of an arrangement instead of for love.
Having her love made him look as if he belonged, and that was what he needed.
A butler passed by with a tray of red wine and presented it to them.
Norman accepted a glass and then paused. “Is there going to be white wine served?”
“Yes, Your Grace,” the man said, offering a small bow. “Someone else will be around with that shortly.”
“Very good.”
“You like white wine, Your Grace?” Susan’s father asked as the butler wandered off.
“No,” Norman said. “Susan does.”
The words struck Susan like lightning. It was true, but she had never mentioned that to him. How did he know?
Her father looked from Norman back to her. “I’ve never known Susan to like any sort of wine,” he mused.
Norman shrugged. “She likes white,” he said.
Her father looked back at her.
“That’s right,” Susan confirmed. It occurred to her that she would have told him Norman was right no matter what, in the interest of making their love appear to be real.
But it wouldn’t have created this strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.
It made her both uneasy and fluttery to think that Norman had seen her—even such a trivial thing about her. That he knew her.
That was the kind of thing that ought to transpire between husbands and wives. She was sure that Gilbert would have been able to tell anyone who wanted to know what Marina’s preferences were about anything. But that was different, because Gilbert was in love with Marina.
She truly hadn’t expected that Norman would ever notice her in the same way.
The white wine was brought around, and Norman plucked one from the tray and handed it to her with the smallest bow, as if he was presenting her with a flower.
Susan took it. “Thank you,” she managed.
The smile he gave her was full of charm. “Anything for you, my dear.”
Oh. So this was a part of the act. Shame and a feeling of foolishness flooded her—of course, it was part of the act. What had she expected?
How cruel that Lady Keethroad is able to see through it, and even I am still falling for it!
She shook her head, sipping her wine. She felt a sudden determination not to drink too much of it. It was obvious that she needed to keep her wits about her. She was letting little things that shouldn’t have had an impact go to her head.
Norman looked at her. “When you’ve finished that,” he said, “I’d very much like to have a dance, if you’re willing. After all, what’s the point in coming to an affair like this if I’m not going to dance with my beautiful wife?”
The smile he gave her would have made anybody melt, and Susan was momentarily deeply grateful that the wine had given her cause to remind herself of the truth—none of this was real. It was all for show.
And dancing with him was part of that show. As conflicted as she felt at the moment, she knew she had to say yes.
“Of course we ought to have a dance,” she said, twinkling at him. “After all, it’s the reason we came, isn’t it?”
She finished her glass of wine and took his hand, and together they walked off in the direction of the dance floor.