Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Ihave never seen Rosemere like this before,” Louisa remarked as Seraphine came over to join them near the staircase during a temporary lull in the receiving line at Rosemere Hall. “You have done so much, Aunt Beatrice.”
“You are putting some of the London parties to shame, Aunt Beatrice,” agreed Seraphine, kissing Louisa’s cheek and patting their aunt’s arm. “Fanny said it was like a fairy castle in here tonight when I put her to bed. How she begged to be allowed to stay up and dance, even while she was yawning!”
“I promised to save Fanny and Ezra some cake and flowers,” Louisa told them. “I only wish I could paint a picture of Rosemere tonight to show them later, and to keep forever. Aunt Beatrice has made it so very splendid.”
“Well, it is not every day that I celebrate my niece’s betrothal to the Duke of Northwick,” Lady Esher laughed in reply.
“I wanted this to be a night for all of us to remember and I hope I have been successful. I am glad to see you looking so happy, Louisa. It has been worth any amount of effort only to see your eyes dancing.”
“I do believe Louisa is happy, Aunt Beatrice,” observed Seraphine with a mischievous smile. “How could she not be?”
Her eyes glanced towards the broad back and well-drawn profile of the Duke of Northwick, presently standing beside the Duke of Wexford and engaging several neighbors in conversation.
Crowds of other guests looked on from behind their shoulders, peering and whispering as though Louisa’s betrothed were some curious exotic animal in a zoo.
Louisa blushed a little but smiled back affectionately at her aunt, touched and amazed by comfortable and homely Rosemere Hall’s transformation for the engagement party.
Chandeliers and candelabras blazed with candlelight, musicians were already filling the ballroom with the first round of lively country dances.
Ladies shimmered in silk, satin and fabulous jewels, while gentlemen looked on with appreciative eyes.
“Thank you for everything, Aunt Beatrice,” Louisa said. “It will be an unforgettable night. I know it.”
Indeed, half the county had turned out tonight, even some families who had originally planned to spend the rest of the summer in London.
The engagement of the notoriously rakish Duke of Northwick to the virtuous and retiring Lady Louisa Ascot had apparently been a greater draw than any other entertainment the ton could offer this Season.
As a new wave of arrivals swept in from the cloakroom, Benedict turned and smiled before returning to Louisa’s side, at Lady Esher’s right hand.
As she laid her hand on his arm once more, Louisa felt her blood flooded again with the warmth and giddy desire that seemed to have possessed her every time she saw him since the day they went riding.
When she went to sleep at night, Louisa’s mind turned now to Benedict, the thrill of his kisses, the sureness of his hands on her body and the improper but piercingly exciting words he murmured to her.
Imagine you are naked in my bed…Imagine what you will feel…
Louisa could scarce think of anything else now as the hours ticked down until their wedding.
She did not lock her bedroom door at night, secretly hoping that Benedict would come to her, regardless of all propriety and good sense.
These erotic daydreams fueled Louisa’s dreams at night also, leaving her so distracted and forgetful that Melissa or Seraphine were always chasing after her or laughing at her absent-mindedness.
Had Louisa ever been so lost in her fantasies before? Well, yes, but she saw so clearly now that those were only stories, shadows of real feelings and desires…
“Sir Arthur, Lady Manners, I’m so glad you could make it,” Louisa’s aunt greeted their old friends with genuine goodwill, and Louisa pulled herself back into the present moment.
“We wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” chuckled the old man. “Would we, dear?”
“Never,” agreed white-haired and rosy-cheeked old Lady Manners, kissing Louisa’s cheek.
“Lady Louisa getting married! How glad we are to still be here to see it. Do you remember when you were young, Lady Louisa, and you would come around and play at weddings in the old wardrobes at Barrow Hall while Lady Esher and I took tea?”
Louisa laughed and nodded.
“You had such a wonderful collection of antique dresses, Lady Manners.”
“Very moth-eaten, but you had such imagination that they were the finest gowns in England to you. You used to pretend that you were preparing for your wedding to a valiant knight, who was going to ride up on his white horse and carry you off. One moment, he had rescued you from pirates, then some terrible ogre, and there was always a dragon to contend with.”
“I remember,” acknowledged Louisa softly, blushing more than a little but smiling too. “But isn’t this party better? I should much rather be sent off to my wedding by my aunt and my friends with such love as tonight than expect my poor husband to fight and kill a dragon before we can marry.”
“I am ready and willing to slay any dragon that crosses your path, Lady Louisa,” Benedict pronounced with play-acting gallantry that got another laugh from their audience. “However, I do not believe that we are likely to encounter any dragons tonight.”
“Don’t speak too soon,” murmured Seraphine, nodding her head to a handsome older woman in oyster silk who was just entering the hallway as Sir Arthur and Lady Manners moved on towards the main party and refreshments.
Louisa felt Benedict’s arm tense beneath her hand as his eyes too followed Seraphine’s gaze. A shadow fell upon her aunt’s face at the same moment.
“I cannot believe it,” Lady Esher muttered under her breath. “That woman has a nerve coming here!”
“At least she is alone,” Louisa noted but felt a shiver of fear as she spoke. “Isn’t she?”
Benedict’s arm came about her waist and drew her closer to him.
“We will make sure of it,” he said in low tones and waved to the butler, who then left his station at the front door to a deputy and came straight over to them. “Harper, did Lady Huxley come alone?”
The butler inclined his head, speaking in low confidential tones, first to the duke and then to Louisa’s aunt.
“Yes, Your Grace. The servants on the doors all know that Lord Ashbourne is not to be admitted to Rosemere. If he is seen, you or His Grace the Duke of Wexford will be alerted immediately. Lady Esher, I am aware that the invitation to Huxley Manor was withdrawn. Shall I ask Lady Huxley to leave?”
“No, I shall deal with her, Harper,” Lady Esher pronounced. “We do not want an unpleasant scene. Louisa, why don’t you and Seraphine go and speak to some of our guests? I wish to make it clear to Lady Huxley that she is not welcome. Nor have you any need of insincere congratulations.”
“We will go and have a look outside too,” Benedict announced to Lady Esher and her butler, nodding to Damien to join him. “Just in case.”
Louisa did not like leaving her aunt to face their unpleasant neighbor alone, especially with the departure of the two gentlemen, but the silver-haired lady stood firm.
“Come, Louisa, do not give Lady Huxley the honor of your attention on a night when she has flouted the rules of hospitality so flagrantly.”
“Very well, but I shall not go far, Aunt Beatrice, and if she is rude to you, I shall…”
“If Lady Huxley is rude to Aunt Beatrice, I shall deal with her tonight,” Seraphine stepped in. “You are the bride-to-be and the guest of honor, remember, Louisa.”
Somewhat reluctantly, Louisa accepted her cousin’s arm and advice. Turning their backs before Lady Huxley reached Lady Esher, they joined a nearby group where the Dowager Countess of Bentham was relating the long and complicated engagement of her middle daughter.
“…and then the marriage contract had to be rewritten because of the clause in his uncle’s will that required the subdivision of his fortune between the younger nephews if the elder remarried…”
It was not a conversation where anyone else was required to contribute anything beyond sympathetic nods and murmurs. Louisa was able to listen instead to the uncharacteristically icy tones of Aunt Beatrice, watching the scene with their neighbor from the corner of her eye.
“You were not expected here tonight, Lady Huxley,” Lady Esher told her unwanted guest very directly as the elegant blonde woman approached and dropped a curtsey. “Do not feel you must stay long.”
“You were the one who invited me, Lady Esher,” their neighbor reminded the hostess with a fixed smile.
“Yes, before I knew anything of your cousin’s true character, Lady Huxley.
What I have learned since then makes any friendship between our families impossible.
My letter to you made the situation clear.
Do not embarrass both of us by pretending you do not know what I mean and requiring me to repeat examples of Lord Ashbourne’s behavior here, in the hearing of others. ”
“My cousin has enemies, Lady Esher,” retorted Lady Huxley. “There have always been those who wished Edmund ill and I fear you have been influenced by such people. You should not believe so easily all that you are told.”
“Nor should you, Lady Huxley,” said Lady Esher. “When a man has quite so many supposed enemies as your cousin, those closest to him ought to ask why.”
“You are so fastidious over your acquaintance with my family, Lady Esher, and yet you are willing to so easily welcome a murderer into your own?”
Louisa’s head spun around at this shocking and mysterious assertion and Lady Huxley’s eyes gleamed with triumph on seeing the interest she had drawn from the young woman.
“Be very careful what you say next, Lady Huxley,” warned Lady Esher. “Remember that I knew Benedict Hale’s mother well before her marriage and that slander is a crime in England.”