Chapter Two #2
“Viscount Willard is the courtesy title given to the Earl of Eltenham’s only son.
” Emily spoke as if reciting from Debrett’s.
“From what I recall of Mama’s description, he is a member of the Four-in-Hand Club, a coveted addition to any town dinner, and an exceptionally skilled pugilist. I believe he is generally considered a bon homme, although I seem to recall a whisper of him kicking up the dust with someone…
” Emily went silent for a moment, then shrugged. “I’m sorry. That’s all I remember.”
“Interesting,” Nettie commented, brows raised. “And why would she have told you all this?”
“She didn’t. I read her notes.”
Lenora’s brows shot up. “Does your stepmama keep notes on every eligible young man?”
Emily appeared mildly affronted. “In the past, back when Mama held weekly salons, she kept notes on all those who frequented her table. She’s an excellent hostess, as you know.
I’m sure she only did so because she wanted to be certain to have topics of conversation at the ready should discussion fall silent. ”
“Nothing at all to do with future matchmaking for her step-daughter, then?” Nettie teased.
“Heavens!” Emily exclaimed, genuinely horrified. “I should hope not!”
“Well, I can believe that Lord Willard has, as Emily put it, kicked up a dust,” Lenora said.
“Can you?” Millie queried.
“She means she thinks Asquith doesn’t like him,” Nettie explained slyly.
Lenora lifted her chin. “As a matter of fact, I don’t believe Asquith does like Lord Willard.”
“How would you know?” Millie asked.
“Well…” Lenora considered. “Asquith is reserved, but he greets almost every man he meets in a courteous manner. To Lord Willard, he gives only an obligatory nod.” Lenora demonstrated, holding her body in an accurate imitation of their guardian, making the younger girls collapse again into giggles.
“Chilling,” said Nettie.
“Beware Asquith’s nod,” added Emily.
Lenora lifted her chin. “Joke all you wish. But Asquith is fair-minded, so his noticeable distaste, no matter how subtle, is reason enough for me to be suspicious.” She paused. “But that’s nothing if you like Lord Willard, Millie.”
“Like him?” Millie scowled. “We only danced!”
“Only danced,” Lenora scoffed. She turned toward the girls. “As I said, his interest in Millie was pointed.”
Millie glanced toward the ceiling. “I was one of a dozen young ladies he asked to dance.”
“Yes, he danced often,” Lenora agreed. “But you were the only one he took pains to please.”
Another odd frisson passed through Millie’s limbs. This one left her cold.
Lenora was correct.
She didn’t recall Lord Willard leaning down and whispering into any other dance partner’s ear. Then again, she hadn’t been observing him very closely. “You think Asquith holds him in disfavor, but how do you feel about him, Lenora?”
“We’ve only been briefly introduced, so I couldn’t really say, could I?” Lenora wrinkled her nose. “But there was something I could not like in his manner. The way he walked up to you, for instance.”
“Show us,” Nettie urged.
“Oh please, do,” Emily added. “You are so very good at mimicry!”
“Well…”
Lenora closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. Then, she shook out her body. She took a deep breath and puffed out her chest. “To stand thusly, you must be quite rigid.”
Nettie cocked her head. “Like an invisible someone was pressing a finger on his spine just between his shoulder blades.”
“Exactly,” Lenora agreed, returning to herself. “Willard was physically rigid, and yet, allthewhile, he kept smiling, smiling, and smiling, as if he hadn’t a care in the world.”
Smiling, smiling, smiling… Millie chilled, but couldn’t quite place the reason.
“I found the contrast unsettling.” Lenora wrinkled her nose. “Didn’t you notice, Mil?”
Millie cocked her head, trying to recall. “I don’t suppose I did.”
“Too taken with his eyes, I suppose.” Emily nodded sympathetically. “All ladies are. Mama once called them Mesmer eyes.”
“Mesmer eyes?” Nettie asked.
“Mesmer was a physician from my Papa’s time. He believed energy could be transferred between things and people through something he called animal magnetism.”
“Mesmerism!” Lenora nodded. “I’ve read about that. Wasn’t his method disproven?”
“Yes. But not completely. Only when Mesmer’s patients were blindfolded did his methods fail, meaning Mesmer’s influence was in his presence, his gaze, his belief in his own power, all things he used to capture the imagination of his patients.”
Millie drew back. “Stuff and nonsense!”
Emily shrugged. “Perhaps so. But Mama calls Willard’s eyes Mesmer eyes because, under the full effect of Willard’s gaze, ladies, and even some gentlemen, find themselves…
” She paused to search for a word. “Dazzled, I suppose. You must have noticed how people hung on his every word. Even I have seen as much, and I’ve only had the opportunity to study him a few times, and then only at a distance, in public. ”
“No pair of eyes,” Millie insisted, “nor handsome face, has ever mesmerized me.” On the other hand, she had taken particular note of Willard’s eyes, hadn’t she?
Glittering, she’d thought.
“Mesmerized or no,” Lenora observed, “you looked like you were having a good time. And I know you had no prior intention to dance.”
“But the whole point of obtaining a voucher to Almack’s is the dancing!” Emily exclaimed.
Nettie chuckled. “Here I thought the point of an Almack’s voucher was the matchmaking.”
“To be honest,” Lenora added sheepishly, “I was hoping to have a dance with Willard myself.”
“Why?” Millie asked. “You just said he makes you suspicious and you think him rigid.”
Lenora made an expression that suggested her answer should have been obvious. “Because Asquith doesn’t like him. I thought that, if I could catch Willard’s attention, Asquith might…”
Gently, Millie took the brush from Lenora’s hand. “I think Asquith notices you more than you are aware.” She set the brush down and then gave Lenora a reassuring hug. “But if not, you and I will live together as happy spinsters.”
“You can’t still wish to be a spinster,” Nettie scoffed. “Not after catching the interest of someone like Lord Willard.”
Millie turned to the girls. “Whether you understand or not, that is still my intention.” She’d had enough of discussing men.
She finished braiding her own hair. “Emily, if you don’t go back to your room soon, you’ll never get any sleep.
And I know you all will want to be at your observant best for tomorrow’s morning calls. ”
“Can’t Emily stay here tonight?” Nettie pleaded. “Lenora can sleep with you in the trundle.”
“Not on your life,” Millie replied with all the authority of being the eldest in the room. “I’ve waited years for a bed of my own! That humble trundle is mine…all mine.”
“Come stay in my room, then,” Emily suggested.
“Can I?” Nettie asked.
“Of course.”
Lenora climbed up onto the bed as Emily and Nettie climbed down. Millie walked Emily and Nettie to the door. Nettie headed down the corridor, but Emily lingered.
“Be careful,” Emily whispered. “I don’t think my mama likes Willard much, either, although she never said as much to me and is always unfailingly polite to him.”
“I don’t need to be careful.” Millie spoke more lightly than she felt. “There is nothing at all between me and Lord Willard. At least nothing serious.”
Reassured, Emily nodded.
Millie frowned after Emily as the younger girl followed Nettie back into her bed chamber.
If Lord Willard was an unsavory fellow, would he be so widely received?
Doubtful.
Then again, Millie didn’t place a great deal of weight on public opinion.
After all, most people had thought her volatile and mean-spirited father a fine fellow.
And like Asquith, Mrs. Caroline Vane, the former dowager Lady Redver, was unfailingly polite and never took a dislike to someone for frivolous reasons.
If two people whose opinions she trusted didn’t hold Lord Willard in esteem, what on earth did that say about Willard? Might she have to abandon her plan?
Was he too dangerous, even for an idle flirtation?
She thought back. Much of what the girls had discussed tonight had been speculation, gossip and innuendo.
And both Lenora and Emily assumed enmity on the part of others.
Last Season, after Cassie had been hurt by speculation following the Almack’s incident, Millie had sworn to herself to take anything less than firsthand knowledge with a grain of salt.
What of Willard had she witnessed firsthand, apart from this evening’s dance? Not much, but she had seen him speak with both Harbury and Adrian. Neither of them suffered fools, nor would they countenance someone they did not respect.
She simply didn’t have enough information about the man to take his measure. She’d just have to be her sensible, shrewd self as she learned more about him, and she would be fine. She closed the door and doused the candles while making her way over to her trundle.
One thing she could say for certain. Tonight, at least, had not been dull. And Willard’s attention might have brought her one step closer to a spinster life that would preserve her freedom. And, more importantly, her happiness.
*
Two residences down, Neville sat at a table in the far corner of Blackwell’s front parlor, attempting to keep his mind on the card game in progress between himself, Asquith, Blackwell, and a fourth, Jacob Daughtry.
They’d picked up Daughtry somewhere along the way home from Almack’s. Neville had been so preoccupied by his thoughts, exactly where they’d run into the man was unclear. Indisputably, however, Asquith had suggested they all head to Blackwell’s.
Unfortunately, Blackwell lived only two doors down from D’Acre House, where Millicent was currently residing.
As they’d passed D’Acre House on foot, Neville had glanced up at the windows. He hadn’t caught a glimpse of Millie. Instead, the dark squares had stared down in silent accusation as if to ask, “Who are you to know what we conceal?”
Who was he? He was the man who had sworn to protect Millicent.