Chapter Twenty #2
Of course, that made sense, but he still had the feeling she was hiding something.
“But perhaps you could tell me about it after?” she asked before he could linger too long on that.
“After?” Arden echoed.
“Yes—there’s this darling little ice cream parlor on the pier. Have you been?” When Arden shook his head, she smiled. “Then we’ll go together. I’m looking forward to it.”
Mavis felt like a giant bumblebee in her black-and-yellow satin gown, but so far the only acknowledgment Thaddeus had given was to say she looked beautiful with his usual level of vague disinterest. But even if he wasn’t affected by her gown, everyone else seemed to be.
She felt a barrage of sideways glances and could almost hear the sound of her name whispered behind the flutter of fans.
Well. Not her name.
Mavis didn’t care, though. She didn’t care what anyone in this furnace disguised as a ballroom thought of her—at least, until she felt Arden arrive with his aunt.
Mavis was painfully aware of his eyes on her, sweeping over her from head to toe, and though it was utterly ridiculous, she felt a twinge of embarrassment that he was seeing her in this state.
“We received our invitations for the happy day.”
Mavis’s attention was pulled back to the conversation with Victor Linton. Most of the man’s face was obscured behind a bushy dark-blond mustache, but what Mavis could see was ruddy from the heat.
Had invitations gone out? She shouldn’t be entirely surprised, given the debacle of a wedding dress she’d tried on the day before. Still, the mention of it made Mavis feel like the walls were closing in around her.
She looked at Thaddeus and raised an eyebrow. If there was a silver lining of finding out he was broke, it was that she no longer had to mind her tongue at all. No more subtle digs or passive-aggressive arguments—she could speak her mind fully. So she did just that.
“I’m surprised I didn’t receive one myself,” she remarked. “How else am I meant to know when and where to show up for my own wedding, since I haven’t been consulted on anything?”
Tension tugged at Thaddeus’s mouth, but he clung to his blasé smile. “I didn’t see the point in troubling you, darling—I know it’s coming together so quickly.”
“It is all quite fast,” Victor Linton’s wife, Pilar, said, looking between them with a furtive gaze Mavis was growing tired of.
“I wanted a longer engagement,” Mavis told her, directing a pointed glower at her fiancé, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Is it so terrible that I don’t want to wait another moment longer than necessary to have you as my wife?” He lifted her gloved hand to his mouth and brushed a kiss over the back.
To have my nonexistent dowry, you mean, Mavis thought, but there were some things she couldn’t say.
“I expect you will turn into a proper watering pot when you see Miss Lindcourt walking down the aisle in her dress, Thaddeus,” Pilar said.
Mavis had to snort. Should anyone see her in that dress, the only tears they would be crying were ones of mirth.
She glanced around the ballroom, catching sight of Arden just as he held a hand out to Oriana, who placed her hand in his like it was the most natural thing in the world—which it was, Mavis reminded herself.
But that knowledge didn’t make her feel any better as she watched Arden lead Oriana out onto the dance floor, settling his free hand on the small of her back as the music changed to something slow and wistful.
When Arden bent his head to murmur something in Oriana’s ear that made her giggle, Mavis felt like she might be ill.
The faster their courtship progressed, the sooner she could break the engagement to Thaddeus, but that didn’t mean Mavis had to watch it happen.
She turned her attention back to Thaddeus. Perhaps it was a fool’s errand to try to get him to be desperate enough to break off the engagement when he thought her dowry was within reach, but Mavis was determined to try.
“Darling.” She dropped her voice to a purr.
“You haven’t danced with me yet. Perhaps they’ll play an edelstrée next—I do enjoy that one.
” The edelstrée was fast paced and involved a good many turns, and if Mavis timed it right, she might just be able to pick a fight with Thaddeus about flirting with Mrs. Linton that ended in her steering them into the drinks table. Oh, he would be mortified.
“Another time, Delphinia.” Thaddeus waved at someone across the room—Reginald Blumsford, one of Thaddeus’s closest friends. “Reginald and I made plans for a game of cards.”
“Oh, I’m quite good at cards.” Cards might be even better—given how competitive Thaddeus got, if she were to beat him, he would be absolutely furious.
“I’m sure you are,” Thaddeus said with an indulgent smile that made Mavis feel like a precocious child. “But we’re meant to play at the club, and they don’t allow women.”
Ah, Mavis thought. Cards at the club was apparently code for a trip to the brothel attached to the club he frequented. She didn’t bother to hide her annoyance, letting it manifest as a pout.
“Not another night at the club, Thaddeus,” she whined, not bothering to soften her tone despite the Lintons listening. “Why do you want to marry me at all? You certainly never want to spend any time with me.”
Rather than take the bait, though, Thaddeus only smiled and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “After the wedding, I’ll spend every day with you if you like,” he told her as if that wasn’t more threat than reassurance.
Without another word, he made his way across the ballroom, and while she didn’t miss his company, he took with him any hope of distracting herself from watching Arden Ryskamp charm and woo the sort of woman he was always meant to have.
Arden should have been feeling a sense of triumph as he led Oriana Mayles through the steps of a flotanté—admittedly the dance was quick paced and not quite as romantic as a spinnalé, but at the very least, Oriana didn’t claim a twisted ankle this time.
That, along with the invitation for ice cream, made for a promising development in his courtship attempts, all things considered.
Triumph, though, felt far away as Arden watched Mavis make small talk with a couple he didn’t recognize.
No one else seemed to notice her strained smile or the way her eyes darted around the room, reminding Arden of a cornered rabbit, but Arden felt her unease as heavy in the air as the oppressive heat.
She wasn’t his concern—she’d said as much herself. Oriana was his concern, and right now, she was in his arms, all soft edges and kind smiles, and yet, when the final notes of the song trilled to a close, Arden couldn’t look away from Mavis as she made her way toward the exit.
“Delphinia was right, you are a very good dancer, Mr. Ryskamp,” Oriana told him, forcing his attention back to her.
“As are you,” he replied.
She tilted her head. “Are you quite all right? You seem a bit distracted.”
“I’m fine.” He tried to relax his smile. “I just saw Miss Lindcourt hurry out—she seemed upset. But I’m sure your brother is with her.”
“Thaddeus?” Oriana asked, brows raising. “Oh no, he said he was leaving for his club as soon as he made an appearance. Perhaps that is what Delphinia is upset about.”
Arden doubted that—surely any opportunity to avoid Thaddeus’s company would be welcome.
“Prewedding jitters on both of their minds, I would guess,” Oriana added. “The wedding is a fortnight away now.”
Arden blinked. “So soon? They only just became engaged.”
Oriana’s smile flickered. “Yes, well, Thaddeus has his reasons.”
Reasons like attaining Delphinia Lindcourt’s dowry as quickly as he could. He didn’t know the dowry was as made up as the name.
“Perhaps you should go after her, Mr. Ryskamp,” Oriana said after a moment.
“Me?” Arden asked, surprised.
“Well, why not? I doubt she will want to discuss her feelings with me, but the two of you are friends, aren’t you?”
Arden had to smother a laugh—Mavis was many things to him, a torment and a temptress, a vexation and a vixen, but never a friend.
“Please,” Oriana said when he didn’t reply, reaching out to take hold of his hand and squeeze it. Her brow furrowed and her gray eyes were intent on his. “It would bring me comfort to know that she’s well and to be assured she will get home safely.”
Arden felt certain he was the last person Mavis would want to see just now, but he could do nothing but acquiesce.