Mark of Distinction (Price of Privilege) (40 page)

“Excuse me.” I rose.

Eramus moved his pawn. “Oops. The game has already started. It’s ill-bred to leave now.”

I glanced at Isaac for direction, but he only yanked on his waistcoat and gave me a look that asked whether I wished to be rescued or play it out. I sighed, plopped down, and combated the billows of my dress again.

With his disciplined look, Isaac sat across from Lady Beatrice and made inquiries after her health. With the air of a victim, she sighed a long string of complaints.

“Pathetic, aren’t they?” Eramus asked, looking at them.

I gave him my most sullen look and moved my pawn. “Merry Christmas to you too.”

James touched the match to the plum pudding and jumped back as it burst into flames. Eramus leaned around the display and repeated his last request. “You still haven’t granted me permission to take Julia out, Cousin.”

My father waited until the pudding had been snuffed before replying. “I think not, Eramus. Julia doesn’t care for the theatre.”

“Then why did she look like a beggar eyeing a shilling?” Eramus reached out and patted my hand next to my plate, smirking at Isaac.

Isaac gritted his teeth and glared. All during dinner, Eramus had taken jabs at Isaac. When James presented me with a platter, Eramus would dish my food, selecting my cuts, licking his fingers between each presented dish so his saliva mingled with my food, taking away my appetite.

“Why are you debating me?” My father sank his knife deep into the pudding. “I told you, Julia despises the theatre. I’m not going to force her to go.”

“Then where shall I take you, Cousin?” Eramus propped his elbow on the table. “Choose anywhere you’d like. The opera? A ball? A soiree?”

“As if I would allow Julia to go anywhere with the likes of you,” Isaac finally said. The first words he’d spoken during dinner.

“You forget, as her blood relative, I don’t require a chaperone. You needn’t worry; I know Pierson intends her for you. But there’s no reason why she must remain cooped indoors while you make the rounds to the clubs.” Eramus smiled at me. “Besides, having the toast of the season at my side will help my standing considerably.”

“And paying your debts would help even more,” Isaac replied in a crisp tone.

Eramus blinked at him like a frog. “Well, Cousin, where shall I take you next time they abandon you? You are aware that Isaac dances with all the pretty girls while you’re home . . .” He shrugged as if not being able to guess what I did.

My father curled his lip, warning him to stop.

“I would have thought you’d show Eramus more appreciation, Roy.” Lady Beatrice spoke from her place near the hearth. “He’s done nothing but dote on your daughter since he’s arrived. And it’s perfectly true what he says. Everyone is a-gossip about how she never leaves the house.”

Eramus took a bite of pudding. “I haven’t the slightest idea what to say when asked about it. At my club there are rumors that you keep bars on her window.”

My father tapped his spoon against the table. “No one actually said that!”

Lady Beatrice laughed. “There are worse rumors tied to this strange situation. London is whispering, Roy. Do you think it’s gone unnoticed that except for one ball, she hasn’t been seen publicly?”

“James, bring me a Scotch.” My father shoved his pudding away.

“Drinking won’t amend the situation,” Lady Beatrice mocked. “Her absence in society is commented on at every breakfast, tea, and card game I attend. I can scarcely take a stroll without an inquiry as to whether she’ll attend an upcoming event.”

“Sir.” Isaac’s calm voice caused us all to look at him. “It’s true. She needs to come out again.”

“All right,” my father finally conceded, accepting the Scotch. “All right. She’ll go to Lady Koop’s soiree with us, Isaac.”

“Well, it’s a start,” Eramus said. “As long as I get to show her off next.” He raised his wineglass to me. “Cheers.”

VOICES MURMURED beyond the entry hall, where the butler gave greeting as his footmen relieved us of our wraps. Feeling all nerves, I faced Isaac. He stood with one hand behind his back—poised and detached. When he felt my gaze upon him, he gave me a brief, loving smile before returning to his trained demeanor.

Until that moment, I’d not realized how intimate we’d become in private.

“Julia.” My father offered his arm and led me toward our hosts standing amongst palm branches just inside the reception room. The Koops looked nothing like their stationery, which was large and grand.

“Roy, what a lovely surprise!” Lady Koop’s earrings and necklaces glittered as her chest swelled with pride. “You’ve brought your daughter.”

My father grunted, but Isaac greeted her amicably, making up for my father’s lack of social grace. I gave her a shy smile, clinging to my father’s arm.

Before Isaac finished his inquiries, my father started toward the gathering but then halted.

Less than a yard away, Macy conversed with a gentleman. Three young ladies surrounded them, all trying to position themselves to catch Macy’s attention.

Candlelight highlighted Macy’s fetching appearance and deep-set eyes as he looked up and became aware of me. A seductive smile curved his lips before he disengaged himself. Keeping his gaze strictly on my father, he approached and bowed, then spoke quietly. “Roy.” His handsome features filled with affection as he viewed me. “I’m glad to see my wife out. For her sake, I’ll remove myself and find another soiree.”

My father’s hand tightened over my arm as I paled.

“Mr. Macy,” Isaac greeted, stepping to my side and taking my arm. Macy looked at him, then clucked his tongue at me before stepping away.

Behind me, I overheard him approach Lord and Lady Koop, saying, “I fear I shall not remain.”

“Why ever not?” Lady Koop sounded distressed. “Is something wrong?”

Isaac placed his hand on my shoulder and attempted to steer me out of hearing, but I refused to budge.

Mr. Macy laughed, haunting me with its sound. “Not a single thing, my dear. In fact, I’m most pleased. However, one of my strange whims has overtaken me, and I wish to depart.”

“But Lord Pierson just arrived, and his daughter is with him. Aren’t you interested in seeing the Emerald Heiress for yourself?”

Even Isaac ceased his attempts to remove me, curious to hear the response himself.

Macy laughed again, this time with a sardonic thread laced through his tone. “When I wish to better acquaint myself with her, I shall. In the meantime, I fear you shall not have the honor of two newspaper sensations at your little gathering. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

I peered over my shoulder in time to see him touch his forehead in salute to me before he ducked out of sight.

“Are we all just going to stand here, transfixed by a liar?” My father flexed his hand, glaring at Isaac as if blaming him.

“Miss Pierson?”

We turned at the soft cry of feminine delight. Lady Northrum hastened toward us as fast as her rustling skirts allowed, her fan swinging from her wrist. “Lord Pierson.” Her cheeks glowed pink as she gathered me to her for a kiss. “Will you allow me to take your daughter and make her introductions?”

A muted protest sounded behind us from Lady Koop, but etiquette demanded she remain by the door to greet guests.

“After all—” Lady Northrum lowered her voice, drawing me closer—“you are rather awkward when it comes to young ladies, sir.”

Isaac broke the tension with his clear laugh. “She has a point, sir. Yes, by all means, take Miss Pierson.”

My father gave her a stiff bow, making me suspect he was angry with Isaac.

“Come, my dear.” Lady Northrum tugged me away, speaking to me but aiming her voice for my father to hear. “I have charges your age with me tonight. My nieces. I shall introduce you.”

Traces of sandalwood occupied the atmosphere as we passed the spot where Macy had stood. I closed my eyes, feeling undone by the scent. Ever since I’d been forced to allow Isaac to court me, I never ceased to worry that I might still be married. Tonight when Macy called me his wife, no doubt had clouded his voice.

“Brava, Charlotte. Brava.” A middle-aged woman stepped away from her husband. She held out shaking hands, evidencing her nervous agitation. “I felt on edge the entire time. Indeed, for half a moment, I feared I might faint. It worked just as you said it would. How did you find the nerve?”

“Hush,” Lady Northrum whispered. “She doesn’t know there
was a conspiracy to rescue her from her father.” Then to me, “You mustn’t feel alarmed. You’re not being disloyal.”

The other woman patted my cheek. Tears misted her eyes. “No, you mustn’t feel divided about him, Miss Pierson. Your father is just horribly awkward when it comes to overseeing your introduction. We don’t hold you to blame, my dear. Your penmanship alone tells us of your distress with every refusal you write. Matters of this nature do not come naturally to him. Your mother suffered under his rule too.”

They stared anxiously, waiting for me to speak. I fiddled with my gloves, unwilling at first to respond. Our masks are our death, yet we don them at all cost. A good daughter, a good wife, must always show respect, whether it is deserved or not. No one knows better than a gentlewoman that during such moments her piety is judged. In such circumstances, not only is a lie the only appropriate answer, but the truth will condemn you. The faulty logic being that if one was quiet and biddable as is fitting to her gender, then naturally the other person would be benevolent and loving.

After hesitation, I gave the only socially acceptable answer. “My father is a very good man.”

A man standing near us chuckled and raised his drink. “Good for you, my dear. It serves you two right, maligning Lord Pierson like that to his daughter. He’ll be most pleased when I tell him how you stood up for him.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t,” the woman I assumed to be his wife cried. “He never allows this poor lamb to go anywhere. If he thought we insulted him, she might be locked away until next season.”

“Watch me,” he said and departed in my father’s direction.

“He’s going.” His wife fluttered her hand over her heart. “Oh, he’s simply horrid and loves to torment me so. Hurry! Take Miss Pierson away. Do something!”

With a look of annoyance, Lady Northrum pulled me to the back of the room toward a group of young ladies who were observing us over their fans.

“Miss Pierson, may I have the pleasure of introducing you to my nieces, Miss Millicent Knight and her sister, Miss Anna Knight.” Lady Northrum retreated with a nod.

The girls wore matching taffeta dresses and gave shy smiles. Anna Knight in particular met my eye with a look that reminded me of Elizabeth. They each took an arm, and more girls flocked to us.

Across the room, my father observed and visibly loosened for the first time in months. He smiled at me, then turned to conversation with the gentlemen.

“Did you see that Mr. Macy was here?” one of the girls whispered, joining our group.

“Yes.” Anna Knight leaned into the group. “But he’s already left. Have you ever seen anyone so handsome?”

A matron passed within hearing, and my party blushed and snapped open fans, constructing a wall of paper and lace about us.

“Did she hear?” one of the girls whispered with dread.

Millicent stood on tiptoe, looking over the tops of our heads. “I think not. Otherwise she would have gone straight to one of our mothers.”

“Why?” I asked, growing cold. “Are you not allowed to speak of him?”

This was met with charged squeals. Uniformly, our group moved, a mass of tulle and satin, farther into the corner. Fans closed slightly as girls checked the location of their chaperones, then snapped open again.

“She doesn’t know, does she?”

“Hush, you tell her.”

“No, you!”

“Oh, you mustn’t!” a girl squeaked in excitement. “What opinion will she form of us?”

A girl with a velvet headband pressed closer. “He’s only recently rejoined society. He’s come out of seclusion in search of
his wife. She’s our age and seduced Mr. Macy during the night, then on their wedding day left him for another lover!”

Blushes rose and fans fluttered.

“Dahlia, hush. Hush.”

“Look, you’ve made her color.”