Sarah Mallory - The Earl's Runaway Bride

‘Sir James, Sir James!’

Lydia and her husband were strolling arm in arm beneath the coloured lamps. They looked up at her call. She ran up to them.

‘Sir James, there is—an—intruder,’ she gasped out the words, impatient to make him understand. She pointed. ‘Over there in the shrubbery.’

Sir James immediately ran to the terrace and pulled one of the torches from its holder, calling to a footman to follow him. He turned to Felicity.

‘Very well, show me.’

‘James, be careful!’ cried Lydia, running along behind them.

They were halfway along the path when they met Nathan coming the other way. Felicity dropped back immediately into the darkness.

‘Rosthorne,’ Sir James called to him. ‘There’s a report of an intruder. Have you seen him?’

‘Aye, there was someone. He took off through the garden door when I challenged him. I followed him outside, but the alley was deserted.’

Sir James turned to the footman. ‘Could he have got in that way?’

The servant shook his head. ‘No, sir. Her ladyship insists we keep the door locked.’

‘Well, it was used tonight,’ said Nathan. ‘There are bolts top and bottom. I was close behind the man as he opened the door. He did not have time to draw them back. Either he had prepared his escape, or someone let him in.’

‘Good heavens!’ gasped Lydia, clinging to her husband’s arm.

‘I will talk to Stinchcombe,’ said Nathan. ‘He can have the servants search the house, to check if anything is missing.’

‘Make sure you do not alarm the rest of the guests,’ Sir James called after him. He patted Lydia’s hand. ‘There is nothing more to be done here, so I suggest we go back indoors. Come, Miss Brown. You may rest easy now; there is no one here.’

Sir James took the ladies back to Berkeley Square soon after, and the incident in the Stinchcombes’ garden was not mentioned again, but it remained in Felicity’s mind when she went to bed that night. Sir James had spoken to his hostess before they had left and she had assured him that nothing had been taken from the house, and no uninvited guests had been seen in the building. For all that Felicity was still uneasy. It would be a very bold thief who would risk entering a house full of guests. There had been something menacing about the way the figure had moved in the shadows, the way it had approached Nathan and the glint of metal she had seen. Could it have been a knife blade? She shuddered. There were so many strangers in London for the Peace Celebrations: perhaps not all of them were friendly.

‘Now you are being fanciful,’ she muttered, pummelling her pillow. ‘It was probably some poor starving creature looking for a little food, nothing more. You were overwrought. Most likely you are making a mountain out of nothing more than a worm-cast!’

Nevertheless, the feeling persisted that by being there she had saved Nathan’s life.

However, there was no talk of intruders the next morning; Lydia’s thoughts were all on a forthcoming treat.

‘In general James does not like masked balls and I feared that he would cry off from Lady Preston’s masquerade next week,’ she said, with a twinkling look at her husband. He grinned back at her.

‘His Highness insists we all attend, and that we wear a costume of his own designing.’

Lydia laughed. ‘How galling that I must be grateful to the Prince Regent for my husband’s company!’

Felicity turned to Sir James. ‘His Highness wishes you all to attend?’

‘Aye, Miss Brown. Neither Rosthorne nor I will be escorting the royal party that night, but we are still obliged to wear the Regent’s costume.’

Felicity digested this while Sir James took his leave of them and went off to his study.

‘I am glad for your sake that James will escort me to Lady Preston’s,’ said Lydia, when they were alone again. ‘It means that you are not obliged to come with me, Fee, so it works out very neatly.’

‘Actually, I would like to go to the masquerade, if I may.’

Lydia turned an astonished gaze upon her. ‘Fee, my dear, you cannot wish to go!’

Felicity looked down at her hands. ‘It is not so long ago we thought I should be attending as your companion,’ she reminded Lydia. ‘You expressly requested Lady Preston to send me an invitation, did you not?’

‘Yes, yes, I know that, but…oh, Fee, are you sure you want to attend? Have you considered?’

‘Yes, I have. It is to be a masked ball, so I may be quite disguised. And I shall leave before the unmasking at midnight.’

‘But Rosthorne will be there!’

‘I know. That is why I want to go.’

With a tiny squeal Lydia sat up. ‘Have you run mad?’ she demanded. ‘Do you know the risk you will be running to attend a masquerade?’

Felicity nodded. ‘I have considered that. But I want to see him again, Lydia.’ She clasped her hands tightly in her lap. ‘It is the perfect opportunity for me to talk to him.’

‘But as soon as you speak to him he will recognise you.’

Felicity shook her head. ‘He will not be expecting to see me there.’ She thought back to their time together in the shrubbery. ‘I doubt he even remembers my voice.’

‘This is madness,’ Lydia said again. ‘Think of the danger, Fee. These events can be very…wild.’

‘It is no matter,’ said Felicity calmly. ‘All I want is to dance with Nathan. We have never danced together, you see. And I would so like to know how it feels. Just once.’

Lydia looked at her, tears starting in her blue eyes. ‘Oh, my dear—’

Felicity quickly put up her hands. ‘No, please, Lydia, do not pity me or I shall start to cry, too. Instead I would like to ask you to help me in another way.’ She fixed her eyes upon her friend. ‘I will need some dancing lessons. Apart from a few country dances at Souden I have not danced, not properly danced, since we were at the Academy together…’

‘And you were always such a graceful dancer. I shall ask my old dancing teacher, Signor Bellini, to come here and I shall play for you,’ declared Lydia. ‘Oh, Fee, this is so exciting. And when Rosthorne discovers who you are…’

‘You go too fast, Lydia!’ Felicity frowned. ‘I am not at all sure I am ready to reveal myself to him.’

Lady Souden looked as if she would say more, but after a brief hesitation she merely smiled, and nodded. ‘Very well, my love. Now, let us think of a disguise for you.’

‘I thought you might have a domino that I may borrow. And a mask.’

Lydia sat back and regarded her friend. After a few moments a mischievous little smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. ‘I think I can do much better than that for you, my love.’ She shook her head. ‘No, I will tell you nothing more now, except that you must leave everything to me!’

Lady Souden refused to say any more.

Felicity was obliged to curb her curiosity until the very day of Lady Preston’s masquerade, when she accompanied Lydia on another of her shopping sprees. This included the purchase of a pair of scarlet stockings, which Lydia presented to her friend.

‘What on earth would I want with these?’ asked Felicity, laughing.

‘They will add the finishing touch to your costume this evening.’

‘What are you planning for me, Lydia? Do tell!’

But Lady Souden merely looked mysterious and bade her to wait until the evening.

‘How fortunate that dear James could not dine with us tonight,’ remarked Lydia as she took Felicity upstairs to her apartment. ‘I can help you to dress without fear that he will want to know what we are doing.’

‘I am becoming mighty anxious about this myself,’ said Felicity as she followed her hostess into the white-and-rose dressing room. ‘The thought of those scarlet stockings is quite alarming.’