"Excuse me," she murmured time and again as she interrupted countless couples. Her only relief was not finding Mason and his simpering Dahlia joined in some passionate embrace.
Just as she was about to give up, she heard Roderick's all too familiar voice-and his lines.
"Aveline, sweet Aveline, I care not for the disparateness of our situation or our upbringing, only that we
remain together."
Riley wanted to groan. Mason had been right: the line did make Geoffroi sound like a simpering fool.
She parted the branches of the foliage before her and found Louisa enfolded in Roderick's arms.
She caught the errant girl by the back of her gown and tugged her free. Settling a sputtering Louisa
behind her, she turned to Roderick, who came bounding out of the greenery looking for a fight."I demand satisfaction," he sputtered, before coming face to face with his employer. "Oh, Riley, it's you.""Yes, it's me. Remind me to cut that line from the scene tomorrow-along with all your other ones.""But Riley-" Louisa began to protest, trying to cut around her and return to her lover.Riley was too quick. She held the anxious girl fast. "That is quite enough out of you! What were you thinking?"The girl's face told the entire story-one Riley knew only too well. Louisa's heart had been lost.She softened her features and smiled at her. "We'll discuss this when we get home." She turned to Roderick. "As for you-you will stay away from Louisa. If I find you've done anything that has compromised her beyond this thoughtless display, then you are fired and I will see you never work in London again."
The young man drew himself up. "Now see here, I mean to offer for Louisa." Riley shuddered. Oh, this was far worse than she suspected. "And you think your offer would be seriously considered? Roderick, I don't know where you come from, but actors do not marry the daughters of earls." She shook her head and started down the path with a squirming and protesting Louisa in tow. Roderick glowered as Riley dragged his beloved away. "We'll just see who is so unworthy, Madame Fontaine. We'll just see."
Maggie followed dutifully after Riley and her sisters, more than a little sad to be leaving so early. After years of dreaming about attending fashionable events, she would have liked the evening to last forever.
For the first time in her life she'd been elegant, and best of all, desired. She'd had suitors! Men askingher to dance, asking for an introduction, begging for a hint as to her identity.She sighed. If only, like Louisa and Bea, she could have found her own true love this night.Maggie knew exactly what he looked like-dark and mysterious. Perhaps even an eye patch covering an injury he'd suffered in battle or in a duel of honor. She would have danced in his arms, beaten his mother at cards, or done whatever it was Louisa had done in the garden that had her blushing a deep scarlet and Riley looking grim and determined to get them home as quickly as possible.
Lost in this bout of woolgathering, she didn't realize they'd gained the steps down to the street, and she stumbled on the first one.
And into the arms of a stranger.The book she'd borrowed from her uncle's library and used as part of her costume went clattering downthe steps, along with the gentleman's hat.
His steely embrace steadied her and kept her from plunging headlong into the street below. The spicy,
tangy scent of cologne, bay rum, she thought, enveloped her.
And when she looked up, she discovered her hero and didn't mind so much her first clumsy step of the evening.
"Are you all right, miss?" he asked. He held her for a moment longer than was proper before setting her on her own feet. "There you are. Are you sure you are well?"
Maggie could only nod, afraid to say anything that might awaken her from this unbelievable dream.
"I fear your book and my hat didn't fare as well," he laughed, taking the steps down two at a time and retrieving her battered book and his flattened hat.
This gave her a moment to study her savior. He wore a naval uniform-not some costume, but his ownuniform, of that she was sure from the way it fit his body. And after he picked up their belongings at thebottom of the steps and turned back to her, he paused and stared up at her as if she were the mostenchanting creature he'd ever beheld.
Maggie was positive he was the most handsome man she'd ever seen-dark, mysterious, albeit missing apirate's patch; it was a minor detail she could overlook if it meant she could spend the rest of her lifeenveloped in his sure embrace.
He made an elegant bow and reached for her hand. "My name is-" he began to say.
She had her hand out in double time but found it taken not by her newfound love, but by Bea.
"Sorry to interrupt, Athena," Bea said, shooting an apologetic smile at the man. "But we must leave.
Now."
With that, her sister dragged her away.
Maggie tried for a moment to pull out of Bea's grip, but her sister had the advantage of height and a good
stone in weight-she might as well be fighting against Mr. Hashim.
Captain Westley Hardy watched the shy little creature be dragged away by the other girl, feeling as if he had just spent eight hours in battle rather than a few short moments in the presence of a mere slip of a thing.
Who was she?
Before he could follow, her party gained their carriage and were off, the horses jumping forward in their
traces at the snap of the coachman's whip. The conveyance and its delightful occupants were gone intothe night before he could stop them.Damnation, he didn't even know her name.Just then, another man came racing past him. The fellow, dressed in some outrageous highwayman's outfit, turned toward him. "Have you seen a quartet of goddesses?"
In any other circumstances, Captain Hardy would have thought the man a complete nodcock, but givenwhat he'd just witnessed, he nodded.The man cursed. "How ever am I going to find her now?"Despite the costume and the mask, Hardy recognized the voice. "Delander?""Hardy!" Del said back, reaching out and shaking his hand vigorously. "I'd heard you were in town. Glad to see you. The Saint will be beside himself to hear you're about. The three of us, together again.""St. Clair's in town?" Hardy asked."Ashlin now. Inherited his brother's title last year.""Then one of you must know who those creatures were," Hardy asked. "The ones done up like goddesses."
"You saw them?" Del asked. "You've got the devil's own timing-whyever didn't you order a round
fired over that carriage, or whatever it is you do in the Navy to see an enemy ship stopped? You've justlost treasure worth more than any of the prizes I heard tell you've taken in the last few years."Hardy, though glad to see his boyhood friend, felt a moment of jealousy. "Athena?"To his relief, Del shook his head. "No, Artemis. Did you see her? Divine.""Yes, well I had similar thoughts about the other one," Hardy said, holding up the book the girl had left behind.
"At least you have a memento." Del settled down in a dejected heap on the steps, and stared moodily out into the night. "So what is it goddesses are reading these days?" he asked over his shoulder.
Hardy glanced down at his prize, taken aback by the title.
The Battle Tactics of Alexander the Great. He handed it down to Del.
"Not exactly the Elysian Times," Del joked, as he glanced over the book. "Who the devil would ever
want to read such a boring tome?" He flipped open the first page and stared down at it. Then a wide grin spread over his face.
"Hardy, my good man-how are you at planning a siege?" With that, Del handed him back the book,
opened to the first page.
Even in the torchlight, Hardy could read the handwritten note on the first page.
The property of Mason St. Clair, Merton College, Oxford.
Chapter 17.
M ason walked home from the Everton masquerade, each pounding step filled with purpose and anger.
How dare she disobey him and endanger her life just so the girls could go to a foolish party?
Riley! Would she ever stop driving him to distraction?
Mason took a deep breath. Much to his chagrin, he had to admit he'd been relieved to see her. She'd
stopped him from having to listen to Mrs. Pindar and her daughter's vapid conversation for the entire
evening.
As he continued walking the few blocks from Everton's stylish town house to Ashlin Square, he considered the gist of his conversation with Mrs. Pindar, which had been more a series of veiled threats than polite hints.
Marry my daughter, or I will find another down-on-his-luck earl to make her a countess.
With all that, she'd finished by saying her solicitor would call on him in the morning to see if they couldsettle matters.He hadn't liked the way the lady's eyes had narrowed, like those of a weasel after a chicken, when she'd smiled and said, "You may find, my lord, that my solicitor is able to offer a convincing argument to ease
your reluctance."
Reluctance, indeed! He had no doubts now who'd been buying up Freddie's vowels and for what purpose. And with each step he grew more angry. Nudging loose a stone with his boot, he kicked it into the darkness.
What had he become?
Oh, he was a new kind of Ashlin, all right-just not anything close to the honorable and respectedfoundation he had envisioned rebuilding for his family.So where had he gone wrong?He knew. He'd lost his honor and self-respect when he'd decided on a marriage of convenience rather than one of love.For when he'd decided to pursue the eminently wealthy Dahlia Pindar, he'd lost his heart.And he knew who held it.Riley.But how could he marry her?He was penniless-actually, worse than penniless. He'd spent the last seven months going over and over Freddie's investments, the account books, every scrap of paper, trying to find something that might give
way to any last coin the family possessed so he could make a better show of it.
And he'd failed. There was nothing to be had. He had nothing but himself to offer the hard-working,dedicated lady.Exactly the down-on-his-luck earl Mrs. Pindar eyed with such a mercantile gleam.But Riley didn't look at him like that. She cared not that he was an earl. In fact, he suspected his noble title made him less appealing to the unconventional lady.
As he entered Ashlin Square, he looked across the park to his house, where there glowed a single taper in the library.
She was waiting for him.
Mason knew what had to be done. He could live his life for love and lose everything, or he could see the
ones he loved safe and secure by giving up what he wanted.
There really was no choice.
Riley waited in the library for Mason, resisting the urge to peek out the windows and watch for his approach.