Page 105 of A Single Thread of Moonlight

A sneer flashed across Helena’s face. It seemed the idea of marriage held little appeal for her these days. Still, I could see the idea settling in her mind. The possibility.

“Very well,” she said rigidly. “It seems that I have no choice. I accept your offer.”

“Good,” I said, suddenly tired. “And for what it’s worth, I promise to do my best to help Cassie live the full and happy life she deserves. She will always be a sister to me.”

Helena treated me to one last long, wordless gaze, and then she swept from the room.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

“Well!” the dowager countess sighed heavily. “That’s quite the tangle that the pair of you have managed to get yourselves caught up in. I suppose it shall be up to me to smooth everything over as usual. I assume” – she paused here to fix Nick with an interrogative look – “that you intend to marry the girl?”

“I’d rather ask her that question myself, thank you,” Nick replied, a smile in the words. I felt myself flush bright red. “She hasn’t even told me she loves me yet.”

“Hmmmph,” his grandmother exclaimed. “Well, don’t wait too long. There’s—”

“—the succession to consider,” Nick finished her sentence. “I know, I know, Grandmother, but I was actually striving for something a bit more romantic.”

“What I was going to say was that there’s every chance the chit will turn you down. Seems she’s got some brains, this one.”

I laughed, and it was like the air suddenly flooded back into my lungs. Was it really possible that all of this had happened? That Stefan had been exposed? That I finally knew the truth of my father’s death, and Helena had been turned out of my home? Was my life of the last seven years with its secrets and hiding over? I was reeling.

“Now,” Nick’s grandmother said bossily. “You two should return to the ball. Make sure everyone knows that you’re head over heels for one another. Society loves a good love story.” She glanced at us and sniffed disapprovingly. “You shouldn’t have too much trouble making them believe it.”

“Certainly,” Nick agreed, holding out his hand to me. “A relief to know we can leave everything in your capable hands, Grandmother. What a knack you have for turning up at just the right moment. You know, Iris,” he mused, “I wonder if we’ve been wrong about this fairy godmother business from the start. It seems there might be one involved after all.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “I half-expect Lady Wynter to wave her magic wand, and have society believing that Iris Scott-Holland never went away.”

The dowager countess sniffed again, but this time she couldn’t conceal the smile that curled in the corner of her mouth. For a moment I saw the resemblance between her and the grandson she clearly adored.

“I shall do my best. Now, go on with you,” she said, shooing us from the room. “I need a moment to catch my breath.”

“I know just how she feels,” I said to Nick as we wandered hand in hand down the corridor. “Shall we go back through the gardens? I’d like a bit of fresh air, and some quiet before we go back in there. You know people will have an awful lot to say.”

“Of course,” Nick agreed. “We don’t have to go back at all if you don’t want to, whatever my grandmother says. It’s been a big night. A lot has happened. How do you feel?”

“I don’t really know,” I admitted. “Overwhelmed, I think, as if most of my feelings are far away and I can’t quite get at them. It doesn’t feel real, after all this time, for the truth to be out. Everything is changing again, but I think it’s good. I’m happy. I’m glad that you’re here.”

He squeezed my hand. “I’m glad too.”

We made our way outside. A huge wave of noise and light drifted from the open windows. It seemed that the party had degenerated into something more debauched by now, that some revellers had begun to make use of the secluded shadows that the garden offered. It must be after midnight, and as we walked along the side of the house I noticed several discarded bottles sticking out of the topiary. An ornate silver ice bucket stood on one of the wide stone stairs, and Nick leaned over, pulling out a bottle of champagne.

“Now all we need are some glasses,” he said.

“Don’t be such a snob,” I said. “We can drink from the bottle.”

It was then that a figure loomed menacingly from the darkness.

“Stefan!” I exclaimed.

He stopped in front of us. “Thought you’d seen the last of me, I suppose?” he said, the words slurred. He swayed towards me and I could smell the alcohol on his breath. “But you and I have unfinished business.”

At first I thought he was talking to me, but then I realized it was Nick that he was addressing.

“Name the time and the place.” Nick’s voice snapped through the air, cold with fury. “It’s long overdue.”

“How about here and now?” Stefan said. “The lady here can watch me beat you to a pulp.”

He reached out and grabbed my arm.