Page 35 of A Single Thread of Moonlight

I was surprised by Cassie’s bluntness. “You and your mother aren’t close?” I asked.

“My mother and I barely take any notice of one another,” Cassie said. “I’m an enormous disappointment to her, and … well, I suppose she’s an enormous disappointment to me.” The words were said lightly enough, but I detected bitterness beneath them.

“What makes you a disappointment?” I asked.

“Mostly that I have absolutely no interest in getting married. But also the fact that I want to study, go to university, join a profession.” Cassie was ticking her list off on her fingers. “Then there’s the clothes, the bicycle … so many things she doesn’t understand or care to understand.”

“A bicycle!” I exclaimed. I had seen them back in London. They looked like fun.

“I can teach you if you want,” Cassie offered. “I’ve recently bought a new one, so you can borrow my old one. I call her Betty and she’s perfectly serviceable.”

“Would you really?”

“Of course.” Cassie nodded. “It might actually mean that I get to have some fun during this whole tiresome event.” She glanced at me. “I’m glad you’re here.”

And just then, just for a moment, so was I.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

It was barely ten minutes later when the men returned, and I could tell from Lord Wynter’s expression that it had been more than sufficient.

He didn’t approach me at all this time; I suppose he thought that the prince had been left to stew long enough. Instead, Nicholas cornered Agatha and Helena, who were clearly torn between annoyance at being monopolized, and being flattered by his rare attention. In the end I think flattery won out, though I caught Helena watching me with narrowed eyes.

“At last, we have a chance to talk!” Stefan exclaimed, taking the seat next to me. Cassie had quit the room as soon as the men returned. I couldn’t imagine her mother being pleased about that. Then again, perhaps, as Cassie had said, she wouldn’t even notice.

“I thought you were more interested in dancing,” I teased.

Stefan shot to his feet and held out his hand to me. “As the lady wishes.”

“Sit down!” I laughed, tugging at his sleeve. “You’ll disgrace yourself in front of our hostess!”

He fell into the seat. He was a large man, with a build more suited to a pugilist than a prince, but he wore it well. Once more I found myself warming to him. He seemed so … solid. It was easy to imagine resting my head against that strong shoulder and unburdening myself.

We began to talk in a comfortable way. He was quick and funny and I didn’t have to feign my amusement. In the ornate mirror over the fireplace, I could see our reflection. I barely recognized myself – laughing and polished, my sapphires dazzling in the firelight. The couple in the mirror made a well-matched pair – fair-haired and beautiful, obviously wealthy, with an air born of entitlement.

It was the life I could have had, I realized with a sharp twist in my gut. I might have laughed, I might have shone, I might even have married a handsome prince.

I might not have become so alone.

A loud, rather desperate laugh recalled me. Agatha was laughing uproariously at something Nicholas had said, all the while glancing at Stefan to see if he had noticed. A bit too transparent, I thought.

“She is very lovely, isn’t she?” I said to Stefan. “Miss Weston, I mean.”

“Hmm,” he said. “Yes, she is. I confess, though, tonight my attention has been elsewhere.”

I widened my eyes in surprise. “But – but I thought—”

“What did you think?” he asked.

I made a show of embarrassment. “It’s just – Lady Scott-Holland – I had the impression that you and her eldest daughter had … something of an arrangement?”

I looked at him with as much innocence as I could muster. Just a naive country girl, repeating what she had heard.

Stefan frowned. “I have a great deal of admiration and respect for Miss Weston,” he said hesitantly. “But there is no such arrangement.”

“Perhaps I misunderstood.”

“I don’t know why she should say that,” he murmured, almost to himself. “Things are not so advanced…” He sat back in the chair and ran his fingers through his hair, then smiled ruefully at me. “Perhaps just a misunderstanding, as you say.”