Page 68 of A Season for Scandal

I felt a moment of relief. Sylla, Maud and Winnie. The whole charm together. Then I remembered we would be together inParis, and my mind happily returned to panic as well as a tentative emotion it took me a moment to identify as anticipation.

“Good,” Izzy said. “Now, with that all decided, we should start getting ready. It’s not every day you attend your friends’ pretend engagement celebration.”

There was a knock at the door, and Oliver opened it a cautious crack, peering out before pulling it open more widely to reveal Barker standing at the threshold.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Barker said, utterly unfazed by all of us crowded in secret conference in Max and Izzy’s room. “I sent those parcels to Mrs Finch’s room – the ones you asked for, Your Grace.” He directed this comment at Izzy. “And if you’re ready, the lads will bring the rest of your luggage up.”

“Perfect, thank you, Barker.” Izzy smiled, then she looked to Mrs Finch. “I visited Madame Solange as you requested and spoke to Iris.”

The tension left Mrs Finch’s face, replaced by a small, pleased smile. “Excellent.” She turned her attention to me. “Mari was only asking the other day after my dressmaker. Now she will experience her talent for herself.”

“You ordered me a gown?” My brows rose.

“Certainly.” Mrs Finch sniffed. “It is your engagement party, Mari.”

“I can’t believe you found the time to organize such a thing,” I said.

Mrs Finch looked affronted. “Marigold Bloom,” she replied. “I may be a brilliant, singular mind managing a secret organization of exceptional women as we fight against the tyranny of an oppressively patriarchal society, but there isalwaystime for fashion.”

Hours later I gripped my glass of champagne, watching the couples swirling around the dance floor in front of me with a curious feeling of detachment.

Almost everyone in this room – and it seemed, suddenly, as though there were somanypeople, far more than the forty I knew had been invited – believed that this whole party was in celebration of an engagement that didn’t exist, between me and the man who stood beside me, his posture rigid as he too watched the dancers. Several people – whose names I had already forgotten – stood with us, and one man was opining on the subject of estate maintenance and the lack of good help available these days.

My eyes darted to where the Lavignes stood, deep in conversation with another couple, watching Helene dance gracefully with a man about her own age. It was hard to smile into their faces while knowing that they had lied and tricked their way into this house, into Oliver’s family.

In a way, I had thought the party full of guests would be easier. Easier than lying to people I knew and loved, easier than maintaining a fiction over a period of days for the suspicious Lavignes. A sort of superficial level of dishonesty. But it wasn’t easier.

Standing here, in the scrupulously cleaned and polished ballroom, surrounded by displays of fragrant flowers that I had arranged myself, candlelight flickering seductively over the scene, it was more like being shoved out on a stage in a gilded theatre – and I was no actress.

Then there was also the matter that those displays of flowers reminded me jarringly of this afternoon’s scene in the flower room. If anything, I was trying very hard not to let my feelings for Oliver slip through, not to let them show. Perhaps that was a mistake because it would have helped us to appear more convincing as a couple, but I couldn’t do it. I was afraid that if I looked up at him, then he would see the naked yearning in my eyes and realize that it wasn’t an act at all.

I didn’t have the luxury of falling in love with Oliver Lockhart, I knew, because something so foolish could only end in disaster. I wasn’t prepared to deal with that sort of heartache. I had too many people who were depending on me, and right now one of those people was Oliver himself. I needed my attention to be on finding his sister, not on how nice he smelled, or how tall and strong he was, or how he looked when he smiled, or the way he had saidBloomearlier, as if I were something precious and wonderful.

“I think I need some air,” I said, my voice tight. “Please excuse me for a moment.” With that, I turned and edged round the dance floor, where I noticed Max and Izzy were dancing in perfect harmony, gazing at each other as though no one else existed. Max leaned down and whispered something in Izzy’s ear, and she laughed, the sound a burst of pure joy.

I made my way through the crowds, nodding and smiling, and accepting the congratulations of people as I passed, until I was out in the cool quiet of the hallway.

I let my feet take me in the direction of the garden, greeting the chill of the air against my heated cheeks with relief.

It was a cloudless night, still as a tomb, and as I looked up I realized there was something else that was different away from the fog and smoke of London: spread over me like a taut length of midnight silk was the clear night sky.

I felt my breath catch as I stared. A riot of stars scattered carelessly across the black, each one a pinprick of pure silver light. There were thousands, and I could only stand, dazzled by the way they wheeled overhead.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” a voice asked from behind me, and I don’t know why I was surprised to find that Oliver had followed me – after all, he was probably more eager to get away from the crowds than I was.

“It’s beautiful,” I replied. “I have never seen so many stars. At home, they are hidden… I suppose it’s silly, but I didn’t imagine there could be somany.” It made me feel very, very small, but the feeling was not unpleasant.

Oliver came to stand beside me, and we both stood there, looking up for a moment.

“Are you cold?” he asked finally.

“No, not at all,” I said. “It was too warm in there. Too many people.”

“I know,” Oliver huffed. “I swear Mrs Finch must have added another dozen invitations to the list without me noticing.”

“At least,” I agreed with a smile.

“How ever did she even get all these people up here?” He sighed. “It is supposed to be one of the benefits of living in the middle of nowhere that no one can get here at a moment’s notice.”