Chapter 27
“What an unmitigated disaster this night has turned out to be.”
Barely stirring as Charles strode into the sitting room of Reginald’s Fifth Avenue Hotel suite, he watched Charles fling himself into the nearest chair, tug his tie loose, then nod his thanks to Giles, who handed him a glass of wine he’d just poured from a bottle Reginald had opened. “Did Reginald tell you what happened at the ball, Giles?”
Giles inclined his head. “Indeed, and I can’t disagree that the ball turned into a disaster for him, what with his secret being exposed to Poppy, which is why he’s now turned brooding—a direct result of him realizing he’s lost a lady he’d grown to love.”
“I never said I was in love with Poppy,” Reginald argued, picking up his glass of wine and taking a sip.
“You didn’t need to, sir. As a man who has been in your service for years, I knew within a week of you meeting her that she was going to be someone special.”
Charles, surprisingly enough, nodded. “I knew that as well.”
“You never mentioned a word about me being in love with Poppy. In fact, you encouraged me to continue giving her etiquette lessons.”
Charles took a sip of his wine. “Of course I did. What with you always being so adamant that you’ll only marry a very proper sort, I knew that you needed time in Poppy’s company.” He shook his head. “You’re different around her—not as stodgy—and not that you apparently noticed this, but you haven’t been brooding nearly as much since you met her.”
“I thought you wanted me to continue instructing her because you were considering her as a potential bride.”
Charles set aside his glass and frowned. “Poppy, even with her impressive dowry, is an unpredictable sort, and I knew after she launched that snail at Mr. Nigel Flaherty’s head that she wasn’t the lady for me.”
“But you thought an unpredictable sort was what I need in a bride?”
“Poppy’s exactly what you need, but I’m afraid you’ve lost her now, what with how your disastrous night unfolded.” He slouched down in the chair. “My night was just as disastrous, and I fear both of us will be returning to London exactly as we left it—as bachelors.”
Giles strode for the door. “I think this is where I bid both of you good night, since you apparently have much to discuss between you.” Walking through the door, then shutting it firmly behind him, Reginald felt the very corners of his mouth lift.
“Do you get the impression Giles has had quite enough of our drama?”
“And I didn’t even get to tell him what happened to me at the ball,” Charles muttered before he raked a hand through his hair. “I’m sure you were as taken aback by the debacle my announcement made as I was.”
Reginald winced. “I’m afraid I never caught your announcement, Charles. I was trying to catch Poppy, but Lena Ridgeway whisked her straightaway. By the time I managed to dodge guests who were hurrying to hear your announcement and get outside, she was long gone. Then, coward that I apparently am, I decided I wasn’t up for all the questions I knew everyone at the ball would be dying to ask, so I called for my carriage and returned here.”
Charles shook his head. “Just as well you missed it. It was quite embarrassing.” He reached for his glass. “There I was, standing in front of everyone, preparing to make my grand announcement, and—”
“You had second thoughts about who you’d decided to propose to?”
“Of course not, Reginald. I may be slightly flighty at times, but I’m not that flighty. Besides”—Charles leaned forward—“I wasn’t planning on proposing to anyone tonight. I was merely going to announce that I’d decided to host a masked ball at the end of January, where I was hoping I’d be able to pull off a most spectacular marriage proposal.”
“So you have settled on a particular lady.”
“Indeed I have.”
“And?” Reginald pressed when Charles didn’t elaborate.
“Edith Iselin, but I would have thought you’d already know that by now.”
“How could I know that, Charles? You’ve barely talked about the lady, nor did you ever suggest I offer to give her etiquette lessons as a way to uncover her true character.”
“Edith’s character didn’t need to be uncovered. She’s possessed of a sincerely kind nature. She’s incredibly intelligent but doesn’t come across as a bluestocking, and she’s the most beautiful lady I’ve ever seen.” Charles sighed. “From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was the one.”
“And yet you still had Giles and me spend hours and hours of our time researching twenty other society ladies.”
Charles nodded. “Forgive me for that, Reginald, but having you and Giles occupy those ladies with lessons and rides around the city allowed me to spend uninterrupted time with Edith. She, unlike any of the other ladies, except Poppy, wasn’t impressed in the least with my title. That intrigued me and made me long to get to know her, which then allowed her to get to know me—the real me, not the me who’s now an earl.” He smiled rather sadly. “I believe she’d begun to truly care about me, until . . . disaster struck.”
“I’m afraid I’m not following. What disaster?”
“It happened right after I told the guests I was about to make my announcement.” Charles shuddered. “There I was, in front of the room, oblivious that Lena Ridgeway had just exposed the truth about you, a truth that some of the other guests apparently overheard. But because I was oblivious to that, I continued on with my announcement, telling everyone I had a grand treat for them.” He shuddered again. “My speech, however, came to a rapid end when whispers about you reached Edith’s ears, and . . . she was livid.”
Charles loosened his tie some more. “She marched her way up beside me, demanding to know why I’d withheld your identity. And then, when I sputtered some nonsense because I was taken completely off guard, she stuck her pert nose in the air and declared that I was morally lacking and needed to seek out the counsel of a man of the cloth as soon as possible so that he could explain to me something about how God expects men to live an honest life. . . . It only went downhill from there.”
When Charles didn’t expound on that, Reginald scooted his chair closer to his cousin, reaching out to give Charles’s knee a pat. “What happened next?”
Charles rubbed his hand over his face, his eyes a bit wild. “Well, as I was standing there, with what seemed like the entire New York Four Hundred scowling back at me, a curious, and I must add profound, notion struck—Edith was right. I have behaved in a most unseemly and less-than-moral fashion, and not simply because I’d concealed your title from everyone.” He drew in a breath. “I’d carelessly given numerous young ladies improbable hope that they might capture my attention and then capture the role of countess when I, as I mentioned, had already become completely smitten with Edith and had no intention of settling my attention on any other lady.”
Leaning forward, Charles blew out a breath. “Before I could beg everyone’s pardon for my bad behavior, Adele suddenly stormed up to join me and Edith, told Edith she was ruining my big announcement, then beamed the most terrifying smile at me and urged me to get on with matters.”
“Not well. She began in a most un-Edith-like fashion to scold Adele, who began shrieking horrible things about Edith always being jealous of her at the top of her lungs, and because I certainly wasn’t going to tolerate the love of my life being treated thus, I, ah . . . well . . . I might have proclaimed very loudly that there was obviously some confusion about what I’d been going to announce because I wasn’t announcing any plans to marry but rather that I was intending on holding a masked ball. And . . . that’s when disaster really occurred.”
“I would have thought that announcing a ball instead of an engagement might have diffused the situation.”
“Quite,” Charles said with a nod. “But you see, after I announced that, Adele yelled that it was completely unacceptable for me to continue keeping all the young ladies on tenterhooks. She then demanded that I announce then and there who I’d chosen to become my countess, and when I hesitated to do so, I soon found myself being approached by every lady who’d participated in the quadrille—a terrifying sight if there ever was one because even with those ladies looking like angels, what with all the white they were wearing, they clearly had murderous intentions in their eyes.”
“I imagine that was a terrifying sight.”
“Indeed, and because I was flustered at that point, I didn’t notice Adele moving closer to me, until she took hold of my arm and practically bellowed out to the guests that she was going to put an end to the suspense because she, and everyone else, knew full well that I’d chosen her.”
Reginald blinked. “She didn’t.”
“She did, which had me, not having a moment to sort through my words, stating emphatically that she was mistaken because I had no intention of marrying her.” Charles shuddered. “And then, when Adele started screaming at me, I turned to Edith and told her she was the lady for me, which had the entire ballroom going silent.”
Charles caught Reginald’s eye. “That’s when everyone got to hear Edith tell me that she wouldn’t marry me if I was the last man on earth because I’m an idiot and someone who has no idea how to extend a lady a proper proposal of marriage. She then stormed out of the ballroom and that was that.” He began pressing fingers against his temples. “I am an idiot and have certainly lost Edith for good, and all that’s left for us to do now is repair to England. Once we’re there, I’m going to retire to one of my crumbling country estates where I’ll seek out the counsel of the local vicar and hope he’ll be able to lend me some guidance about what I should do next.”
“You do remember that we came to America because you’re in desperate need of an heiress, don’t you?”
“I’m hardly likely to forget that,” Charles muttered. “But because you and I have now experienced what can only be considered a mortifying life lesson, I need to reconsider my approach to life and perhaps think about taking you up on your offer to learn about investing, which . . .” Charles suddenly brightened. “Might provide me with a way to win Edith back.”
“Does Edith not possess a fortune of her own?”
“No idea. We never discussed the matter, nor did I ever ask if Giles looked into her finances.”
“And I certainly never looked into Edith’s finances because I had not the slightest inkling you were interested in her.” Reginald sighed. “I’m afraid I let you down there, Charles. It was my one and only job to make certain the lady you set your attention on was in possession of a grand fortune and could withstand the pressures of being a countess. I failed miserably in that regard, quite as I failed Poppy by withholding the truth about me.”
“I told you that you shouldn’t wait too long before disclosing all.”
Swiveling around in his chair, Reginald frowned as George strode through a now-open door, Beatrix Waterbury by his side and Giles trailing after them.
Reginald rose to his feet. “George, what are you doing here? Should you even be out of bed? You look incredibly pale.”
George sat down in the first chair he reached. “I’m still slightly under the weather, but feeling much better. Thankfully, whatever illness I caught seems to be a one-day event, and I couldn’t very well stay in bed, not when . . .” George suddenly sneezed. As he pulled out a handkerchief and went about blowing his nose, Beatrix stepped forward.
“Poppy never came home,” Beatrix finished for him. “George and I were hoping she might have decided to stop here to discuss what happened with you at the ball in private.”
Something heavy settled in Reginald’s stomach as he pulled out his pocket watch. “Even with Poppy embracing an unconventional attitude, she wouldn’t have sought me out in my hotel. I haven’t seen her since she left the ball with Lena Ridgeway, although I tried to catch up with her before she left. By the time I made it outside, she was gone.” He looked at his watch. “That was over three hours ago.”
Beatrix’s brows drew together. “Why did Poppy leave with Lena Ridgeway?”
“Lena offered her a ride when Poppy announced she wanted to go home immediately.” Reginald blew out a breath. “She was absolutely furious with me and, truth be told, looked rather nauseous after she learned I’m the second son of a duke. She was so put out with me, in fact, that she all but ran out of the ball, and was apparently so anxious to get away from me that she accepted the first ride that was offered to her.”
“But Lena never brought her home,” Beatrix said slowly. “When I heard what happened, I immediately left the ball and traveled directly to Poppy’s house. Mr. Parsons informed me she’d not arrived back yet, so I waited for her in the receiving room, finally having Mr. Parsons wake George up when it became clear that something might be dreadfully amiss.”
“I’m quite concerned at this point,” George said, accepting the glass of water that Giles had fetched him and sending the man a nod of thanks. “Especially since Poppy definitely seems to have left with Lena Ridgeway.”
“Do you know something about Lena the rest of us don’t?” Reginald pressed.
“She’s an odd woman who used to suffer from occasional bouts of acute melancholy—or at least there were whispers about that years ago. She’s also apparently been trying her hand at matchmaking, at least according to Beatrix.” George frowned. “Don’t know why she’d believe Nigel Flaherty and Poppy would make a good match or how she was able to uncover the truth about you, Reginald, or why she decided to disclose that truth in the middle of a ball.”
“She said she got curious about me after I told her I was escorting Poppy to the ball, and apparently took it upon herself to do some investigating into my background, making inquiries of gentlemen currently in New York who have connections with England.”
“Why would she go to so much bother?” Beatrix asked. “Do you believe Nigel could have put her up to it because he fancies Poppy?”
“What could he possibly hope to achieve by having Reginald’s title disclosed?” George asked.
Beatrix frowned. “I have no idea. But Nigel has a reputation for turning nasty when events don’t go his way, at least according to my good friend, Isadora MacKenzie. And even though he claims to be a changed man . . . what if he isn’t?”
Reginald frowned. “Either way, I still don’t understand what Nigel and Lena’s intentions are when it concerns Poppy. From what I’ve heard about Nigel, he’s not a fortune hunter.”
“But what if he is?” Beatrix countered.
Reginald blinked. “Do you think what happened tonight could have been a desperate attempt on his part to convince Poppy, if he believed her to hold affection for me, to turn her back on me and turn to him?”
Beatrix’s brows drew together. “If it was, Nigel clearly doesn’t understand Poppy, but with that said, there’s a chance Poppy might be in very grave straits at the moment, which means—”
“We need to save her,” Reginald finished for her and headed for the door.