Peg should never have tried to outsmart her brother.
The promised dance master was standing before them now and, though he was not quite as disappointing as she feared he would be, he still seemed exceptionally foolish. Spending several hours a week with him would be almost as tedious as being alone.
At first glance, she would not have called Mr Castellano handsome. His hair oil was as thick as his accent, which was as false as his smile. His clothing was too tight, accentuating his long legs and thin waist, and making her look at places that no lady should be paying attention to. Everything about him was just a little too much to be taken seriously.
Most annoying, she had the fleeting impression that there was a perfectly ordinary man hiding underneath the fop. Or perhaps ordinary was not the word she was seeking, but extraordinary. His eyes were large and dark and his features strong and even. His shoulders were broad, his movements sure. And though his smile seemed overly bright to the point of mania, when he was not showing all of his brilliantly white teeth his mouth was very nice indeed.
It was as if he had downplayed his best qualities to make himself as unlikeable as possible.
Hugh had probably put him in mind to do that. She could not imagine him allowing a conventionally attractive man to have access to his sisters. She had been expecting him to find some man too decrepit to walk without a stick, much less dance. She imagined he would be ugly as well with straw-like grey hair and perhaps an embarrassingly large wart on his nose.
If Mr Castellano was truly handsome, he might be used to fathers and older brothers considering him a threat to a girl’s virtue. For self-protection, he had made an effort to make himself ridiculous.
‘Buon giorno, ladies,’ the object of her curiosity said with a toothy grin. ‘Today, we are learning to dance, no?’
‘No,’ her sister Olivia said, checking the little watch that was pinned to her gown. Then she reached into a pocket and removed a sovereign, tossing it to the dancing master who caught it instinctively. ‘Hugh has left for Parliament by now and I will be going, as well.’ She looked to the dancing master. ‘There are more coins to come if you say nothing of this to anyone.’
‘Si, signora,’ he said, his head bobbing like a marionette with an unskilled puppeteer.
Then Liv walked to the window and opened it, throwing a leg over the sill and dropping from sight.
The dancing master stared after her, amazed.
‘She has an assignation with her fiancé,’ Peg supplied. ‘Since our brother has not accepted the man’s suit, it is not yet official. They are forced to meet in secret.’
When the man did not respond, she added, ‘That is why she has bribed you not to tell him.’
Perhaps he did not understand her. He continued to stare at the open window, as if he expected her sister to reappear. ‘So soltanto un po’ di italiano. Lei parla inglese?’
By the horrified and uncomprehending look he gave her in response to this, it was clear that he understood even less Italian than she did. She tried in English, so slowly that even a fool could understand. ‘Olivia. Has gone.’ She made a scurrying motion with her fingertips. ‘Away.’
‘I can see that,’ he said, his accent faltering before he remembered where he was. ‘Why did she not use the door?’
‘Because our brother has men who watch the front and follow us when we go out,’ Peg replied.
‘How strange,’ he said, still staring at the window.
‘Not as strange as an Italian dancing master who cannot speak Italian.’ She stared at him, her hands on her hips. ‘It was clear that you could not answer me when I spoke to you. Why are you pretending to be someone who you are not?’
He blinked at her, as though it was necessary to choose an appropriate answer to what seemed a simple question. Then he held his hands in the air, surrendering. ‘It is because Ricardo Castellano can command a higher price as a dancing master than David Castell.’
She nodded in approval. She could not fault his logic. ‘Does my brother know you are not Italian?’
‘I suspect he does,’ he said with a sad tilt of his head. ‘My accent is not very good. But he did not bother to test my skill with the language to be sure.’
‘Interesting,’ she replied. ‘He is normally so careful when it comes to us. I am surprised that he let a flaw in your character go unchallenged.’
The dancing master gave her a weak smile. ‘I do not waste my time trying to understand the logic of the gentry.’
‘I would think that understanding your employers was an important part of your job,’ she said, staring back at him, intrigued.
He shrugged. ‘It would be easier if they acted in a predictable manner. Unfortunately, they do not. I cannot explain your brother to you. Perhaps you could explain him to me.’ He glanced at the open window again. ‘For example, why did he bribe me far more than your sister did to report back to him the sort of thing that just happened?’
‘He did what?’
‘He gave me money to inform him if either of you sneaked out of the house to meet with men.’
Peg frowned. They had underestimated Hugh again. He had only given in to her request so he could add another layer of security to the hold he had on them. ‘Well, that makes things clearer to me, at least,’ she said and gave Mr Castell a resigned smile. ‘How much did he offer you?’ she asked.
‘Ten pounds on top of my salary,’ Mr Castell replied, blinking expectantly.
‘And I suppose you will want more from us to keep Liv’s activities secret.’ Silently, Peg counted up the money she had saved from her allowance. It was not quite enough to equal what her brother had given him. Nor was she sure she wanted to waste every last penny of her own savings on furthering her sister’s relationship with Mr Clement. If, after all the time he had been courting her, the man had not managed to persuade her sister into an elopement, Olivia could not be too firmly attached to him.
‘We do not have to discuss that just yet,’ he said. ‘I do not know you well enough to decide which side of the battle I should take.’
The speculative look he was giving her made her flush pink before she remembered that it had never been her intention to fall for the flirtatious banter of a dancing master. If she wished to gain anything from the situation she had arranged, it would not do to have this stranger trying to manipulate her with sly smiles and warm glances.
Unless she could manage to do it to him first. She had little experience with flirting, but now might be an excellent time to practise it. She smiled back at him. ‘Once you know Liv and I better, I am sure you will be sympathetic to our cause.’ She allowed her lip to tremble, ever so slightly. ‘Our brother is terribly strict with us, you see. And there is no reason for it, as we cause him no trouble and create no scandals.’
Mr Castell glanced at the window again, as if doubting that the missing Olivia could confirm her story.
‘Though it may seem so, Olivia is not a flighty girl or careless with her reputation,’ she said, tugging his sleeve to regain his attention. ‘She has an understanding with the gentleman she is seeing today. He has offered for her multiple times and each time our brother has refused him.’
‘There is probably a good reason for it,’ Mr Castell said, sounding far too willing to give her brother the benefit of the doubt.
‘None that we can find,’ Peg insisted. ‘Alister comes from a good family and has enough money to support them both. He has proven time and again that his affections are constant. If he has a flaw at all, it is that he is too meek and has been willing to wait for a change in my brother’s heart rather than eloping to Scotland with Liv, ages ago.’
‘And do you have suitors, as well?’ he asked, then hurriedly added, ‘Not that it is my business, of course. But it would be nice to have warning if you are planning to jump out a window as your sister did.’
‘Certainly not,’ she said with a laugh. ‘Since I have not been allowed a Season, I have yet to meet a fellow who would want to lure me out of the house.’
‘But you must be old enough,’ he said.
‘Nearly twenty,’ she agreed. ‘At first, it made sense to postpone my come out, because we were in mourning for Father. But that cannot be the reason anymore.’ She clamped her lips shut before she could reveal any more of her problems. She had never expected to be so free with a stranger, but Mr Castell was a surprisingly good listener.
‘Do you suppose he means to spare you from gossip?’ he said, eyes widening slightly.
‘Gossip of what sort?’ she said, shaking her head in denial and praying that he was not about to repeat the tired rumours about Hugh.
‘When I took this job,’ Mr Castell said carefully, ‘friends reminded me that the Duke, your brother, is not well liked in many circles. People think him...’ He paused again, as if hoping she would fill in the end of the sentence.
‘You are speaking of the theory that he murdered our father,’ she said, frowning to put him back in his place. ‘Surely people are not still going on about that.’ The foolishness of others had been part of the reason they had observed mourning so strenuously.
‘It is not the sort of story that goes away,’ Mr Castell said gently. ‘In fact, it may have grown with time.’
It was not as if she had never heard the stories or seen the dark looks and whispers pass between the mothers of other girls in her limited acquaintance. But she had long ago learned to ignore them. ‘People must find something more interesting to talk about,’ she said, raising her chin. ‘If they cannot, then perhaps Hugh is right to want to shield us. It must be very embarrassing for him to have the ton still spouting such nonsense.’
‘They do not call him embarrassed,’ Mr Castell supplied. ‘I think the word most often used is arrogant.’
Peg winced. The description suited him. ‘He does not suffer fools,’ she said, secretly wishing that her brother was capable of being a little more agreeable.
‘Nor does he make any effort to appear innocent,’ the dancing master replied.
‘He should not have to refute such a ridiculous accusation,’ she snapped.
Mr Castell held his hands out in front of him, in a mollifying gesture. ‘I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But I can only tell you what I have observed for myself.’
She could not help laughing at this. ‘Observed? I am sorry, Mr Castell, but you are little more than a servant and newly hired at that. What could you possibly see that others closer to him did not?’
For a moment, the man’s eyes narrowed as if he took her mention of his lack of status as an insult and not simply a statement of fact. It embarrassed her. She must have sounded terribly proud. Since he was the first man of any kind who had taken the time to speak to her, it was hardly fair of her to treat him badly.
His expression calmed again. When he spoke, it was in the same kind tone he had been using. ‘After he offered me money to spy on your sister, he reminded me of my place, just as you did, just now.’
‘I did not mean it,’ she said hurriedly. ‘It is just that you could not have met him before today, so how well could you possibly know him?’
‘No offence was taken,’ he said. But the bow that followed was stiff, as if he was unaccustomed to being quite as subservient as the situation required. Then he looked into her eyes again. ‘I was surprised at his request to report on your activities, for it seemed a high-handed way to treat members of his family whom he claimed to care for.’ He glanced at the window again. ‘And I will admit, I admire you sister’s method of thwarting him.’
‘Most men who have met Olivia admire her for something or other,’ Peg said, feeling ever so slightly jealous.
‘She is beautiful, as well,’ he agreed, still staring thoughtfully at the window. Then he turned suddenly back to her. ‘As are you, of course.’
‘Of course,’ she said with a sigh.
‘But I would never think to be forward with either of you,’ he said hurriedly. ‘It is a very foolish thing for a man in my position to become overly attached to his students. The situation would be improper. And quite hopeless.’ He said the last words directly to her and with an answering sigh of regret that made her feel instantly better about being everyone’s second choice of sisters.
‘Since I understand my place,’ he said, bowing again, ‘he had no reason to threaten to kill me, as he did.’
‘He did what?’ she said with surprise.
‘He informed me that if I touched either of his sisters, he would kill me,’ Mr Castell replied.
‘He was only trying to frighten you,’ she said, raising a hand to her mouth to hide the smile that was spreading there.
But Mr Castell did not seem the least bit cowed by the threat. His eyes were narrowed again and his chin squared, as if ready to meet a challenge. It made him look far more formidable than the man she had dismissed as silly only a short time before. ‘He was sincere in his threat,’ Castell said. ‘I have spoken with such men before and can tell the difference between a playful exaggeration and a man who might be capable of violence.’
Peg shook her head. She understood that people were suspicious of him over Father’s death. But the idea that they might really believe her brother when he spoke thus had never occurred to her. ‘He should learn to moderate his speech. He has said things similar before and will likely say them again. I believe he even threatened Alister in that way, when he sent him off after the failed proposal.’ She glanced into the garden, wishing that Olivia was there for reassurance, then shrugged. ‘I know you are unlikely to meet him, but I can assure you that it has been some time and Alister Clement is alive and healthy as ever he was.’
‘Because your brother does not know he is still around,’ Castell finished for her.
‘Now that you know, do you mean to tell him?’ she asked, surprised to feel a finger of dread trace down her spine.
‘What can you give me to keep the secret?’ he asked, giving her a long, slow look as he waited for the answer.
‘I do not have very much money,’ she said, feeling strangely vulnerable under his gaze.
He took a step towards her, moving with the grace of the dancer she had expected. ‘There is something you have which is more valuable than gold.’
Her eyes widened. Though he had assured her he would take no liberties, he seemed to be speaking of something so wicked that she could hardly believe he had said it aloud, much less done it on the first day they’d met. Perhaps these dancing lessons would be much more exciting than she had anticipated.
Now that his disguise had been penetrated, it was much easier to see the handsome man beneath the foppish exterior. She stared into his dark eyes, trying to imagine what it might be like to be kissed by him.
Then, he answered the question she was afraid to ask in a way that was far more mundane than she’d imagined. ‘You could give me your trust.’
‘What?’ she said, confused.
‘I understand that you love your brother and do not want to think ill of him,’ he said. ‘But from what I have seen today, I cannot help worrying about the safety of you and your sister.’
‘That is kind of you,’ she said, trying not to sound disappointed. ‘But your concern is not necessary. We are both fine.’
‘Perhaps now you are,’ he said. ‘But if things change, or if you feel afraid for any reason, you must tell me. I will do everything in my power to help you.’
It was an unusual request and agreeing to it cost her nothing. But she did not see what he would have to gain in helping someone he had just met. Perhaps he was just a good person who cared deeply about others. If there was another, more devious reason, she could not think what it might be.
‘I doubt there will be anything to tell you,’ she said. ‘But I will agree, as long as you promise not to tell Hugh about Olivia and Alister. I do not know what he will do if he realises that we have tricked him.’ She regretted the words immediately for they came out sounding far too dire and seemed to contradict everything she had just said.
If Mr Castell had noticed the fact, he did her the courtesy of pretending he had not. ‘It will be our secret,’ he agreed, giving her another smile that was nothing like the insincere grins he had begun with. The idea that they had a shared secret gave an intimacy to it, making her feel that he had known her for ages and not just a few minutes.
Hesitantly, she smiled back at him and felt a jolt of connection that had not been there before. Without thinking, she took a step closer to him, until they were almost near enough to dance, as she had assumed they would when he had first come to her.
Suddenly, there was a whistle from the window. The distraction broke the bond between them and Peg ran to help boost her sister back into the room. Olivia was flushed and happy, as if she had spent her time dancing about the room, just as had been expected of her.
She looked between Peg and the dancing master and her smile became a suspicious frown.
‘It is all right,’ Peg whispered back to her. ‘We have an understanding.’
‘I believe it is time for me to be going.’ Now that Liv had returned, the false Italian accent, the broad smile and mocking subservience had returned, as well. But when he turned to bow to Peg, he winked as he did it, to remind her that only she knew the truth about him.
It was only when he had left them alone in the music room that Peg realised they had not danced at all.