Grace’s hackles rose. “I don’t know what you mean. All we were doing was kissing.” As if it was any of her business anyway, the old battle-axe.
The older woman sucked in her breath. “You’re American? It’s just like you upstarts to come over here and steal our men.” She made it sound like Grace had the pox or something.
“Excuse me? You have no right to insult me or my country. You probably haven’t even been there, so what would you know what we Americans are like? Besides, it’s none of your business anyway.” Where was that guy, it was just like a man to keep her waiting here by herself. Was he even coming back? “I’m sorry, but I have to be going now.” She pushed past the strange old lady with her head held high and into the overcrowded ballroom. Enough of this nonsense, she had to get back to work.
Grace wandered around the ballroom trying to locate the rest of her team, but without her headset she couldn’t hope to locate them in this crowd. She looked at her phone and saw that it was 12:30 a.m., January 2014, a half hour since the lights went out and she hit her head…and dragged a man into a corner to have her wicked little way with him. A giggle escaped her lips. What had come over her? She would never behave like this on a normal night.
She needed to get some air and clear her head. She was about to escape into the garden when a voice whispered in her ear, “I thought I told you to stay where you were?” The man that made her hot just thinking about touched her arm and said, “Come with me. My sister is waiting in the library.”
“I would really like to meet your sister, I would. But I have to get back to work. Maybe I will see you before I go?” Her heart thumped wildly. She rubbed her hands on her skirt to get rid of the moisture. She wished she hadn’t drunk so much champagne…or hit her head on the table. This night was getting so confusing. She may have been able to figure out what was going on if she had kept away from the alcohol. Actually she wouldn’t be in this mess at all if she had managed to stay sober. She knew she shouldn’t have taken a break.
“Sorry, what kind of work are you in?” It would be just his luck if he had made his intentions known to a prostitute.
“I’m an event manager. I organised tonight’s event.”
“I don’t think that the Duchess of Kensington will take kindly to you saying that out loud, even if you did organise it all. She won’t want word to get out that she was unable to arrange her own ball.” The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her. “Besides, everything is running smoothly, the place is packed. It is a crush! A success, don’t you think; so what more can you do here? Come with me and meet my sister and we can talk about what to do next. And I can see Mrs Barrett talking to her crones over there and it’s only an amount of time before they notice us.”
He pointed across the room and sure enough she could see the old battle-axe deep in conversation with some older ladies. Mrs Barrett did look like she was scanning the ballroom as she talked. The man was right; it would be only a matter of time before she spotted them.
“Come, let’s sneak out here.” He grabbed her hand and led her out the door into the garden and around the side of the balcony to the door of the library where his sister was waiting for him to explain how he had become engaged to the wrong girl.
The first thing Grace noticed upon entering the library was the candles. There were no lights. The chandeliers hanging from the vast ceilings had candles in them. There were light bulbs in there earlier this evening; she had checked to make sure they were all in working order before the ball commenced. What the hell was going on???
The library housed a large desk, comfortable-looking chairs, a large man leaning against the mantle and an elegant woman sitting primly on the settee. Upon their entrance from the terrace, the woman rose to welcome Grace.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Jasper?” she said when it became evident that Jasper had lost his manners somewhere outside. “You must forgive me for being so bold as to do it myself then, but under the circumstances I am sure you will forgive my impertinence. I am Lady Harrison, but you may call me Victoria. This is my husband Neal, Lord Harrison,” she said gesturing to the man at the fire. He only raised his glass and nodded in her direction by way of greeting. “You must be the woman who has convinced my dear brother to marry. How nice to make your acquaintance.” She turned to Jasper then before Grace could make a reply, “Would you care to explain to me how you have managed to become engaged to this girl? It is my understanding that you are supposed to be offering for Lady Anne tomorrow.”
“Yes, I know that, Victoria, but I can’t offer for her now can I?”
“I don’t know, Jasper, you tell me. Why can’t you? What exactly have you done? And do you mind telling me why the gossip mill is working full-steam tonight? About our family? Again!”
“Victoria, you know none of those rumours are true.” Jasper pleaded with his sister as though this conversation had played many times before.
“So you’re telling my you will be offering for Lady Anne tomorrow, as planned then?”
“Well, uh, no, I can’t exactly do that.” Jasper looked in Grace’s direction. “Something’s come up.”
“Humph, I thought so.”
Lord Harrison stepped forward and bowed to Grace. “I don’t believe you have had a chance to tell us your name, my dear?”
“Oh, hello, it is very nice to meet you. I’m Grace Lancaster.” She grasped his outstretched hand and shook it before turning her attention back to the chandeliers.
“Of the Lancasters?” all three of them asked at the same time and she felt her skin prickle across her back as three sets of eyes focused on her.
Grace tore her attention from the chandelier long enough to answer. “I guess so. I do have some relatives in England, but I’ve never met them.” Her great-grandfather had gone over to America sometime in the last century, but she couldn’t remember when.
“And you’re an American?”
“Born and raised.”
Grace missed the look Jasper and his sister exchanged.
This might prove interesting. Old Lancaster was here tonight. Jasper needed to get this sorted out before the head of the Lancasters found out one of his relatives had been found in the arms of his business rival, if he hadn’t already. They each owned shares in opposing banking institutions; at the moment Lord Lancaster’s bank was having better returns but Jasper hoped to turn that around by the end of this financial year.
“Jasper.” Victoria motioned him to join her over by the mantelpiece next to Neal. “Something’s not right here.”
Neal nodded. “With whom did she come to the ball? You say her family’s dead?” Neal looked Jasper straight in the eye and Jasper was once again reminded how successful his brother-in-law was on the continent.
Shaking off Neal’s gaze, Jasper nodded. “Still, she wouldn’t be here by herself, would she? You’re right, Victoria, something’s not adding up.”
Miss Lancaster was still looking at the lights with a puzzled frown on her face. Had she never seen a chandelier before? Good God, she was a fortune-hunter. You would think she would’ve gone to Lancaster himself if she needed money, but if she was of the American line…? How on earth had he got himself into this mess?
“I suppose I should bring Ol’ Lancaster into this conversation? I saw him here earlier tonight.”
“I saw him leave a while ago.” Victoria laid her hand on his arm before he could turn towards the door. “The Duchess said his knee was bothering him again. She indicated he was traveling to his country estate in the morning so if you think we should discuss this with him, we should go to his townhouse now.