Far beyond it, as far as Penny was concerned.
‘We knew you would not mind, of course, for you did not wish to come. In any case, he told us about the ball.’
‘Ball?’ She had done it again. Why in heaven could she not find her tongue?
‘That you will be hosting, to celebrate your marriage. I am sure it will be the most divine affair. Your ballroom is magnificent, is it not? And Adam uses it far too seldom …’
Obviously, for she was not even sure of its location since her husband had neglected to show it to her. She nodded mutely, along with the flow of Clarissa’s words.
‘It is more than large enough to hold the cream of London society. We will begin the guest list this morning, and the menu, of course. And in the afternoon, we can see about your gown.’ She glanced down at Penny’s sombre grey day dress. ‘I do not know what fashion was like where you came from—’
‘I came from London,’ Penny interjected.
‘But these clothes will hardly do. We must fit you with a new wardrobe, gloves, perhaps a turban for evening. With an ostrich feather. You will adore it, I am sure.’
Penny was quite sure that she would look ridiculous with her hair dressed in plumes. And that was probably the point of the suggestion.
‘We will go to my modiste, together. And I will instruct her on just how you must look, to display your true self to the world.’
There could not be a more horrifying prospect than that. Must she be polite to this woman, for the sake of her husband? Or could she say what she thought, and risk making a powerful enemy?
‘Penelope. So sorry to intrude, I had no idea you were entertaining.’ Adam stood in the doorway, still in his riding clothes, expression unreadable.
‘That is all right, dear. You are not interrupting anything of importance. Only discussion of our ball.’
Discussion had been a charitable way to describe it. ‘Clarissa says that you announced it at her home last evening. It was most unwise of you to give the secret away before we set a date.’ Or before telling your wife.
He seemed to pale ever so slightly at being caught out. Then he regained his smile and said, ‘So sorry, darling. I could not help myself.’
‘Really?’ They would see about that. ‘No matter. Clarissa has come to offer her help in the matter, if I need it.’
Adam smiled again. ‘How kind of her. But I am sure you have the matter well in hand, so she needn’t have bothered.’
Clarissa laughed. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Adam. She will have no experience in handling a gathering of this sort. She knows nothing of our set, or what will be expected of her. And you have thrown her into it, assuming that she will not embarrass herself. It will be a disaster.’
Penny hardly dared breathe, for fear that Clarissa would notice how close to the truth she had come.
But Adam waved his hand and shrugged. ‘I doubt it is so hard as all of that, and Penny is a most enterprising and intelligent woman. No need for you to bother about it. But thank you for your concern. Let me show you out, and we will leave my wife to her work.’
‘I could not think to leave the poor creature in the state she’s in.’ Clarissa spoke as if Penny was not in the room. ‘At least convince her to leave her books long enough to go shopping, like a normal female.’
‘You were going shopping, eh? Well, I know how much you enjoy that, and we mustn’t keep you from it. Perhaps, some day, when Penny is finished with her book, you may come back for her. But for now …’ Adam reached out a hand to her.
Clarissa weighed, just for a moment, continuing the argument against the chance to be nearer to Adam, if only for the short walk to the door. Then she smiled up at him and said, ‘Very well, then. There is nothing for it—if you wish me to go, I must go.’ She rose, and linked her arm with his. ‘And perhaps you can be persuaded to tell me what I must purchase, so that I look my finest when I return for the ball. I do wish to look my best when in your presence.’
She watched them leave the room, Clarissa smiling brightly and leaning on Adam as if she could not manage to walk the few steps to the door without his support.
Penny did not realise that she was still clutching a pencil in her hand until the thing snapped under the pressure of her fingers. The gall of the woman. The infernal nerve. To come into her house, to point out her flaws and to rub her face in her husband’s perfidy. The rage simmered in her, as she waited for Adam to return.
Before he was near enough to speak, she met him in the hall, and demanded, ‘What is going on?’
‘Penny. The servants.’ He said it as though the lack of privacy should be sufficient to contain her temper.
But she was having none of it. ‘The servants might also want to know the amount of extra work you have brought to this house, for you have certainly set us all a task. We are to have a ball, are we? Do we even have a ballroom? Clarissa seems to think so, but I do not know, myself.’
His ears turned slightly red, which might indicate embarrassment, but nothing showed in his voice. ‘It is on the third floor. We have not had time for a whole tour—’
‘Because we have been married less than a week. I have lived in this house for only two days, and at no time do I remember any discussion of our hosting an entertainment.’
He backed her into the sitting room, and shut the door behind them. ‘The subject came up yesterday evening.’
‘When you were at Clarissa’s party. Another thing you made no mention of.’
‘And I do not remember, in any of our discussions, the need to inform you of my whereabouts at all times. In fact, I specifically remember our agreeing that our social lives would remain separate.’
‘An agreement which you chose to violate when you invited all of London to our house and neglected to inform me. While I can hardly complain over your choice of entertainments last evening, it embarrasses me when your hostess chooses to come to my house and make me aware of them.’
She glared at him, and watched the guilty anger rise in his face. ‘I do not like what you are implying.’
‘I did not think you would. But that is hardly a denial, is it?’ She waited, praying that he would tell her she was wrong, and dishonoured them both by thinking such horrible things.
Instead he said coldly, ‘It does not suit you to be jealous over something that was over before we even met.’
The admission, and the easy dismissal of her feelings, made her almost too sick to speak. ‘I am not jealous, Adam. What cause would I have? You know that our relationship is not likely to be close enough to merit jealousy. But I am disappointed, and more than a little disgusted. I had thought you a better person than that. And to carry on in such an obvious fashion, under the very nose of a man you claim as friend …’
‘Perhaps, if I had married a woman who wished to be at my side, then there would be no cause to wonder at my relationship with another man’s wife.’
She laughed in amazement. ‘It is all my fault, then? That you choose to make a fool of yourself over a married woman?’
‘I am not attempting to make a fool of myself. I am endeavouring, as best I can, to make our marriage seem as normal as possible to the rest of the world. But apparently I am failing—already there has been talk about you.’
‘Only because Clarissa spreads it, I am sure. Better that they should talk about me than the two of you.’
He made no effort to correct her. ‘If we do not appear together in public, and supremely happy, everyone