The Masked Heart (Sweet Deception Regency #2) (24 page)

"Oh, Blaine!" His tone was aggrieved. "I would not be so buffleheaded."

"Besides, Robbie already lectured him," Fleur finished in sisterly smugness.

"It was very generous of Robbie to take you both for such a treat," Blaine added at the thunderous look of the boy. "Did Puff enjoy the show?"

"She certainly did," Fleur answered. "She has gone upstairs for a rest. As she would say, 'I have had a day of the greatest exhaustion.' "

"You should have seen her, Blaine. I think there is Tartar blood in Puff's family," Val crowed. "We were seated on the very edge of the equestrian ring and she got caught up in the excitement of it all. During the scene at the Tartar camp, the Baghwan chief was a particularly expert rider. When he leaped on the back of a galloping stallion, Puff quite forgot herself and sprang to her feet cheering loudly."

"Everyone around us just stared at her," Fleur said. "I was too embarrassed for words."

"Oh stubble it!" he cried. "You were just as bad. Screeching like a cock being slaughtered whenever things were exciting."

"I did not!"

"Did too! What about when they stormed Bluebeard's castle?" he scoffed. "It wasn't me what was caterwauling. Clinging to Robbie like the veriest ninnyhammer when Timour and Bluebeard were slain."

To keep the discussion from dissolving into the usual name calling, Blaine said, "It sounds as if it was quite a wonder-filled production."

"Oh, Blaine, I wish you might have been there," Val cried. "It was super!"

"Now that I know what a lively event it was, I am sorry I missed it," she admitted. "It seemed such a perfect opportunity to be lazy with everyone out of the house. Ever since you left, I have been reading which is something I never get a chance to do."

"I must say, Blaine," the boy said, his face suddenly serious. "Ever since you came home from Cousin Lavinia's, you have not been looking quite yourself. I know the old girl is unwell, though I do not know what disease she has. Jamie thought it was most probably influenza. He had been holding out for the 'French Sickness' but I told him that was the pox."

"Great Heavens!" Blaine gasped, trying to hold back her laughter. "I begin to wonder if Jamie Wildebrand is a very good influence on you."

"He's top of the trees!" Val considered this encomium his highest compliment. "I suppose I am not supposed to say 'pox' in front of ladies but you and Fleur are just sisters and that doesn't count. What I wanted to say was, since you've been looking so peaky, if there was any possibility that you were coming down with the same thing that Cousin Lavinia has?"

"Oh, Blaine!" Fleur cried, eyeing her sister with dismay.

At the expression of worry on the two young faces, Blaine could no longer contain her laughter. She was happy to see that the sight of her amusement relieved some of their concern and she quickly got up from the chaise to give each of them a hug.

"Such a farrago of nonsense, my dears," she said. "I have just been sunk in the doldrums, not sickening. No need to get out the black crepe yet. I promise you I have several good years left."

"What is the matter with Cousin Lavinia? Does she have fits?" Val asked with ghoulish relish.

"What a vulgar thought," Fleur said with a shudder of distaste. "Use your noodle, Val. She is just a very old lady."

"Although I might have put it more tactfully, Fleur is right, my dear. I fear Cousin Lavinia has only a little more time left until she is only memory."

The sadness in their sister's voice, dampened the enthusiasm of the youngsters mood so it was a welcome relief when Tate arrived with the tea tray. Fleur brightened considerably when the dresser presented her with a gaily-wrapped box.

"Ellen was just about to take this to your room. Your abigail looked decidedly flustered when I took it over. Said they came by messenger, but the butler knew nothing about it. I trust, Miss Fleur, you have not been encouraging any unacceptable gentlemen," Tate finished with minatory glance.

"Of course, I haven't," the girl snapped.

She accepted the box, and gingerly opened it to reveal a delicate bouquet of spring flowers. She smiled in relief at the unexceptional bijou, handing it regally to the dresser to be put in water. A frown of curiosity creased her brow as she opened the card. After reading only a few lines, her face whitened and for a moment it looked as though she was about to swoon.

"What is it, Fleur?" Blaine asked, her voice sharpening in concern.

"We are surely undone!" the girl cried. "We shall be the laughingstock of London and it is all my fault!"

"What does the note say?" Blaine snapped.

Fleur's violet eyes clouded with tears and they overflowed, running unheeded down her cheeks as she continued to sob. "All I wanted was to have a little fun and now I have brought ruin to our name and Robbie will never propose. I shall turn into an old, crotchety spinster like Cousin Lavinia!" she wailed.

With a look of supreme disgust, Val snatched the note from his weeping sister and, after blotting the tearstains on the sleeve of his jacket, he smoothed out the crumpled parchment . He looked questioningly at Blaine who nodded her permission for him to read it aloud.

" 'Please accept these flowers as a token of my good faith. If you wish to keep all of London from talking about your sister's masquerade, I would ask you to meet me tomorrow in Hyde Park. Due to the necessity for discretion, I would suggest you contrive some excuse to come alone.' At the bottom, there are directions and a time. The note is signed by Lord Stoddard," the boy concluded, looking thoroughly confused.

There was a heavy silence in the room when Val finished reading. Blaine's eyes leaped to Tate's and she saw the same question on her dresser's face as she had in her own mind. What exactly did Stoddard know? Since neither Fleur nor Val knew of the double masquerade, they assumed the letter referred to Blaine's pretense as Aunt Haydie. Blaine was not convinced of that. With a sinking feeling in her heart, she suspected that the infamous man had somehow stumbled on the far more damaging intelligence that she was La Solitaire.

"Oh, Blaine, whatever are we going to do?" Fleur wept. "I shall absolutely die, if everyone is sniggering at us behind our backs."

"Stow it, you henwit," Val snapped, losing patience with her wailing. "How can anyone think with all your squawking."

Despite his sharp words, Blaine could tell the boy was also troubled. He could not like the fact that his family might be held up to ridicule. He would be appalled, she knew, if he realized the full implications of this situation. Quickly she took a hand before things could get further out of hand.

"Sit up and dry your tears, Fleur. Nothing will be served by such behavior." Blaine bit her lip as she tried to organize her thoughts. "While this appears to be the end of the world, I assure you it is nothing of the kind. If we can manage to keep calm, I suspect we may be able to brush through without a scratch."

She crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping she was not just giving the children empty promises. Their expressions were a mixture of hope and fear, overlaid by a belief in their sister, that for her was considerably daunting.

"What will I tell Lord Stoddard?" Fleur whispered.

"You will have absolutely nothing to do with such a villainous person. I myself will deal with Lord Stoddard," Blaine announced to the girl's obvious relief. "For this evening, you will cancel any plans and remain quietly in your room. This has been a shock for you. Although you have done exceptionally well so far, you are not a good enough actress to pretend nothing is the matter. Until this business is settled, you will not be home to anyone."

"Not even Robbie?" she asked in a very small voice.

"Not Prinny himself!" Blaine answered. "Now run along with Tate and she'll tuck you up for a rest before dinner. We will carry on exactly as usual. Be warned though, Fleur," she cautioned as the girl sniffled her way toward the door. "If you tell any of this to Ellen, I shall wash my hands of you completely. Tate will tell Puff what is afoot but not one word of this is to go beyond these walls."

Once Fleur was dispatched, Blaine turned her attention to Val. The boy had watched wide-eyed as his older sister had taken charge but now there was a stiffness to his shoulders that told her he would not be content to be summarily sent to his room. Reseating herself on the chaise, she patted the cushions beside her.

"Well, laddie, we've gotten ourselves in the soup once again," she said as she placed a comforting arm around his narrow shoulders.

"I did not much like the tone of that man's letter, Blaine," he said.

"Nor I."

"It sounded very much like one I read about in one of those gothic novels that Fleur reads. The wicked count was planning to do something dishonorable and he sent just such a letter to the heroine of the piece. She was all fluttery like Fleur, but not half so nice." The boy tilted his head to look up at his sister. "Did it sound to you as if Lord Stoddard was planning to do something not quite cricket?"

Looking down at the grave little face, Blaine's first instinct was to shield the boy. For one so young, he had dealt with enough tragedy and she hated to add to his already heavy load. It was the thought that he looked to her for guidance, that convinced her, she must treat him with honesty. She always had stressed that he must face the truth before he would be able to work through a problem.

"His letter did sound that way to me, too." She hugged him tightly before she pushed him slightly away so that she could look down into his face. "I am afraid that Lord Stoddard is not a very good man. He has tumbled to our secret and is planning to use it to his own advantage."

"If I were older, I would call him out."

"Oh no!" Blaine cried. "When you are older, sweetheart, try to remember that a duel is never the answer to a problem. The death or injury of another is a terrible thing and just creates further complications."

"Will you meet Lord Stoddard in the park?"

"Yes." She tried to appear disinterested, grateful that her brother could not feel the pounding of her heart at the very thought. "I shall have words with him and that will be the end of that."

"I could go with you," was his hopeful response.

Blaine hugged him again. "Though I would like nothing better than to have a brave champion at my side, I must go alone according to the instructions of the note. No need to look so worried. Lord Stoddard knows how birdwitted your sister is and that is why he sent her the note. In me, laddie, the man has met his match."

Perhaps the confidence of her voice and the humor of her last words, convinced Val that the nature of the discovery was not quite as serious as he had first imagined. Blaine was relieved when a smile stretched his mouth and his eyes twinkled with merriment.

"I begin to feel rather sorry for Lord Stoddard," he said. He chuckled, then his face sobered once again. "You are not going to confine me to my room like Fleur? I was to meet Jamie tomorrow and we have enormous plans for the rest of the day. Sarge was going to drive us down to the docks to see the ships."

Blaine surveyed the pleading in her brother's eyes and knew it would be easier to have him busy, under Sarge's watchful eye, then moping around the house.

"I will agree to your meeting with the irascible Jamie if you give me your solemn word you will tell him nothing of this matter."

"Word of honor," he said without hesitation. Then he jumped to his feet and solemnly placed one hand over his heart and the other over his eyes. "If I break my word, may the animals of the forest eat my heart and the bats of hell pick out my eyes." Then he dropped his hands and spit on the carpet.

"Good God, child!" Blaine screeched. "Where on earth did you learn such a thing?" Before he could speak, she held up her hand for silence. "Don't tell me. Let me guess. Jamie, perhaps?"

"Righto, Blaine. Smashing, isn't it?"

"Give me a kiss, you loathsome child, and then run along."

The grinning boy did as directed and left Blaine with a smile on her lips. She tried to hold on to her amusement but it was difficult to get through the rest of the day. Her thoughts whirled round and round in her head but she could come up with no viable way to avoid the meeting with Stoddard. In the evening, she consulted with Tate and Puff but neither woman had any ideas to offer. She would meet with him and then decide on a further course of action. So much depended on what Lord Stoddard knew and what he wanted for his information.

The next morning dawned gray and cloudy. There was a chill dampness to the air that did little to cheer Blaine. Val, more quiet than usual, had stopped by on his way to meet Jamie to wish her good luck in her meeting with Stoddard. She was able to give him a confident smile which remained, stiffening on her face, until the door closed behind the boy.

Fleur was also subdued when Blaine invited her to join her in her room for breakfast. The girl's eyes were red-rimmed as if she had cried half the night. Her voice had a lackluster quality in answer to Blaine's questions. After breakfast she left, promising to remain in the house until her sister's return.

Once more Blaine donned the costume of Lady Haydie Yates. She had the feeling that it would be the last time that the old woman would make an appearance. The dress she chose was funereal black to suit her mood of depression. She eschewed the white makeup, preferring instead to wear the black hat with the veil Fleur had bought her at a happier time. She grasped her cane and her reticule in her mittened hands and then turned toward Tate.

"Thank you for your help," she said. "Your loyalty has been one of the mainstays of my life in the last six years, you know."

"Get along with your nonsense, my girl." For all her ferocity of manner, there was an unaccustomed softness in her voice as she continued. "I wish you would let me go with you, lambie."

"It is something I must handle alone." Blaine's tone permitted no argument. "I do not think there is anything to fear. If I read Stoddard's note correctly, he means to intimidate Fleur by his threat to bandy his great discovery about town. I would assume he is contemplating blackmail. All I need do is determine the price of his silence. Besides, Tate, I need you here to keep an eye on Fleur."