A Kiss at Midnight (16 page)

She had them hidden at her side, but she reluctantly handed them over. Gabriel turned over the blobs of wax. “You don’t need these,” he said. “But they’re fascinating, all the same.”

“You may keep them,” Kate said. She could see Wick standing on the shore with what looked like a blanket in his hands. “Now,” she commanded, “go get me that blanket. I’m not standing up in this drenched gown.”

“Not without your bosom friends,” he said.

She gave him a fierce look, and it worked as well as it did with the French hairdresser; Gabriel got up, still laughing, and fetched the blanket.

Then he came back and wrapped her in it. “Your wig is gone,” he said, looking down at her. “You look like a drowned rat.”

He looked breathtakingly handsome, but she should retaliate for the benefit of his soul. The man raised confidence to the level of a deadly sin. “You look—” she began. But there was something in his eyes that she liked, something lustful perhaps, but still . . .

“Thank you,” she said. “I might have drowned without you and I’m very grateful that you towed me out.”

A strange look crossed his eyes. “You should slap me for that kiss, for taking advantage of your chill.”

She moved around him, heading to the bow of the boat and Wick’s outstretched hand. Just before disembarking, she paused and looked over her shoulder. “Perhaps I took advantage of
you
,” she said, just quietly enough so that no one on shore could hear her.

He blinked and then said, “I only wish you would.”

Twenty

T
he next morning Kate slept late, after a confused and mostly sleepless night in which she alternately tossed with fiery humiliation at the memory of Gabriel laughing down at her wax breasts, and flushed red at the memory of his kisses.

She was wakened by Rosalie, who told her that Miss Starck’s maid was inquiring whether her mistress might join her for breakfast.

“Lady Wrothe says you’re not to leave this room all day,” Rosalie said importantly. “You’re quite the heroine of the hour, I must say. Those youngbloods who caused your boat to capsize are properly ashamed of themselves and planning some sort of gift.”

“No!” Kate said. “Surely not.”

“Yes, because you were the only one who wasn’t plucked out immediately, but actually had to swim across the lake. Like a mermaid, that’s what everyone is saying.”

“I wasn’t in the least mermaidlike,” Kate objected. “The prince towed me along like a dead fish.”

“No need to get into the particulars,” Rosalie said. “Now Miss Starck and Lady Wrothe, they were saved by the quick thinking of Lord Wrothe. He righted the boat, and the only ones to fall in were yourself and the dog.”

“Is Coco all right?”

“Lord Dimsdale dove straight off the boat to save you, but I gather you came up on the other side. So he saved Coco, because the prince had already swum after you. By all accounts, Lady Wrothe was screaming so loudly that they could hear her on shore.”

“So Algie saved the dog, rather than me,” Kate said grumpily, sitting up.

“Lady Wrothe wasn’t very pleased. And she was very sharp with Lord Hathaway this morning,” Rosalie confided, pulling open the curtains to reveal a beautiful sunny morning. “She told him at breakfast—where anyone could hear!—that she’d instructed him to save you, and her husband to save her dog, and he could have had the courtesy to make an effort to follow her directions instead of just staying in the boat.”

Kate couldn’t help smiling.

“And then Lord Wrothe said that for his part he was dashed pleased that Dimsdale had gone for the dog, because he didn’t want to ruin his new boots. And then she bonked him on the head with a kipper.”

“
Very
exciting,” Kate exclaimed. “I had no idea married life was so entertaining.”

“Lady Wrothe’s maid says it’s always like that in their house. They squabble something terrible. Until he buys her a ruby, and it’s all over. They’re that fond of each other; anyone can tell.”

“I suppose I should get up, if Effie wants to pay a visit,” Kate said, yawning again.

“I’ll just put a wrapper on you and brush out your hair,” Rosalie said. “She wouldn’t expect you in a proper gown, not after the terrible shock you’ve had. Do you feel as if you have a fever, miss? The prince offered to send the castle’s doctor.”

“He has his own doctor?” Kate said, swinging her legs out of bed.

“Came over with him on the boat,” Rosalie said. She started giggling. “The ‘ship of fools,’ that’s what Mr. Berwick calls it. Because the duke over there in foreign parts, he tossed out half his court, including the fool himself.”

“I don’t need a doctor,” Kate said, washing her face. “I’ll have breakfast with Effie, but then I want a bath, Rosalie, and I mean to get dressed. I don’t feel in the least bit chilled.”

“You mustn’t bathe yet!” Rosalie said, alarmed. “You were shivering so last night that I thought the bed might crack in half. Please sit down, miss, and I’ll brush out your hair. I’ll tie it back with a ribbon for your breakfast with Miss Starck, and then you must pop straight back into bed.”

I
t was immediately clear that Effie considered their midnight adventure to have made them the best of friends. She sat down opposite Kate at a small table Rosalie set before a roaring fire (never mind the balmy air coming through the window), and proceeded to give a breathless rendition of what it felt like as the boat drew away in the black, black water, with Kate nowhere to be seen.

“We knew then that you were
dead
,” she said with thrilling emphasis. “Killed by that freezing water!”

“Luckily for me, I wasn’t,” Kate said, taking another piece of buttered toast. She had ridden out, shivering, on a hundred chilly mornings, which likely inured her to the cold, though she didn’t think Effie would understand if she tried to explain her hard-earned immunity.

“Lady Wrothe was on her feet,” Effie continued, “desperately searching the waters.”

“Could you see Coco?”

“She was splashing alongside the boat, paddling really well. You should have seen how small that dog was after Lord Dimsdale rescued it, no bigger than a kitten with its wet fur. Lady Wrothe acted as if her own child had fallen in.”

“So where was I?”

“You finally came up on the far side. You were very lucky not to have hit your head on the other boat. Everyone from that boat was in the water, though they came out again quickly, all but the prince. Lady Wrothe was the first to spot you, and she shrieked at him to fetch you,
this instant
.” Effie giggled. “I’d never have imagined that anyone could order a prince to do something the way she did. And of course he obeyed and swam over to get you.”

“How odd,” Kate said. “I felt as if it was just a moment before I found my way to the surface, and the boat was already moving away.”

“It probably was,” Effie said, considering it. “We were pulled off by the footman, of course, who didn’t know what was happening. But at the time it seemed very slow, I assure you. When you didn’t come back up, and the red and blue torchlight was bouncing off the water . . . even the prince looked horribly distressed.”

“How could you see? Wasn’t he in the water?”

“Yes, but Lady Wrothe called out that you were missing and I saw his eyes. My mother says that I’m never to go anywhere near the lake again. Not even during the ball.”

“Don’t tell me they’re planning to do it again!”

“No one is to be allowed in the boats but servants who know how to swim,” Effie said. “But it is already planned, so they’re going ahead with it. The boats are going to be shooting off fireworks, which I must say sounds very pretty. I shall have to watch from the steps, though, because Mama is quite overwrought.” She sounded wistful.

“Will you have the last piece of toast?” Kate asked.

“No, thank you,” Effie said. “I eat very little. You have it. You are at such risk of getting sick; everyone is talking about it. After that terrible illness you had a few months ago, and now the shock and cold.” She paused. “Though you look very well.”

Kate smiled at her. “I feel just fine.”

“I didn’t know you had such long hair,” Effie said. “Why do you always wear a wig? Don’t you find it terribly hot? I can’t bear them myself.”

“I like wigs.”

“I hope you don’t mind a comment,” Effie said, “but I think your hair is lovely. All those different colors of red and gold . . . it’s just like a sunset. Better than that red wig, even though it
is
fashionable.”

“Red sky in the morning,” Kate muttered.

“Sailors take warning,” Effie said. She twiddled her fork for a moment. “It was so romantic when Lord Dimsdale went into the water after you. I wish you could have seen it. The boat righted itself and he shouted your name and then dove straight off the side. Though of course you weren’t actually on that side.”

“Who did that? Oh, Algie,” Kate said. “It does sound romantic. My fiancé apparently has hidden depths.” Frankly, she was surprised.

“They’re all in love with you,” Effie stated. “Lord Hathaway as well.”

“He’s all yours,” Kate said promptly.

“I’m not sure . . . you’re so amusing. You say such witty things.” She looked across at Kate with her sweet seriousness and said, “I don’t want you to think that I’m in love with Lord Hathaway because I’m not. And I’m not desperate to marry anyone.”

“Neither am I,” Kate said, getting up to ring the bell. “You don’t mind if I call for more cocoa, do you? I think that dunking made me ravenous.”

“We didn’t meet during the season,” Effie continued, “though I heard about you, of course. But no one told me you were so funny. I think that’s why they’re all in love with you.”

Kate burst into laughter. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“They’re all in love with you,” Effie repeated. “Lord Dimsdale, and Lord Hathaway, and the prince too. I saw his eyes, remember? They were wild with fear.”

“
You
have a natural gift for melodrama,” Kate said. “Oh good, there’s Rosalie.” She sent the maid to bring another round of cocoa and some more buttered toast as well.

Then she sat back down. “I’ve got the shivers just listening to you talk about the black, black water and the torchlight bouncing everywhere.”

“It was awful,” Effie said. “I kept imagining that a hand draped in seaweed had come up and dragged you into the murky depths.”

Kate laughed again. “That lake doesn’t even have fish in it; it’s just a pond fed by an underground stream. There aren’t many weeds!”

“You never know what lives in an underground stream,” Effie said, her big eyes growing even bigger.

“Minnows, maybe,” Kate said. “No one’s in love with me.”

Her tone must have been convincing, because after a second Effie said, “Well, Lord Dimsdale is, of course.”

She’d forgotten her fiancé again. “Except Algie,” Kate agreed.

“You’re so lucky. I would love to have a fiancé like Lord Dimsdale. He’s so considerate, and young, and handsome.”

“Well, so it is Lord Hathaway,” Kate said, rather surprised.

“Actually, he is older.”

“But he is very handsome, and kind. Steady,” Kate added.

Effie nodded. “I know. My mother says that too.”

“But you’re not excited by steady and kind.”

“He’ll make a good husband, I’m sure. He didn’t dive in after you, though.”

“A black mark against him,” Kate agreed.

“He said afterwards that he couldn’t see you, and so what would have been the point? Which is logical, but not what a woman wants to hear, particularly if she were dead.”

“Maybe he would have plunged in for you, just not for me,” Kate offered.

“I doubt it. I think he feels sorry for me, which is not the same as the kind of mad adoration that Lord Dimsdale obviously feels for you.” She hesitated. “Did you hear what . . . what happened to me?”

Could she mean the fork? “No,” Kate said. “Your mother did speak of your father in the past tense . . .”

“First he died, just before my first season, and then my aunt died the next year, and then my great-aunt died.” Effie’s soft little face took on an edge. “They ought to make an exception for mourning when a person just has to make her debut. People talk about me as if I’m an old maid, and I had barely one season!”

“Nonsense,” Kate said, pushing away the memory of Henry’s casual description of Effie as an octogenarian. “I’m—” She just caught herself before she confessed her age. “I look older than you do. That’s all that matters.”

“Things were going very well last year,” Effie said, sipping her cocoa, “and then an awful thing happened with Lord Beckham. Have you met him?”

Kate shook her head.

“My mother was so affronted that she took me to the country after I’d been to only two balls. So then I had to start all over this year.”

It had to be the fork. “What happened?” Kate asked.

Effie rolled her eyes. “He’s barking mad. He said . . . You may not understand this, Kate, but he told everyone that I
pawed
him. In a private area!”

“No!”

“Yes, he did. And the truth was that he had tried to kiss me. I wouldn’t have minded so much, but he pressed against me in the most revolting way. I twisted away and told him he was a repellent slug. It made him angry and he grabbed me down—down there, with his
hand
.”

Even given Effie’s talent for melodrama, the man was odious. “What a toad,” Kate said. “We had a baker in the village like that once. My father had to throw him out of the county.”

“He wouldn’t have done it if my father was alive,” Effie said. “Because my father would have skewered him. At any rate, we had carried our plates of apricot tart onto the balcony, so I snatched my fork and stuck him in the hand. Since my father wasn’t around to skewer him, I suppose you could say I did it myself. But next thing I knew, his story was everywhere.”

“You should have stuck him in the breeches,” Kate said.

“He was telling a lie, but no one believed me except my mother, of course. So we had to retire to the country. And this year”—she looked rather miserable—“well, someone like Lord Hathaway is so logical and kind that of course he doesn’t listen to that sort of rumor.”

“Horrible,” Kate said. “That is horrible. I knew the moment I met you that it couldn’t be true because—”

“So you did hear it too!” Effie said, and she burst into tears.

Fortunately Kate was inured to tears after living with Victoria, so she poured her another cup of cocoa, and gave her a pat on the hand. And left her to it. With Victoria, every expression of sympathy just prolonged her weeping.