The Unmasking of a Lady

Arabella sat, ignoring the St Just aunt who frowned at her, lips pursed in disapproval, from her position alongside Grace. ‘How are you finding your first Season?’

‘Oh,’ said Grace. She sent a darting glance in the direction of the dance floor. ‘It’s very…that is to say—’

‘I hated mine,’ Arabella said frankly. ‘Everyone staring and whispering behind their hands. It’s not pleasant to be gossiped about, is it?’

Grace St Just stopped searching the dance floor for her brother. She stared at Arabella. ‘No. It isn’t.’

‘Someone gave me some advice,’ Arabella said, ‘when I was in a similar position to you. If you don’t think it impertinent of me, I should like to pass it on.’

She had the girl’s full attention now. Those sky-blue eyes were focused on her face with an almost painful intensity. ‘Please,’ Grace St Just said. Even the aunt leaned slightly forwards in her chair.

‘It was given to me by Mr Brummell,’ Arabella said. ‘If he were still in England, I’m certain he’d impart it to you himself.’

‘The Beau?’ Grace breathed. ‘Truly?’

Arabella nodded. ‘He said…’ She paused for a moment, remembering. The Beau’s voice had been cool and suave, and oddly kind. ‘He said I must ignore it, and more than that, I must ignore it well.’

It was the only time Beau Brummell had spoken to her. But he had always nodded to her most politely after that, his manner one of faint approval.

‘And so I did as he suggested,’ Arabella said. ‘I gave the appearance of enjoying myself. I smiled at every opportunity, and when I couldn’t smile, I laughed.’ She smoothed a wrinkle in one of her long gloves, remembering. A slight smile tugged at her lips. ‘I believe some people found it very annoying.’

She looked up and held Grace St Just’s eyes. ‘So that’s my advice. However difficult it may seem, you must ignore what people are saying, the way they look at you. And you must ignore it well.’

‘Ignore it?’ Tears filled the girl’s eyes. ‘How can I?’

‘It isn’t easy,’ Arabella said firmly. ‘But it can be done.’

Grace shook her head. She hunted in her reticule for a handkerchief. ‘I would much rather go home.’ Her voice wobbled on the last word.

‘Certainly you may do that, but if I may be so bold, Miss St Just…the rumours are just rumours. Speculation and conjecture. If you shrug your shoulders, London will find a new target. But if you leave now, the rumours will be confirmed.’

Grace looked stricken. She sat with the handkerchief clutched in her hand and tears trembling on her eyelashes.

‘It doesn’t matter whether you committed whatever indiscretion London thinks you did,’ Arabella said matter-of-factly. ‘What matters is whether London believes it or not.’

Grace St Just bit her lip. She looked down at the handkerchief and twisted it between her fingers.

‘Be bold,’ Arabella said softly.

‘Bold?’ The girl’s laugh was shaky. ‘I’m not a bold person, Miss Knightley.’

‘I think you can be anything you want.’

Arabella’s voice was quiet, but it made the girl look up. For a moment they matched gazes, and then Grace St Just gave a little nod. She blew her nose and put the handkerchief away. ‘Tell me…how you did it, Miss Knightley, if you please?’

Arabella was conscious of a sense of relief. She sat back in her chair and glanced at the dance floor. Adam St Just was watching them. She could see his outrage, even though half a ballroom separated them.

It was tempting to smile at him and give a mocking little wave. Arabella did neither. She turned her attention back to Grace St Just.

Adam relinquished Miss Hornby to the care of her mother. He turned and grimly surveyed the far corner of the ballroom. His sister sat alongside Arabella Knightley, as she had for the past fifteen minutes.

They made a pleasing tableau, dark and fair, their heads bent together as they talked, Miss Knightley’s gown of deep rose-pink perfectly complementing his sister’s white satin.

Adam gritted his teeth. He strode around the ballroom, watching as Grace said something and Miss Knightley replied—and his aunt, Seraphina Mexted, sat placidly alongside, nodding and smiling and making no attempt to shoo Miss Knightley away.

Grace lifted her head and laughed.

Adam’s stride faltered. Arabella Knightley had made Grace laugh. In fact, now that he observed more closely, his sister’s face was bright with amusement.

She looks happy.

Arabella Knightley had accomplished, in fifteen minutes, what he had been trying—and failing—to do for months. How in Hades had she done it? And far more importantly, why?

Miss Knightley looked up as he approached. Her colouring showed her French blood—hair and eyes so dark they were almost black—but the soft dent in her chin, as if someone had laid a fingertip there at her birth, proclaimed her as coming from a long line of Knightleys.

His eyes catalogued her features—the elegant cheekbones, the dark eyes, the soft mouth—and his pulse gave a kick. It was one of the things that annoyed him about Arabella Knightley: that he was so strongly attracted to her. The second annoying thing was the stab of guilt—as familiar as the attraction—that always accompanied sight of her.

Adam bowed. ‘Miss Knightley, what a pleasure to see you here this evening.’

Her eyebrows rose. ‘Truly?’ Her voice was light and amused, disbelieving.

Adam clenched his jaw. This was the third thing that annoyed him about Miss Knightley: her manner.

Arabella Knightley turned to Grace and smiled. ‘I must go. My grandmother will be wanting supper soon.’

Adam stepped back as she took leave of his sister and aunt. The rose-pink gown made her skin appear creamier and the dark ringlets more glossily black. A striking young woman, Miss Knightley, with her high cheekbones and dark eyes. And an extremely wealthy one, too. But no man of birth and breeding would choose to marry her—unless his need for a fortune outweighed everything else.

She turned to him. ‘Good evening, Mr St Just.’ Cool amusement still glimmered in her eyes.

Adam gritted his teeth and bowed again. His gaze followed her. Miss Knightley’s figure was slender and her height scarcely more than five foot—and yet she had presence. It was in her carriage, in the way she held her head. She was perfectly at home in the crowded ballroom, utterly confident, unconcerned by the glances she drew.

Adam turned to his aunt. ‘Aunt Seraphina, how could you allow—?’

‘I like her,’ Aunt Seraphina said placidly. ‘Seems a very intelligent girl.’

Adam blinked, slightly taken aback.

‘I like her too,’ Grace said. ‘Adam, may I invite her—?’

‘No. Being seen in her company will harm your reputation. Miss Knightley is not good ton.’

‘I know,’ said Grace. ‘She spent part of her childhood in the slums. Her mother was a…a…’ She groped for a euphemism, and then gave up. ‘But I like her. I want to be friends with her.’

Over my dead body.

‘Shall we leave?’ he said, changing the subject. ‘It’s almost midnight and we’ve a long journey tomorrow.’ To Sussex, where there’d be no Arabella Knightley.

He began to feel more cheerful.

‘I’ve decided to stay in London,’ Grace said.

Adam raised his eyebrows. ‘You have?’

‘Yes,’ Grace said. ‘This is my first Season, and I’m going to enjoy it!’

Chapter Two

Adam rode out the next morning under a grey sky. London’s roads were damp from a night’s rain. He passed through the gate into Hyde Park, inhaling the scents of wet grass and wet earth and the rich, fresh smell of horse manure. The Row was relatively empty. Adam urged Goliath into a canter. He liked mornings like this, when the ton stayed abed and he could almost pretend he was at home, exercising Goliath on the Downs, not surrounded by the sprawl and clamour of London.

His thoughts turned to Grace as he rode up and down the strip of tan. Last night she’d smiled, danced, even laughed. The Season, which had begun to look like a disaster, could be saved. He’d find a husband for Grace, a man of good birth and character, a man who’d take care of her.

Adam was conscious of a feeling of lightness, as if a weight that had been sitting on his shoulders had suddenly lifted. He began to whistle beneath his breath.

Another rider entered the Row. The black mare and the claret-red riding habit were familiar, as were the rider’s elegant seat and her jaunty, plumed hat.

Adam’s good mood evaporated abruptly. This was one of the irritations of London: that Arabella Knightley should choose to exercise her horse at the same time as him. He pretended not to see her, but it was impossible to maintain the pretence for long with the Row so thin of riders. The third time they passed he nodded stiffly. She returned the gesture. The amusement in her smile, the slightly mocking glint in her dark eyes, as if she was laughing at him, made his hands tighten on the reins. Goliath snorted and tossed his head.

Adam loosened his grip. ‘Tomorrow we’ll come earlier,’ he told the horse, and then he pushed all thought of Arabella Knightley out of his head, focusing instead on the far more interesting subject of Tom the burglar’s identity.

That subject occupied him as he trotted back through raindamp streets to Berkeley Square, as he gave Goliath to his groom and walked around from the mews, as he entered the cool entrance hall and handed hat, whip and gloves to the butler. ‘A pot of tea, Fiscus,’ he said, and walked down the hallway to his study.

Adam sat down at his desk with the letters spread before him and a teacup at his elbow. The blackmail notes were so foul, so ugly, that they seemed to taint the air he breathed, as if they gave off an odour of rankness and decay, of rot.

The notes gave no clue of the writer’s identity. The paper was plain, the handwriting ordinary. Anyone could have written them. Lady Bicknell, Tom claimed.

Adam pondered this. Lady Bicknell was a widow of longstanding who possessed a disagreeably sharp tongue. An unpleasant woman, certainly. But was she a blackmailer?

Tom said so. But Tom was a thief and therefore not to be trusted. I need proof. Something in Lady Bicknell’s hand, with her named signed in ink, for all to see. But how?

Adam sat for a long time, thinking, and then smiled. Yes, that will work very well. Reaching for the teacup, he took a mouthful, grimaced and swallowed the cold liquid. He pushed the cup away, pushed the blackmail notes aside and studied the piece of paper that really interested him: Tom’s note.

Who are you? he asked silently, staring at the black cat.

The cat stared back at him, giving nothing away. Its gaze was fixed, inanimate and yet almost insolent. A challenge.

‘I’m going to find out who you are,’ Adam said aloud.

He felt a spurt of cheerfulness. Proving that Lady Bicknell was a blackmailer, finding a husband for Grace, his own search for a bride—those were things he had to do. Discovering Tom’s identity was something altogether different. Not only would it take his mind off worrying about Grace, it would be fun.

Adam pulled a blank sheet of paper towards him and uncapped his inkpot.

Look for a thief? Such behaviour is hardly worthy of a St Just! The voice was his father’s, ringing in his ears, even though the old man had been dead these past three years. The cold disapproval was as loud, as clear, as if his father stood at his shoulder. You may not be the duke, but I expect you to behave as if you are!

Adam hissed between his teeth. He pushed any thought of his father aside, dipped his quill in ink and began to write.

Adam St Just’s town house was as elegantly appointed as Arabella had expected; no one could accuse St Just of lacking either money or taste. The parlour was decorated in blue and cream, the furniture was in the Grecian style, with clean lines and scrolled ends, and a pretty frieze of acanthus leaves ran around the room.

Grace St Just was every bit as beautiful as her surroundings. Her face was flower-like, open and innocent—and also fierce. The glint in her eyes, the set of her chin, were those of a woman prepared to fight.

‘Advice?’ Arabella said, echoing the girl’s question. ‘I can only tell you how I do it.’

‘Please.’ Grace sat forwards eagerly.

Arabella smiled wryly. ‘It sounds foolish, but…when I dress, I imagine I’m putting on armour.’

The girl blinked. ‘Armour?’

‘Yes.’ Arabella touched her gown. ‘You see muslin; I see armour.’

‘Oh.’

Arabella picked up her teacup. ‘And then I imagine that each disapproving stare, each sneer, each whispered remark, is a tiny arrow.’ She sipped her tea. ‘The arrows fly at me, but they can’t hurt me.’ The delicate porcelain cup made a noise as she replaced it in its saucer. Clink. Like an arrow striking armour. ‘It makes me want to laugh when I imagine the arrows lying helpless on the ground at my feet.’ She grinned at the girl. ‘And my amusement annoys my detractors—which amuses me even more.’

‘Oh,’ said Grace again. Her expression was uncertain.

Arabella eyed her for a moment. ‘If the image is too martial for you, perhaps you’d like to try something else? Oilskin repelling drops of water, or…or…have you ever seen how water rolls off a duck’s back?’

‘Yes.’ Grace’s face brightened. ‘Water off a duck’s back! I’ll do that.’

Arabella returned the girl’s smile. She picked up a macaroon and bit into it. The flavours of sugar and coconut mingled on her tongue.

Grace St Just busied herself pouring another cup of tea. ‘I can’t thank you enough, Miss Knightley. I’m very much in your debt—’

‘Bella,’ she said. ‘Please call me Bella.’

The girl’s smile was shy. ‘Then you must call me Grace.’

Arabella took another bite of macaroon. She chewed slowly, imagining St Just’s reaction when he discovered that his sister was on first-name terms with her. Laughter rose in her throat.

Grace’s smile faded as she sipped her tea. Her expression became pensive.

Arabella dismissed Adam St Just from her thoughts. ‘You’ve had an unfortunate introduction into society, but there’s some usefulness to be had from it.’

‘Usefulness?’ Grace put down her teacup.

‘It’s given you the opportunity to see people for who they are. It’s shown you what’s beneath the surface.’

Grace looked as if she’d rather not know.

‘You’d prefer the shallow, empty flattery of those who admire your name and your fortune?’ Arabella asked softly.

The girl flushed and shook her head.

‘Then you may look upon this experience as fortunate.’

Grace looked down at her lap. She pleated a fold of sprigged muslin between her fingers. ‘Three girls who were at school with me are making their débuts this Season.’ She bit her lip and glanced up. ‘It must be one of them who…’ Tears shone in her eyes. ‘I thought they were my friends.’

Arabella handed her a handkerchief. She watched in quiet sympathy as Grace wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

The girl folded the square of linen. ‘He was my music master.’

‘Grace, you don’t need to tell me anything. It’s no concern of mine—or anyone else’s—what did or didn’t happen.’

‘Nothing happened,’ Grace said bitterly. ‘Although I almost…I almost—’

‘You don’t have to tell me,’ Arabella said softly.

Grace didn’t seem to hear. ‘I thought I loved him,’ she said. ‘I was going to run away with him. And then my brother came.’ Her fingers twisted on the handkerchief, wringing it. ‘And it turned out that…that he…that my music master was married.’

Arabella refilled Grace’s teacup and handed it to her. ‘A valuable experience,’ she said, and smiled at the girl’s look of shock. ‘You’ve gained insight into the male character, have you not? You won’t fall for blandishments and flattery again.’

Grace shook her head, still looking taken aback.

‘I was courted by a fortune hunter during my first Season,’ Arabella told her. ‘Although I didn’t realise it until afterwards. It was a useful lesson.’

‘Oh?’ Grace’s eyes sharpened with interest.

‘His name was George Dysart. He was very handsome!’ Arabella smiled wryly, remembering. ‘He seemed so desperately in love with me that for a time I fancied myself in love with him.’ He’d made her feel precious. He’d told her that her background didn’t matter to him; her fortune and her family were unimportant—it was her he loved.

She had believed him, had even begun to reconsider her decision not to marry—

‘What happened?’ Grace asked.

Arabella was silent as memory returned: George embracing her, trying to kiss her, and her instinctive recoil. ‘I was…too slow, and so he turned his attention elsewhere. Another heiress.’

Grace’s eyebrows rose. ‘She married him?’

‘Yes. Poor Helen.’

‘You’re friends with her?’

Arabella smiled at the girl’s startled expression. ‘You think I should resent her?’ She shook her head. ‘No. We’ve become close friends. Helen’s had a dreadful marriage. I pity her sincerely.’ She pulled a face. ‘To think I fancied myself in love with George!’

Grace looked down at her hands. It took no particular insight to know what she was thinking about.

Arabella picked up her cup again. ‘That’s why I say your experience was useful. It’s taught you to see men more clearly. When you come to choose a husband, it will stand you in good stead.’

‘Adam’s going to choose my husband for me.’

Arabella’s eyebrows arched. ‘Is he?’ she said drily. ‘And you’ll have no say in the matter?’

‘Oh, well…’ Grace flushed. ‘If I dislike him, then Adam won’t…’

‘When is this happy event to take place?’

‘This Season,’ the girl said. ‘Only…it will be more difficult now that…the rumours—’

‘Hmm.’ Arabella settled back in her chair. ‘How old are you?’

‘Seventeen.’

‘Seventeen.’ All her dislike of Adam St Just rushed back in force. Grace was still a child, and he wanted to marry her off. ‘If your brother wishes for a marriage this Season, let it be his own!’ she said tartly.

Grace nodded. ‘Yes, that’s what he intends.’

Arabella blinked in surprise. ‘Your brother’s looking for a bride?’

‘He says it’s time. He’s nearly thirty.’

Arabella bit her upper lip to stop it curling in a sneer. What St Just thought timely for his sister was very different from what he thought timely for himself. ‘I wish him luck,’ she said with polite mendacity.

‘Oh, Adam’s not worried.’

‘I’m sure he’s not,’ Arabella said drily. St Just was one of the most eligible bachelors in England. He might not have a title, but he had everything else a fastidious bride required: excellent lineage, substantial wealth, good looks.

She reached for another macaroon, and found herself wishing that St Just would suffer a rebuff in his suit.

Adam laid down his quill and read through the list.

Well-heeled

Educated

Those he’d inferred from Tom’s note—the quality of the paper, the elegance of the handwriting, the lack of spelling mistakes.

An artist

Well, everyone knew that. The black cat, drawn in various poses, was as famous as the thief’s name.

Moral

An odd attribute for a thief, but one that went without saying—Tom always chose victims who’d harmed others.

Young

A guess, this. But Tom must be youthful to accomplish such feats as scaling walls and climbing in windows.

A member of the ton.

This was the most startling of his inferences, based not on who Tom’s victims were, but how they were chosen. Would a servant have witnessed all the acts that had roused Tom’s ire? His instinct said no.

Adam pulled a fresh sheet of paper towards him and started a new list. Lady Bicknell, May 1818. The first of this Season’s victims, presumably punished for the malicious remarks that had reduced poor Mrs Findley to tears at the Parnells’ ball.

He rolled the quill between his fingers. Who had drawn Tom’s attentions last year?

Ah, yes. Lord Randall, who’d fallen off his horse in Hyde Park and, in a fury of embarrassment, whipped the poor beast until he drew blood.

Adam grimaced in memory. Without doubt, Randall had deserved Tom’s visit.

He dipped the quill in ink and wrote Lord Randall, 1817, and then beneath that, a third name and date: The Honourable Miss Smidley, 1817.

Miss Smidley had stumbled upon exiting the Chapel Royal, tripping the prettiest of last year’s débutantes and breaking the girl’s ankle. No one who’d seen the look of triumph on Miss Smidley’s face would ever think it an accident.

Adam re-read what he’d written. The Parnells’ ball. Hyde Park. The Chapel Royal. Too many different places for one servant to be.

Tom was a member of the ton.

It was an astonishing conclusion. It was…

Adam tried to identify the sensation he was feeling. Exhilaration. It was exhilarating to think that Tom was a member of the ton, someone he’d spoken to, perhaps played cards with. He felt a hunter’s flare of excitement. I’ll find out who you are.

He heard his father’s voice again: I expect better behaviour of you than this. You’re a St Just!

Adam pushed memory of his father irritably aside. He dipped the quill in ink. What else did he know about the thief?

1813, Tom appears, he wrote, the quill scratching lightly across the paper. The thief had been active every year since, apart from…1816, Tom absent. Why? Had Tom undertaken the Grand Tour?

Adam laid the quill down. He’d find the answer to that question when he discovered the thief’s identity.

He read his notes one more time before folding them with Tom’s message—the cat still challenging him with its stare—and placing them in his desk drawer. He stood and stretched, aware that he was hungry.

Aunt Seraphina was in the morning room, her head bent over her needlework.

‘Where’s Grace?

‘In the parlour, with a visitor.’

Adam whistled lightly under his breath as he walked along the corridor. The door to the blue parlour was ajar. He heard the sound of female voices and his mood brightened still further. This was what he’d wanted for Grace: friends, gaiety. Her Season had had shaky start, to be sure, but things were looking up now and—

Grace and her friend turned their heads at his entrance. Adam froze. His face stiffened in shock.

Arabella Knightley put down her teacup. She appeared to be suppressing a smile.

Adam shut the door with a snap and advanced into the room. ‘Miss Knightley. What a…pleasant surprise.’

Her eyebrows arched in amusement. She knew his opinion of her—all London knew that.

Marry Arabella Knightley? Certainly, if one wishes to live with the smell of the gutter.

The words seemed to hang between them in the air, words he’d uttered six years ago. Words the ton had taken up with glee.

Adam felt a swift rush of shame. He bowed stiffly.

‘Would you care to join us, Mr St Just?’ Miss Knightley’s voice was smooth and amused.

Do you think I’ll leave my sister alone with you? Adam chose a lyre-backed chair at a distance from her and sat. His eyes lighted on a silver platter of macaroons. His stomach almost rumbled.

‘Bella and I have been talking about…oh, so many things!’

Bella? Adam jerked his attention from the macaroons. His sister was calling Miss Knightley, Bella?

Not for long, he promised grimly. This was one friendship he was going to terminate.