A Lady by Midnight (Spindle Cove #3)(57)
Author: Tessa Dare

All the ladies gasped and ducked.

“Get down!” Kate cried, struggling to regain control.

“Evan, look!” the Aunt Marmoset called. “I’m learning to shoot!”

Realizing he stood in the line of fire, Evan froze in place. “Brilliant.”

With a flick of her thumb, Kate uncocked the hammer.

“Aunt Marmoset, please.” She gripped the old woman’s frail wrists and pulled downward, until the pistol was safely pointed at the ground. Despite her racing heartbeat, she made her voice calm. “Why don’t we set this aside for now? Lord Drewe looks as though he has something to say.”

Evan recovered himself. “Indeed I do.” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them briskly. “I have exciting news for everyone.”

“What is it?” Charlotte Highwood asked.

“Sir Lewis has agreed to loan me Summerfield’s great hall for an evening next week. My sisters and I . . .” He paused for effect. “ . . . will be hosting a ball.”

All the ladies went dead quiet. Nervous glances were exchanged. Kate thought she heard someone mutter a prayer.

“Did you . . .” She cleared her throat. “You did say a ball, Lord Drewe? Here at Summerfield?”

“Yes, a ball. It will be our way of thanking Spindle Cove for all the warm hospitality we’ve been shown during our holiday. We’ll invite the militia, all the rooming house residents. We’ll have a grand time.”

The ladies’ silence clearly wasn’t the reaction Evan had been expecting. He looked around at the somber young women, nonplussed. “I don’t understand. Do you not like balls?”

“We do,” Kate assured him. “It’s just that Summerfield balls . . . well, the last two both ended in violence and mayhem. Last summer, the ball was over before it even started, due to a tragic explosion. And then at Christmas, a French smuggler crashed into the ballroom and held poor Miss Winterbottom hostage all night. So we’ve developed a bit of a superstition, you see. About Summerfield balls. Some people say they’re cursed.”

“Well, this one will be different.” Evan pulled up to his most lordly, commanding stature.

“Of course it will be,” Lark said, “if the Gramercys are hosting it.”

“Oh, yes,” Harry added. “We are known for always showing our guests an unforgettable time.”

Kate might have argued that the first two Summerfield balls had been unforgettable in their own ways.

Diana Highwood smiled, saving them all with her ever-affable nature. “Mama will be very pleased. And I can scarcely wait myself. A ball is a lovely idea. Lord Drewe, you and your sisters are very good to us.”

Evan bowed. “Thank you, Miss Highwood. It is our pleasure.” To Kate, he added, “Miss Taylor, will you take a turn with me and my sisters in the garden? We’d like to solicit your advice with regards to the music.”

“Very well,” Kate said. She disarmed and disassembled the pistol and stored it safely away. To Diana, she whispered, “Please don’t let their aunt anywhere near another weapon.”

Diana laughed a little. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

Before heading for the garden, Kate collected Badger from the Summerfield groundskeeper. While she supposed a top hunting dog should theoretically be inured to gunfire, she hadn’t thought it wise to have him underfoot during target practice.

Once they’d rounded a hedge and disappeared from the other ladies’ view, Kate addressed the whole family. “I’m so sorry for that incident just now with the pistol. So very sorry. It was unforgivable of me to even put the weapon in her hand. I’d no idea the old dear would prove so strong. Or enthusiastic.”

“Never mind that,” said Evan. “Sir Lewis just finished showing me his medieval hall. Believe me, no humble pistol could chill my blood after viewing his collection of ancient torture devices. That’s not what we called you aside to discuss.”

“It’s not?” She arched a brow. “Are you sure?”

“The ball,” Lark whispered excitedly. “We need to talk about the ball. You do realize, it’s for you. It’s all for you.”

“The ball is for me?”

Lark vibrated with excitement. “Yes, of course.”

Harry cut in. “What Evan said about showing our appreciation . . . that was true, too. But we want to bring you out, Kate. Give the debut you never had.”

“But I’m twenty-three. That’s much too old for a debut.”

Evan said, “A debut, a come-out . . . they’re just words that mean ‘introduction to Society.’ That’s precisely what’s in order here. We need to tell all England about you, Kate. But it only seems right to begin here. In Spindle Cove. All your friends will be so happy for you.”

“I suggest a dramatic announcement at midnight,” Harry said. “Make them all tingle with anticipation.”

Kate tingled with some other feeling. She thought it might be dread.

She couldn’t understand why this idea made her uneasy. Being announced as a long-lost lady, at a ball held in her honor—it ought to sound like a dream. A moment of fairy-tale triumph for a girl who’d grown up feeling outcast and alone. Her friends would be thrilled for her, to be sure. Except for perhaps Mrs. Highwood, who would likely go apoplectic with envy.

Still, she couldn’t imagine the moment without feeling a flutter of anxiety. If she was going to stand before all her friends and neighbors and be announced as Lady Katherine Gramercy . . .

Kate wished she could be certain she believed it herself. Remembered it, in some undeniable fashion. Any small detail would do. With each passing day, she felt more certain that the memories were there, closer to the surface than ever before. She just needed to find the courage to unlock them.

As they turned into another section of the garden, Badger lunged at a wandering peafowl, scampering across a bed of herbs. Kate broke away from the group. She leaned down to touch a teacup-sized pink rose blossom, sliding her finger along the velvety petal. The delicate texture held her transfixed, and a melody rose in her, instinctive as breath.

See the garden of blossoms so fair . . .

There was something in that song. Something important. She wouldn’t have remembered it all her life otherwise.

She ground her slipper heel into the manicured white gravel. “Will you excuse me? Please go ahead back to the village. I—I’ve forgotten something. And Badger needs to have his run for the day.”