Cassandra Lindsay's next words were therefore unexpected. 'We are having a house party at our country estate in Kent in early September. Would you and your sister like to join us for the weekend?'
Her heart began to beat a little faster, the rhythm of it imbued with an unfamiliar kind of joy. It had been so long since a stranger had reached out a hand in friendship. Still, she could not quite accept the gift without honesty.
'Perhaps Leonora could attend with a chaperon, Lady Lindsay. My presence may be detrimental to the success of your gathering, you see, for there are many stories about me-'
Cassandra Lindsay broke in. 'There are always rumours, Mrs St Harlow, and there are always detractors, but anyone whom Uncle Alfred takes a shine to I would trust with my life.'
'Thank you.' The ache in her throat was surprising as she glanced around, the heavy frowns of others less intimidating after such a conversation.
As the music ended the party regrouped. Elizabeth Berkeley had joined her mother to one side of the room, chatting with a group of other young women all dressed in differing shades of yellow. Stephen Hawkhurst unexpectedly walked back to Aurelia's side.
'Are you promised for this set, Mrs St Harlow?'
His question came quietly and in response Aurelia showed him her dance card without a scribble upon it. 'I seldom garner partners, my lord,' she returned, 'and certainly never the same man twice.'
His mouth turned up as he observed the empty page, and with the gracious strains of Strauss from the orchestra at the head of the room Aurelia felt disorientated.
Something else lingered there, too, but she did not care to examine those feelings as his fingers lifted the battered spectacles from her nose and held them away for a moment.
'Is that better?'
The faces of those around them came into full focus. 'Disfavour is often easier to stomach when it is barely seen, my lord.'
'Many here have their own skeletons should one bother to dig deeper, Mrs St Harlow. Take heart, for you are not the only person in the room with a past.'
Aurelia glanced away as he replaced her looking glasses. Did he speak about himself?
His hair was draped long across the nape of a snowy, crisp white collar, strands of midnight reflecting blue, the sense of danger and menace that she associated with him heightened here.
Charles had been a man who had promised everything and delivered nothing, a liar and a cheat who used those in positions of less power ruthlessly. Stephen Hawkhurst appeared to be the very opposite. She could not imagine him striking fraudulent bargains or making empty promises.
As his uncle joined them, the old man's hand reached down to extract a large handkerchief to wipe his shining brow. Alfred Hawkhurst's eyes were more opaque than she remembered them to be and he had a wheeze that was concerning.
'They don't want me there, Stephen. They never do. I can feel it when I speak to people.' His thin voice shook-a man who had had enough of the lofty world surrounding him.
'I feel exactly the same, Lord Alfred,' Aurelia began as his nephew failed to speak, 'though I find that the wine is helping.' She took two glasses from a passing waiter and handed one to him. Alfred smiled and downed the lot before leaning forwards in a conspiratorial way.
'You were always a favourite, my dear, and I am glad that you do not seem so melancholy now. I used to worry for you when Charles was about.'
Embarrassment swept through Aurelia's whole body. A thousand lies and yet an old man, reportedly mad, had seen through the lot of them. Like her father had. Catching the golden glance of Lord Hawkhurst, she looked away.
She had changed. She had grown up. No one could ever make her so sad again. The silk of Leonora's dress swirled cornflower blue in the middle of the floor, the weave of silver within it catching the light.
Macclesfield silk. Her lifeblood.
'I am more than content, Lord Alfred.' And quite competent, too, she thought. Dancing, needlework, luncheons and music-the pursuits of a well-brought-up young lady had long ceased to be a part of her domain. She tried hard to smile. She fitted nowhere now, like Alfred, lost in the middle somehow, an eternal outsider, looking in but never belonging. Not even knowing how to.
Her fingers strayed to the pendant at her throat, clutching The single diamond until she saw Lord Hawkhurst's eye upon the piece. Why had she worn it? The kiss at Taylor's Gap hung in the air between them in the particular manner of something unfinished. She could see the shape of it in his eyes and in the way he stood, his shoulders rigid with the tension of memory.
'I have always loved jewellery.' Alfred's proclamation was welcomed for it broke the unease, his outstretched hand touching the piece. 'What would you wish to be paid for this, my dear? Is it for sale?'
Hawkhurst carefully moved him back. 'Mrs St Harlow holds the bauble in much esteem and would part with it only under the most extreme of circumstances, Alfred.'
'She told you of that?'
'Indeed she did.' Shadows moved across his face, the planes at his cheeks softer now, and her body recalled the feel of Lord Hawkhurst's skin beneath her fingers, warm and solid, lips slanting deep with the taste of safety.
Aurelia shook her head. Such dreams were not ones she could contemplate again. Besides, had not Cassandra Lindsay stressed the need of a suitable bride at Atherton?
The black bombazine covering her from neck to foot was synonymous with the sort of life she led. Secretive. Careful. Lonely. In bed well after midnight and up well before the dawn.
When Elizabeth Berkeley came back to the circle Aurelia excused herself and wound her way to the ladies' room, where she sat for a good three-quarters of an hour on a chair in the small salon, completely impervious to the stares of others who were also using the chamber.
Another twenty minutes and she could be gone.
Hawk felt Elizabeth's fingers entwined in the fabric of his sleeve. He wished he might have shaken her off and followed Aurelia St Harlow to wherever it was she had gone at least half an hour ago, but appearances had to be maintained and he was always careful in this respect.
Cassie Lindsay watched him vigilantly, too, as she had done for months now, her eyes upon him filled with question. She had made it known that she had asked Mrs St Harlow and her sister to their country seat of St Auburn's in a few weeks' time and that the invitation had been accepted.
The evening was going exactly as Mrs St Harlow would have wished it to and yet now she had disappeared off into a crowd that detested her and was lost to sight.
Alfred had gone looking for her. Just that fact amazed him as his uncle seldom stayed for more than a few moments at any of these public gatherings and never inveigled himself into the lives of those he met here. And what did he damn well mean by referring to her melancholy?
'I just love the colours of the gowns and the music, don't you, my lord? Everyone says that yellow is quite the shade of things this season.' Under the candelabras, Elizabeth's cheekbones were striking.
'Then you are eminently in fashion,' he returned, her gown the colour of sunbeams shimmering in the light. The black bombazine of Mrs St Harlow came to mind, for his cousin had been years dead already and it was far past time to throw off the shades of mourning. He wondered how her hair might look against emerald green or a deep translucent gold.
No. He needed innocence and a lack of complication, he must remember that, the artless push of purity scattering the oncoming darkness. Why, Aurelia St Harlow probably had as many demons inside her as he did.
'I went today into town with Mama and found a jewellery shop that I had not noticed before.'
Stephen smiled, imagining Elizabeth enjoying the wares.
'Mama said I should have purchased the blue sapphire necklace because it showed off the colour of my eyes, but I preferred the ruby because it caught the light so beautifully. Do you think I have made a wise choice, my lord?'
His glance passed across the bauble nestled at her neck, the intricate patterns of gold fussy in design.
'It suits you entirely.'
'There was a bracelet to match, as well.' the glance she gave him had a certain entreaty in it. Hawk knew he should enquire as to the name of the shop and the exactness of its location given the unsaid promises shimmering between them, but the words just would not come.
He saw Mrs St Harlow threading her way back into the room from the corner of his eye. She looked neither left nor right, though even from this distance he could see women and men turning away from her in a deliberate cut. Her chin rose and if he had not known of her unease in the social setting he might have thought that she did not care a jot for the good opinion of others. He was glad she had the glasses to shelter behind.