“I guessed as much,” Lily said. “How is your sister, Captain Hartley?”
“Good Lord.” He stared at her. “Are you a mind reader, Mrs. Adler?”
Lily couldn’t quite conceal the amused smile that lifted the corners of her eyes, though she tried not to look smug at his astonishment. “Nothing so dramatic.”
“Then how the devil—” Jack broke off and grinned. “You know, I once told Freddy I thought you were rather a clever woman. He laughed at me and said I only knew the half of it. So go ahead, Mrs. Adler. Tell me what gave it away.”
Lily raised her brows, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. “I keep track of the navy lists, you know, to keep an eye on you. We are engaged in France once more, so a ship like yours should be in the Channel or headed towards the Continent. Yet here you are in London, which means your frigate must be ashore. Repairs, I assume? In any case, your travel cannot have been military in nature. That leads one to suspect a family visit. Freddy mentioned that you have visited your relatives in the East Indies before, but that would have been far too long a voyage for wartime leave. Had you been in Hertfordshire with your parents, you would have called on the Adlers, which I know you did not since I have just come from them. From the lilt in your speech, I would say you have been in the north. And your sister, as I remember, lives with her husband and children in Derbyshire.”
“Extraordinary.” Jack shook his head admiringly. “I see Freddy was not exaggerating.”
“She is rather marvelous, isn’t she?” Serena said as she gathered up her furs. “And with that, I must show myself out. I shall see you both at seven o’clock?” With a final bright smile, she swept out of the room, leaving Jack looking bemused and Lily shaking her head. Serena loved a dramatic exit.
There was an awkward pause before Lily said, “I was not aware that you and Lady Walter were acquainted.”
Jack grinned, an endearingly lopsided expression. “Just met her yesterday. Your friend cornered me on Bond Street, though how she found me is anyone’s guess. Claimed an introduction and informed me that I would be attending her ball tonight. Refusal was clearly not an option.”
“It never is. And I am glad of it.” Lily sat, gesturing for him to do the same.
He did so hesitantly. “I was not sure you would be. Not after …”
“Captain, you were at sea when Freddy died. There was no possible way for you to be at the funeral.” Lily’s voice caught as she spoke, but she meant every word. Jack and Freddy had grown up together, inseparable until the day Jack left for the navy. And even then, they had stayed as close as brothers. She remembered dancing with him on her wedding day, the way he had teased her as comfortably as if they had grown up together too. That, she thought, was what happened when you loved someone like Freddy—you couldn’t help caring for the people he loved as well.
“Terrible all the same, missing Freddy’s final service.”
“Wars have never been known for their convenience.”
“No.”
For a moment they were both quiet, the silence heavy but not awkward. Lily stared at the tea service, now grown cold. Nothing had seemed real the day Freddy was buried, and her eyes had been dry as she watched the gravediggers lower his coffin into the ground. Her father had complimented her on her composure. It had taken all her willpower not to slap him.
At length Jack cleared his throat. “I was surprised to hear you had come to London. What do you plan to do with yourself here?”
“I am not planning to look for a husband, if that is what you are wondering.” Lily instantly regretted her sharp response, as Jack flushed. “Forgive me, Captain. The truth is … I do not know. The Adlers have been very kind. But without Freddy, there was nothing left for me in Hertfordshire. So I came to London, and now all I feel is …” She couldn’t bring herself to say lost, but she felt it. “Freddy and I had plans, you know. What we wanted from our lives, what we would accomplish. Without him …” She met Jack’s eyes, her expression filled as much with anger as with sorrow. “Tell me, Captain, what is a woman in my position supposed to do?”
“Marry again.” It was not a suggestion but a statement of fact, accompanied by a sympathetic grimace. Clearly he did not like the thought of Lily marrying so soon after Freddy’s death any more than she did.
“As every concerned busybody I have met in the past year has made very clear. But I’ve no wish to marry.” She shrugged as well. “So here I am, for a change of scenery at least, with no more idea what I am good for than I had in Hertfordshire. But I must find something.” She looked away, her mouth twisting with cynical humor so she would not cry. “I had hoped for more time before wading into the murky waters of London society, but I suppose Serena’s ball is as good a place as any to start.”
“Which means I should take my leave, so I may return in a few short hours to escort you to dinner.” Jack stood, and Lily was afraid she had said too much. But he took one of her hands. “You will find your way without him, Mrs. Adler. I’ve not had the chance to know you as well as I would like, but I knew Freddy. And he would never have fallen in love with a woman who needed him for her life to mean something.”
Lily remained in the parlor after he left, staring around the house that was not her home, hoping very much that he was right.
Then her practical side reasserted itself, and she went upstairs to decide which of her gowns was least likely to get a scolding from Serena. “It is only a ball,” she told herself sternly. “Nothing bad will happen.”
CHAPTER 2
Secrets. Lily narrowed her eyes as she looked around the crowded ballroom. She could practically feel them in the air: the secrets, the gossip, and the scandal.
They were in the murmur of voices as couples floated across the dance floor, in the eyes of guests who looked each other up and down and turned to whisper to their neighbors. It was a glittering, beautiful, brittle world, one that took a certain amount of guile to navigate.
Lily took a deep breath. She’d had that skill once, and she had enjoyed it. Surely it was still there, ready to be used once more.
“A marvelous evening, is it not?” Serena materialized at Lily’s side with startling ease, bearing two glasses of wine.
“A dreadful crush.” Lily took one of the glasses and gulped a mouthful to steady her nerves. “You should be pleased.”
“Baffling,” a voice laughed behind them. “Why do ladies love a party where one cannot move without bumping into five other people?”
Knowing Jack was there made some of the tension in Lily’s shoulders relax, and she smiled as she answered. “Because otherwise men like you would call it dull and abandon us for some scandalous gaming house.”
“I have absolutely no acquaintance with the gaming houses in London,” Jack said. He looked so affronted that Lily was about to apologize when he grinned and added, “Not been in town enough, you know.”
Serena shook her head. “So here you remain, not doing your duty and dancing, I notice.”
“On the contrary, Lady Walter.” He bowed. “Will you honor me with a dance?”