Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Are you sure you want to dance again?" Johanna asked.

The evening was not yet halfway through, and there were still a number of dances to go. Edmund's name entirely marked her dance card, except for one instance when Roger had insisted on taking his sister's hand. Despite her fears for an evening spent as guests of Lavinia and her mother, Johanna had enjoyed the masquerade immensely, her feelings for Edmund growing stronger by the moment. He had behaved as the perfect gentleman, giving her his full attention, and seeing to her every need.

"We could sit this one out. If you're feeling tired, that is," he said, and Johanna nodded.

Her feet were aching, but she felt a sense of contentment, too—content to be in Edmund's company and enjoy the time they were spending together.

"Just for one dance, yes," Johanna said, and the two of them sat down in a corner of the room.

Many of the other guests had removed their masks, and Edmund did so, too, though Johanna kept hers on for fear of attracting unwanted attention.

"You and my mother are getting on well. I'm glad of it. I was a little worried," Edmund said, taking a sip of punch.

Johanna smiled.

"Your mother gets on well with anyone who agrees with her," Johanna replied, and the earl laughed.

"Yes, that's true enough. But the arrangements for the Beaumont Dinner...she's not being too controlling, is she?" he asked.

In truth, Johanna and the dowager were getting on well. She had confided in Johanna how she had always longed for a daughter, and now she intended to treat her daughter-in-law as her own.

"Sons are all very well and good for practical purposes, but having a daughter is much better when it comes to matters of a womanly nature," she had said, and Johanna had nodded and agreed, though she had not entirely understood what the dowager had meant.

But the arrangements for the Beaumont Dinner were progressing well—largely because it was the dowager who had made them, rather than leaving the matter to Johanna. Secretly, Johanna was pleased—she would far rather think about orangeries and sunken gardens, than dinner menus and seating plans.

"Not at all, no. I'm glad of her help. We get on well," Johanna said, and in this, she could be truthful.

Edmund nodded.

"She likes you a great deal. You're like the daughter she never had. I think that was one of the reasons she detested life in the countryside so much. She missed the companionship of the fairer sex. I don't think my father was ever much company, and I was away at school and then at Oxford," Edmund replied.

"Well, I like her, too—and I'm glad I live up to her expectations," Johanna replied.

"I wouldn't worry about that. You don't need to live up to anyone's expectations. You're perfect as you are," Edmund said, smiling at Johanna and slipping his hand into hers.

Johanna met his gaze, and now she wondered what it would be like to kiss him—for him to kiss her. He had always behaved as the perfect gentleman. There was not a hint of scandal in their behavior, whatever was said about them by others. But now, Johanna allowed herself to wonder what it would be like for his arms to slip around her waist, for their lips to meet in a kiss, for him to draw her further into his embrace. With her hand in his, she moved forward a little, still meeting his gaze, the possibility of that kiss now closer than ever…

"Oh, Edmund, won't you fetch me a glass of punch—I've danced so much I feel quite lightheaded," a voice above them exclaimed, and Johanna looked up to find a woman in a large, ornate mask, decorated with peacock feathers, looking down at them—it was Lavinia.

Now, Edmund rose to his feet, embarrassed, it seemed, to be caught in this intimacy, as Lavinia removed her mask. The moment was gone, snatched away by the interruption—planned or not.

"Lavinia...I...yes, I can get you a glass of punch," Edmund said, glancing apologetically at Johanna, who nodded.

"I'll go and find Tabitha," Johanna said, rising to her feet as Lavinia slipped her arm into Edmund's.

"I won't keep him for long, Johanna," she said, smirking as she led Edmund away.

Johanna sighed. She did not suspect Edmund of any impropriety concerning Lavinia, but it annoyed her to think how easily he could be led by a woman so clearly out for her own ends.

"Aren't you with Edmund?" Tabitha asked when Johanna found her on the far side of the ballroom, sitting on her own by the tall windows looking out over the garden.

Dusk was falling, and the servants were busy lighting candles around the room as the musicians prepared for the next dance.

"Aren't you with Roger?" Johanna asked, and Tabitha sighed.

"I wish I was...Oh, I don't know, Johanna. You know him better than me. One moment he's the most charming of companions, and the next it's as though he's holding back. What am I doing wrong?" she asked.

"I don't think you're doing anything wrong, Tabitha. Roger...well, he's still getting used to the idea of responsibility. He wants to prove himself, but he's not yet as grown up as he might like to think he is," Johanna replied.

Her brother spoke impressively of duty and taking responsibility, but he could be prone to rakish ways. While Johanna's travels had given her a sense of maturity, she could not help but feel her brother still lacked that final push into adulthood—his behavior toward Tabitha was proof of that.

"Perhaps you're right. I just wish I knew what to do. That's all. Should I try harder, or should I try less?" she asked.

Johanna was about to suggest Tabitha allow events to take their natural course, when, to her surprise, Wilhelmina approached them.

"Oh, there you are, Johanna—Edmund's asking for you. He's out in the garden. I have a note from him," she said, handing Johanna a scrap of paper.

Johanna looked at her in surprise. She did not understand why Edmund should be out in the garden when he had gone with Lavinia to get a glass of punch. But looking around her, there was no sign of him, and now she looked down at the piece of paper, written in the earl's distinctive curled handwriting.

Meet me by the shrubbery—urgently, Johanna read.

"How curious...would you excuse me, Tabitha. Thank you, Wilhelmina," Johanna said, and nodding to Tabitha, she followed Wilhelmina through the throng to a set of doors leading out onto the terrace.

"You'll find the shrubbery at the far end of the garden. It's a bright moon, so you should be able to find your way," she said, pointing through the open doors.

Johanna nodded, though she still felt confused as to why Edmund should want to meet her in the shrubbery. What was he doing there? And where was Lavinia? Suspicions began to form in Johanna's mind—a fear of something untoward having occurred. She would not have put it past Lavinia to lead Edmund into some form of scandal—to throw herself at him at an opportune moment and cry wolf against him.

"Edmund?" Johanna called out.

The moon was bright, casting a silvery light across the garden. A solitary granite cherub stood watching her progress from the top of a small fountain in the center of the lawn, and now Johanna called out again.

"Over by the shrubbery," Wilhelmina called out from the terrace above.

Johanna crossed the lawn, peering into the gloom of the shrubbery, trying to make out a figure. Someone was there, standing amid the bushes, their face concealed behind a mask, the plumage of which she could just make out—it was Edmund, wasn't it?

"Oh, there you are...I didn't think...what are you doing out here? I suppose you're escaping from Lavinia. It'll be the last dance soon. Won't you come back inside?" Johanna said, relieved to know it had not been some elaborate trick on Lavinia's part—or a descent into scandal on Edmund's.

The figure moved suddenly forward, the mask catching the moonlight on the edge of the shrubbery. Through her own mask, it was difficult for Johanna to see properly. Her peripheral vision was obscured, and she could only see straight ahead of her.

"Edmund, no...don't be silly. Are you playing games with me?" she asked as now he slipped his arms around her.

"Johanna," he whispered, pulling her into his embrace.

His voice sounded strange—rasping—and his scent, that of pinewood and lavender, was unfamiliar.

"Edmund...we really shouldn't be doing this. I know we spoke of becoming closer, and the last few days have been simply wonderful," Johanna said, trying to pull away from him.

He was behaving entirely out of character. It was bizarre, and Johanna could not understand it. He had been such a gentleman—even at those times when he may well have taken advantage of her for his own pleasures. Why was he doing this now? Did he not think she was being honest when she had told him of the delight she took in their growing intimacy.

"Johanna, please…" Edmund whispered, in that same rasping voice.

"No, Edmund...I don't like it. We should go back inside. Wilhelmina knows we're out here. If we're caught...it wouldn't be right," Johanna exclaimed, her tone becoming more forceful.

She was about to push him away, but now he pulled her into an even tighter embrace, trying to press his lips to her. Johanna let out a cry, even as now footsteps could be heard behind them. Terrified of their being caught, she pushed Edmund away, ready to flee across the lawn, but turning, she now found herself face to face with...Edmund.

"What's going on?" he exclaimed.

Lavinia and Wilhelmina were with him, along with a servant carrying a lamp, the light from which now illuminated the figure in the shrubbery, whose arm was still around Johanna's waist.

"Are we interrupting something?" Lavinia asked, raising her eyebrows.

Johanna was filled with horror, and now she stared up at the masked man, terrified as to who was behind the mask.

"But...Wilhelmina told me you were out here, Edmund," Johanna stammered.

"I've been with Lavinia," Edmund said, staring in astonishment at Johanna, who now pulled away from the masked man, who had still not revealed his identity.

"I said nothing of the sort," Wilhelmina retorted.

"Please, will someone tell me what's going on?" Edmund demanded, his shocked tones now turning to anger.

The man in the mask pulled it off, laughing as he revealed himself.

"It's just a little fun—what's the problem with that? Why all the fuss?" he demanded.

Johanna stared at him in horror. His name was Lord Fitzroy—Frederick Fitzroy. She had seen him once or twice at the balls and dinners she and Edmund had attended during the course of their time in London, but there was no acquaintance between them. Even if there had been, it would hardly be grounds for this. She was in shock, ashamed of herself for what she had done, and now she turned imploringly to Edmund, desperate for him to believe the truth of what she was saying.

"Please, Edmund, I thought it was you," she said.

"But a good thing we caught you before something worse happened," Wilhelmina said, tutting and shaking her head.

"But it wasn't like that—you're twisting the circumstances. Please...tell them," she exclaimed, looking first to Wilhelmina and then to Lord Fitzroy.

"She appeared entirely eager to me. I've done nothing wrong," Lord Fitzroy replied.

"Really, Johanna...you're a married woman. Sneaking out into the shrubbery for a secret liaison. Dear me, it doesn't get much worse than that, does it. And after everything Edmund's done for you," Lavinia said, and now she turned, taking Edmund's arm in hers.

But to her apparent surprise—and the slightest relief on Johanna's part—he shook her off.

"Leave me alone, Lavinia," he snarled.

He was staring straight ahead, lost, it seemed, in his own thoughts. Johanna looked at him imploringly. It was the most awful thing that could have happened, and the cruelest of ploys on the part of Wilhelmina and Lavinia. Johanna felt angry, foolish, devastated...How could she have been so stupid? She should have known Edmund would never do such a thing, and now she feared losing what she had so recently come to cherish.

"It's not what it seems. She led me out here. She told me you were here. I do not know this man," Johanna said, turning to Lord Fitzroy, who still smirking.

"Don't you? Surely you've seen him at any number of balls and soirees in the past few weeks? You've had your eye on him the whole time, haven't you? And now you try to blame us for your own indiscretions. Could you sink any lower, Johanna?" Wilhelmina snarled.

It was a cruel and heartless act, and tears now rolled down Johanna's cheeks. She was desperate to make Edmund understand—for him to realize she had done nothing wrong, that she would never do something like this. But forces beyond her control were conspiring against her. She had been a fool to fall for Wilhelmina's ploy, and with both Lavinia and her mother denying all knowledge, and Lord Fitzroy treating the whole thing as a joke, it seemed Johanna had no one to come to her defense. Again, she looked imploringly at Edmund. What was he thinking? Did he really believe the lies being told about her?

"It's not true...none of it is true. I made a mistake—a terrible mistake!" Johanna exclaimed, but it seemed there could be no reasonable explanation against the falsity of appearance.

She had been caught in flagrante in the shrubbery, about to kiss a man who was not her husband. Those were the facts, even as the truth behind them was very different.

"And I'm sure we all believe you. Come along, Edmund—leave her," Lavinia said, shaking her head, as again, she tried to take Edmund's arm.

But again, he brushed her away, this time with an angry growl. Lavinia looked perturbed, and she seemed about to plead with him when a voice came from across the garden.

"Johanna? Are you out here? What is going on?" It was Tabitha, and Johanna breathed a sigh of relief as her friend came hurrying toward them.

"Tabitha, oh...thank goodness!" Johanna exclaimed, and now she hurried over to her friend, appraising her of the facts, and holding nothing back in her accusations against Wilhelmina and Lavinia.

There was a time when Johanna would have failed to defend herself, to have cowered in the face of such an overwhelming accusation. But now, she was possessed of a confidence she had not previously known, and she begged Tabitha to absolve her by corroborating the facts as they stood.

"But you know you asked Johanna to step out into the garden, Wilhelmina. I was there. I heard you. You told her you had a note from Edmund asking her to do so. You're a liar if you say differently," Tabitha said, glaring accusingly at Wilhelmina, who folded her arms with a defiant glare on her face.

"Oh, I see—shoot the messenger, shall we? And how do you explain Johanna being found in the arms of a man who's not her husband?" she demanded.

Tabitha faltered, glancing at Johanna, who looked at her imploringly.

"It's not true, Tabitha...well, the note, yes...I thought I was meeting Edmund. But it's all a cruel set up," she said as tears continued to roll down her cheeks.

"It's all right, Johanna. I believe you," Tabitha said, and now she put her arms around Johanna, as Lavinia and her mother scoffed.

"You believe her? Oh, well, then that must count for something…" Lavinia said, rolling her eyes.

"It's obvious what's happened. I think Edmund, you should…" Lavinia began, but Edmund looked up suddenly, his face etched with anger.

"Enough!" he cried, and Lavinia fell silent.

Johanna's heart was beating fast. What was Edmund going to do? Was he angry with her? Who did he believe? She did not dare say anything, even as Edmund now stepped forward, holding out his hand to her.

"Well, I didn't realize she was married," Lord Fitzroy said, shaking his head and laughing.

But at these words, Edmund turned, and to everyone's surprise—not least, Lord Fitzroy, he struck the arrogant aristocrat hard across the face with his fist, sending him sprawling back into the shrubbery with a cry.

"Come along, Johanna. We're going home," he said, taking Johanna's hand in his and leading her back across the lawn toward the house and leaving the others looking stunned.

"Edmund...wait. Edmund!" Lavinia called out, but Edmund only walked quicker, shaking his head and muttering under his breath.

Johanna hurried alongside him. She still did not know who Edmund believed, but the fact of his having pulled her away gave her a glimmer of hope. This had surely not been what Lavinia was expecting. She had played the part of the sympathetic shoulder, offering comfort in the face of the obvious setup she and her mother had created. Edmund had refused her, and now Johanna wondered if he would reject her, too, for having been foolish enough to fall for the ploy. Did he suspect her of desiring the liaison?

"Edmund, please…" Johanna said, but he only walked faster, hurrying her up the steps onto the terrace and into the ballroom.

Whispers were circulating, fans fluttering, and eyes watching as they made their way through the throng. The dancing had come to an end, and now it seemed the guests were interested only in learning what had transpired out in the gardens between their hosts and Johanna and Edmund.

"Leaving so hurriedly, my lord?" one of them asked.

Edmund ignored him, and having pushed their way through the crowd, they emerged into the hallway, where a footman hurried to open the front door for them. A line of carriages, including their own, was waiting outside, and they hurried down the steps, not pausing until they were safely in the compartment with the door closed.

"Edmund, I…" Johanna began, but he interrupted her.

"I know, Johanna. I know it wasn't your fault," he said, and as a wave of relief swept over her, she began to sob, grateful to him for rescuing her once again.