Inside were two o
f her mother’s beautiful designer gowns.
“Thank you, thank you, Elizabeth,” she breathed, holding a gown up to her body. Maybe tonight Nicholas would notice someone besides the stately Arabella, she thought, smiling broadly.
When Dougless walked into the sitting room where the Harewood family was serving cocktails, she knew the two and a half hours she’d taken to dress had been worth it. Lee paused with his drink halfway to his mouth, and Lady Arabella, for once, looked away from Nicholas. Lord Harewood even stopped talking about guns and dogs and his roses. But Nicholas, Dougless thought, ah . . . his reaction made all the effort worthwhile. When he first saw her, his eyes lit up, then they grew hot as he stepped toward her. But he halted before he reached her and stood there scowling at her.
Her mother’s white dress was one piece of clingy fabric that had one long sleeve, but left her other shoulder and arm bare. It was covered with tiny beads, and when she moved, they showed off every curve she had. She had fastened Gloria’s diamond bracelet about her bare left wrist.
“Good evening,” she said.
“Wow,” Lee said, looking her up and down. “Wow.”
Dougless smiled at him rather regally. “Is that a drink? Could you possibly get me a gin and tonic?”
Lee went off as obediently as a schoolboy.
It was amazing what clothes could do for a woman, Dougless thought. Last night she’d wanted to cower under the table in Arabella’s presence, but tonight Arabella’s red, low cut gown looked cheap and tasteless.
“What do you do?” Nicholas asked, hovering over her.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, blinking innocently up at him.
“You are exposed.” He sounded shocked.
“A lot less than your Arabella is,” she snapped, then smiled. “Do you like this dress? I had my sister ship it to me.”
Nicholas’s back was straighter than usual. “Do you mean to see that physician after supper?”
“Of course,” she said sweetly. “Remember that you told me you wanted me to find out what he knew.”
“Nicholas,” Arabella called. “Dinner.”
“You must not wear that gown.”
“I’ll wear anything I please, and you better go. Arabella is rattling your table legs.”
“You—”
“Here you are,” Lee said, handing Dougless a drink. “Good evening, your lordship.”
Dinner was a wonderful experience for Dougless. Nicholas couldn’t keep his eyes off her—much to the lovely Lady Arabella’s fury. Lee hovered over her so closely that at one point his coat sleeve dangled in Dougless’s soup bowl.
After dinner they went to the drawing room, and, like a scene out of a Jane Austen novel, Nicholas played the piano and sang. He had a rich, deep voice that she loved. He invited Dougless to sing with him, but she knew she had no voice. But she had to sit on a hard little chair and watch jealously as Arabella and Nicholas sang a duet, their heads together, their voices entwined.
At ten o’clock, Dougless excused herself and went to her room. She had no desire to spend the evening with Lee alone in his room. The secret of who betrayed Nicholas would have to wait another day.
But at midnight, Dougless knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep. She kept seeing Nicholas singing with Arabella, kept remembering the way he’d returned from the fields with his shirt misbuttoned. She got out of bed, put on her robe, fluffed up her hair, and made her way through the big house to Nicholas’s room. There was no light from under his door, but there was light and the sound of glasses clinking and Arabella’s seductive laugh coming from under her door.
Dougless didn’t think about what she was doing. She gave a brisk single knock and at the same time, she put her hand on the doorknob, turned it, and walked into Arabella’s bedroom. “Hi. I was wondering if I could borrow a pin. I seem to have broken a strap. A very important strap, if you know what I mean.”
Nicholas was stretched out on Arabella’s bed, his shirt open and hanging out of his trousers. Arabella was wearing a filmy black peignoir that didn’t cover much of her skin, and what little fabric there was, was transparent.
“You . . . you . . .” Arabella sputtered.
“Oh hello, my lord. Did I interrupt something?”
Nicholas was looking at her with great amusement.