William moved behind her to tighten the ribbon beneath her bust to accent her figure. He caught his reflection in the mirror and quickly averted his eyes. Next to Matilda’s feminine grace, he appeared an ogre, hideously scarred. He shifted his attention to Matilda and kept it there, liking what the mirror revealed with those few alterations. He grabbed the tightly bound mass of dark hair at the back of her head and wiggled it a little, softening her coiffure.
She pinched her cheeks and licked her lips. “Good enough?”
Too good. The changes made a world of difference and played havoc with his control. The gown, although serviceable and plain, was a good color for her. He dug a sea-green silk shawl and gloves, impulsive purchases with no purpose save that they’d appealed to him, from his sea chest and dressed her in them. He was gripped with a sudden idea that would guarantee him success. A fine silver chain and cross pendant he’d hoarded for years completed her transformation from distracting servant to delectable temptation. The revelation was utterly breathtaking. “You’ll do,” he managed to say, feeling uncomfortably hot.
He caught her newly gloved wrist so she couldn’t flee and towed her toward the staircase, still dreading the coming meeting but determined. He would marry when he liked, whom he liked, and not a moment sooner than when he had had enough of being a bachelor.
At the top stair, he took a breath, threaded her arm through his, and led Matilda down the staircase as if she were indeed his lady.
Five
His butler was waiting on the landing, eyes wide at the sight of Matilda on his arm.
“I knocked over a vase upstairs,” William said. “Have it cleaned up immediately, Carter.”
“Yes, Captain.” He hurried past them but glanced back a time or two before he disappeared. Yes, it was time for Matilda to leave his employ. The first course of action would be to find her somewhere safe to stay tonight once his guests had gone on their disappointed way.
“I do love my sisters,” he informed her, returning to their earlier discussion about his family. “But I have never been comfortable showing how I feel.”
“They deserve to have their season,” she whispered, hand rising to the pendant at her neck and twiddling with it nervously. “Don’t spoil it for them with your usual bad grace.”
That deserved at least one strike on her pretty bottom. He gritted his teeth until the desire passed. “You are correct. They do deserve a chance to find a husband. I simply dread going back into society again and being stared at.”
She paused on the last stair, turned, her gaze full of understanding. “You cannot lurk indoors forever.”
He would like to try. The few times he’d gone out this week had not soothed his temper. His first trip to the brothel had been a disaster. He’d looked, meant to indulge, but the women’s shocked reaction to his altered features had ruined his intentions. He’d been gawked at, whispered about, until he’d rushed back to his carriage and drawn the curtains on the world.
The mirror didn’t lie.
Matilda was the only person he knew who looked at him without pity in her eyes.
However, for this ruse to work today, she had to look at him with warmth and desire. And after today, it might be necessary to venture into society a few times just to be sure their ruse of lovers was believed. He pictured Matilda hanging on his arm at the theatre, dancing together in a crowded ballroom and pretending she enjoyed every moment in his company while everyone whispered about them and his altered looks. It would take courage he hoped she still possessed in abundance. For if she was anything like him, she might hate every moment of scrutiny.
“I’ll lurk if you’ll lurk with me.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll convince them today, and you will pay me well enough for the trouble,” she insisted.
She gathered up her skirts in one hand, and William caught a glimpse of her slender ankles encased in dowdy stockings. She still needed the new ones he could have paid for last year if she’d accepted his gift of coin for the purchase, and once he considered her stocking covered legs his mind traveled upward to her well-rounded bottom. He gritted his teeth. Damn, but dressing her up for this little play might not have been his best idea for continued peace of mind.
“Where is dear William?” Maria asked in a shrill voice that c
arried into the hall with perfect clarity.
Matilda’s eyes rose with a question and he nodded. “That’s her,” he whispered.
William held on to Matilda’s elbow just a little tighter as his father replied, “Nothing could keep him away.”
Father had wanted this alliance since he’d been a boy, never understanding why William fought the connection.
“He’ll be here when he’s ready,” his grandfather proclaimed in a raised voice, surely meant to reassure William that at least someone in the room might be on his side.
William drew in a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and braced himself to face his family with his new and scarred face. He did not look the same as they would remember, and he was sure they would be taken aback when they saw him for the first time.
He kept his gaze down and only when he passed the arch and the thick rug appeared in his line of sight did he lift his face and show them the changes. “Here I am, for better or worse.”
Audrey, Evelyn, and Victoria screamed and ran to him like wild creatures of the woods.
Feminine arms wrapped around him tightly, and through the overwhelming babble he discovered they didn’t care one whit about the alteration of his features. They proved they missed him, as they always did when he’d been away, but this time their enthusiasm toppled them to the carpeted floor in a tangle of arms and legs. William came to rest on his back among the trio.