Autumn's Wild Heart (Seasons #4) - Laura Landon Page 0,2

give up until she has him in the parson’s net,” Nella answered. “Even though I will hate to see that. Marriage to Lady Blanche will cause Danvers a lifetime of unhappiness and misery.”

“Well,” Patricia said. “If all he’s interested in is beauty, he deserves a lifetime of misery.”

“That’s cruel,” Nella said. She was enamoured of him enough to want only happiness for the young earl.

She watched him dance several sets and didn’t move until it hurt to realize nearly every other female had danced with at least one partner. Except her.

~■~

Nella made her way up the stairs to the retiring room. She only needed someplace to hide for a while. She couldn’t even think of asking her father to leave until he’d had at least an hour in the card room.

Tonight had been especially depressing because Patricia and Rosamonde had both been asked to dance a number of times, where Nella had not been asked even once.

When she reached the retiring room, she made her way to a chair set conveniently behind a disrobing screen. Thankfully, no one else was in the room and she could sit in silence.

She was about to leave when the outside door opened and what sounded like several women entered. She recognized their voices immediately and pressed her back into the corner so she wouldn’t be seen. If anyone peered behind the screen, she would merely be seen adjusting her stockings.

“You know what to do, don’t you?” one voice whispered.

Nella couldn’t miss Lady Blanche’s superior tone even when she whispered.

“Yes, we know,” two other voices said.

“I’ll go up right now and put this sleeping draught in the brandy. My maid confirmed that the decanter was delivered to the bedchamber.” Lady Penelope was so excited she actually giggled.

“And I’ll give your note to a footman to give to Danvers,” Lady Melanie said. “You watch for Danvers to leave the ballroom, then give him fifteen minutes before you go up. That should give him enough time to find the brandy and drink a glass or two. Any longer and he might get bored and leave.”

“Oh, this has got to work,” Lady Blanche said. “If it doesn’t, I’m going to be forced to marry Lord Wexley. He’s already asked for my hand and I have to marry soon. You know I do.”

“Tell me again. Second bedchamber on the left?” Penelope Knight asked. “I want to make sure I drug the brandy in the right bedchamber.”

“The second room on the left after you climb the stairs.”

“Yes.”

“Very well. Let’s go.”

The three conniving females left the room and Nella came out of hiding. She was more than a little stunned that Lady Blanche was going to make it appear as if Danvers had compromised her. But no, it was worse than that. The conniving trollop was going to trap him into marriage.

Nella slapped her fan against her hand. She couldn’t allow it. She couldn’t let him be trapped into a marriage. She had no doubt that he would probably end up marrying Lady Blanche in the end, but she didn’t want him to be forced in a way that would forever taint his honor.

She made her way to the door, then peeked out into the hall to make sure no one saw her leave the retiring room. When she was free, she went up one more flight and stood on the balcony that overlooked the ballroom.

It didn’t take her long to find the earl. He was one of the few men in the room taller than she, making him easy to spot. That and his rich, brown hair that flowed enticingly over the back of his pristine collar, and his princely posture, and—

Concentrate, Nella.

She watched until a footman approached him and held out a silver salver. The earl took the folded paper from the tray and read it. He appeared to frown, then crumpled the paper and dropped it into his coat pocket.

They were actually doing it! Those three meddling misses were actually putting their devious plan into action.

Nella wondered what the message said. She wondered if Lady Blanche asked to meet him, or if they’d used someone else’s name to lure him upstairs—someone like Lady Winterbourne, with whom Danvers was rumored to be having an affair.

Nella kept her gaze focused on him. He danced one set, then left the ballroom. As he did so, Nella turned away from the balcony rail and raced down the hallway, then turned to go to the second level.

“Where are you going, Nella?”

She turned to