After a Fashion (A Class of Their Own #1)(94)
All of the worries that had been plaguing him of late simply disappeared as he waltzed Harriet around the room, enjoying the feel of her in his arms until it seemed as if they were the only two people at the ball.
He looked down at her face and felt more alive than he’d ever felt in his life. Her unusual eyes were sparkling with pleasure, and her face glowed from their exertions, but not once did she stumble. When she tilted her head back and laughed, he was hard-pressed to not give in to the urge he immediately felt to lower his head and claim the lips that were only inches away from his own.
He couldn’t give her up—it was as simple as that, but . . .
He pushed the thought away, not wanting anything to intrude on the unexpected happiness that had descended over him. Disappointment was immediate when the music slowly came to a stop. He pulled her close for just a second, blinking as the sound of enthusiastic clapping drew him back to reality. He sent Harriet a smile, pleased to notice she looked somewhat dazed, and dropped his arms from around her. He was about to take hold of her hand, when a voice that sent anger coursing through him sounded throughout the ballroom.
“Bravo, my friend, bravo,” Silas Ruff drawled as he continued to clap even though all of the other guests had stopped. “What a delightful couple you make.”
Casually placing himself in front of Harriet, Oliver struggled to tamp down the temper that threatened to overtake him. “This is certainly a surprise, my old friend, finding you here at the ball since I wasn’t aware you’d been extended an invitation.”
Silas laughed, although it sounded anything but amused. “Given the—how did Mrs. Hart phrase it?—oh yes, spontaneous nature of this event, I assumed my lack of an invitation was a simple oversight. But—” he laughed again—“it was hardly difficult getting into the house, given that I brought with me a very special surprise for your lovely Miss Peabody.”
Before Oliver could take so much as a single step, Silas turned and then stepped forward with a lady dressed in an elaborate gown of ivory, draped in diamonds and smiling back at him. Dread was immediate, and only increased when Silas smiled a nasty smile Oliver’s way before he opened his mouth.
“It is my extreme pleasure to introduce to you, Oliver, Miss Jane Peabody, aunt to your lovely little Miss Harriet Peabody.” Silas’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “You’ll be delighted to learn that Miss Jane Peabody is one of the most charming confidence artists I’ve ever had the fortune of meeting.”
21
Forcing feet that wanted to remain stuck to the floor into motion, Harriet stepped around Oliver and set her sights on her aunt. Jane was still standing beside Silas, and she was smiling, although her smile appeared to be incredibly forced and she’d begun to turn a very ugly shade of red.
“Act as if you didn’t know about my aunt,” she said softly before she began forward—and then was tugged to an immediate stop when Oliver grabbed hold of her hand. Irritation was immediate. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she whispered. “You have much to lose here, while I have nothing. I’ll handle Jane.”
“Not likely,” he said pleasantly before he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “We’ll do this together, shall we?”
Before she could protest, he began strolling ever so casually across the ballroom floor, bringing her to a stop directly in front of Mr. Silas Ruff. “Shall we repair to a more private setting?”
Silas laughed even as his eyes narrowed. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, old friend?” He stepped closer to Oliver and lowered his voice. “I told you that you’d regret firing me, and this is me showing you what regret looks like.”
He gestured to the silent crowd watching them closely. “I’m of the firm belief, that you, as members of New York’s highest society, deserve to know what our dear Oliver here, unintentionally I’m sure, almost unleashed on you—that being Jane and Harriet Peabody.”
“This was not what we agreed on,” Jane whispered furiously, stepping closer to Silas, her face now mottled with rage. “You promised to introduce me to society as Harriet’s doting aunt because of information I gave you about my niece. However, you never mentioned anything at all about setting me up for embarrassment in the process.”
Silas shrugged. “My dear woman, are you really so na?ve that you actually believed I followed you that day from Oliver’s house because I had anything other than a personal agenda on my mind?” He released a laugh. “I expected better of someone with your diabolical nature, but . . . as you can see, you, my dear, were only a means to an end for me.”
He gestured to the crowd again. “When I learned that Jane Peabody’s crime of choice these days is blackmail, I realized that her niece—lovely Harriet here—was obviously perpetuating a fraud against our very own Mr. Oliver Addleshaw. I immediately knew it would be less than responsible, being one of his old friends, to not point out to him that his fiancée is nothing less than a confidence artist following in her aunt’s footsteps. You’ll be surprised to discover that Harriet, until very recently, worked in a hat shop of all things, and . . . lovely Jane told me that her niece had readily agreed to bring her into society after Harriet got introduced around a bit. The purpose of that agreement, my friends, was undoubtedly to increase Jane’s bank account since she wanted to use her introduction into society to collect juicy tidbits about each and every one of you. It doesn’t take much deduction to realize she would then use those tidbits to divest you of your hard-earned funds.”