Never a Mistress, No Longer a Maid (Kellington Book One) Read online

An hour later, thanks to Lizzie’s help dressing and the maid’s assistance with her hair, Jane was finally ready to go. A knock at her bedroom door revealed Ned, looking breathtakingly handsome in his evening clothes.

  The maid excused herself and Lizzie left on her heels, pausing only long enough to wink at her brother on the way out.

  Ned looked at Jane and his heart turned over. She was stunning and he wanted to take her right there. But instead, he said the first painfully obvious thing that came into his head.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said.

  A soft blush rose in her cheeks. “Thank you. You’re even more handsome than usual. You look quite at home in evening clothes, whereas I feel like I’m impersonating someone else entirely.”

  “That’s only because you haven’t had the opportunities to go out as you should have during the last few years. An error I intend to rectify.”

  “I shouldn’t go out in public at all, considering my grandfather just died, but I want to show my support for you.”

  “Thank you. As I said before, you look lovely, but on closer inspection something seems to be missing.”

  Jane took a self conscious look at herself in the mirror. Was the dress too simple? Was something out of place? She looked up to see Ned approaching from behind. Watching him in the mirror, she saw him lift a sapphire necklace, then fasten it around her neck before she could even think to protest.

  “It’s exquisite,” she said, as she touched the stones set in filigree gold.

  “It was my mother’s. She left each of us jewelry to pass on to our wives.”

  Jane shook her head. “I can’t wear this even as a loan for the night. It wouldn’t be right.”

  Ned placed his hand on her shoulder. “Why not? I’ve asked you to be my wife and while I’m quite aware you haven’t said yes, I’m still hopeful you might. Can you not simply wear the necklace tonight? Give it a test run? I also have earbobs for you,” he said, as he held them out for her to see.

  Maybe it was his hand on her shoulder or the depth of his gaze as she met his eyes in the mirror. Or maybe she wanted one night where she could pretend everything would be all right, but Jane finally nodded, then put on the earbobs.

  As she turned to leave the room, Ned pulled her to him and kissed her. But before they could deepen it, there was a knock at the door and a maid announced that the rest of their party was waiting.

  Jane left the room, acutely aware of the man behind her.

  * * *

  Lady Crenshaw’s ball was, as always, a supreme crush. One of the most coveted invitations of the season, it mattered little that the so-called impromptu ball had been announced a mere forty-eight hours earlier. The ballroom looked like the affair had been planned for months. Ned felt sorry for the poor staff, who had undoubtedly worked through the night with little if any sleep.

  Lady Crenshaw preened when the duke and his party were announced. She squeezed Ned’s fingers when he lifted her hand to his lips, saying something about what a naughty boy he’d been. Ned thought it was an odd reference to the Huntington matter, until he saw Lord and Lady Barrington standing nearby with their daughters. Ned cursed silently and wondered how quickly he could leave for home. He’d rather risk a hanging than marriage to that chit. Luckily for him, her gaze was intent on Liam, allowing Ned to sneak past her.

  Lady Crenshaw was most definitely not pleased when she was introduced to Jane. But as Lynwood had predicted, their aunt welcomed Jane into her home, even if it was with the warmth of an ice sculpture.

  As Ned led Jane into the ballroom, he could feel the tension in her body. Outwardly, she was the same, strong woman who’d faced down his brother and a Bow Street runner. It was only because he knew her so well that he could feel she was nervous.

  “You’ve nothing to worry about,” he whispered into her ear. “No one would dare cut you in the presence of the Kellington family.”

  Jane looked up into the face that had grown so dear to her. “But don’t you see? There are some issues that cannot be solved by a family name. They might not give me the cut direct tonight, but you and I shall be talked about in drawing rooms throughout Mayfair tomorrow and for many weeks to come.”

  “Why do you care about gossip?”

  “I only care when it hurts those I love, like Vi and…” Jane stopped her cursed tongue just in time.

  “Those you love, like Vi and whom?” he asked intently.

  “That’s not important right now.”

  “The devil it isn’t. Like Vi and whom?”

  “You! All right, you!” said an exasperated Jane.

  Ned grinned and tried to remember all the reasons he wasn’t supposed to kiss her in the middle of his aunt’s stuffy ballroom.

  “Stop looking like you want to create a scandal when we’re here to end one,” Jane said, reading his thoughts quite easily.

  “But creating a scandal is so much more fun than cleaning up after one.”

  “Ned, listen to me. What I said before…”

  “You mean, about loving me?”

  She looked around. “Stop saying that! Someone will hear you.”

  “So what if they do?”

  “You’re still under suspicion for murder, and we have yet to address the underlying problem of what to do about us.”

  But his grin was irrepressible. “While I would truly hate to be hanged right as life was finally getting interesting, there’s no question of what to do about us. We’ll be married and be a family, of course.”

  Jane’s heart skipped a beat at the very thought. But she knew matters couldn’t be settled as easily as that. “Do you see Vi and me moving into Kellington House?”

  “Only at first. I’ll find us a place of our own nearby. We can visit Marston Vale during the summers and we’ll give Vi plenty of brothers and sisters. I wouldn’t mind going home to start that part right now.”

  “Ned, I can’t leave Marston Vale,” she said, wishing it weren’t true. “Those people need me.”

  “We’ll find another surgeon for them.”

  “But I like being their surgeon.”

  Ned looked at her. “I don’t want to live in a backwater country village. And I don’t want my wife getting called away at all hours of the day and night.”

  “And that, dear Ned, is why I said there are some problems that can’t be solved just by the use of the Kellington name,” she said softly.

  Ned had never seriously considered he might not get what he wanted with Jane, simply because he’d always gotten what he wanted with everyone. It was a distinctly unpleasant sensation.

  But he was cut off from questioning her further, and most likely demanding her acquiescence, by Arthur, who swept Jane into a dance. Ned was then swarmed by many of the unmarried women in the room, as well as a few matrons who never let their marital status interfere with their social lives. Kellington men were never overlooked in a ballroom, and being a murder suspect had done nothing to diminish his popularity.

  While acting like the unconcerned aristocrat who had nothing to fear from Bow Street, Ned kept his eye on Jane, who danced first with Arthur, then Hal – who held her too close, and from his smirk knew exactly what effect it was having on his brother – followed by Lynwood and that dandy Wills Overton, who had the audacity to claim her for the supper dance.

  Ned knew Jane was in need of friends and he shouldn’t begrudge her the chance to visit with an old acquaintance. But it would be much easier to be magnanimous if she’d agreed to marry him and move to London.

  To keep himself from grabbing Overton by his ridiculously complex cravat, Ned went in search of Lord Barrington to set the Madeline situation to rights. But now that he finally wanted to find the man, he was nowhere in sight. However, every woman Ned had ever had a liaison with seemed to be in attendance and have the idea that he was up for grabs.

  He had the quite lowering thought that if he lost Jane, he would be.

  * * *

  “You seem to be many miles away,�
� said Wills as he expertly led Jane through the dance amidst the whispers of those around them.

  “Forgive me. It’s been a rather overwhelming night.” Overwhelming and tedious, she thought. At least it was when she wasn’t with Ned.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d be here, so soon after your grandfather’s death.” Wills squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes in what Jane imagined to be his most sympathetic look, if not wholly sincere.

  “It is unusual, but I felt I should show support for Lord Edward.”

  “Are you sure that’s wise?”

  She bristled at the thought of anyone being critical of Ned or any of the Kellingtons. “He and his family have been most kind to me.

  “But how much do you really know about them? How can you be sure he didn’t have something to do with the earl’s death? Perhaps he had an accomplice and they staged that bump on the head to deflect suspicion.”

  Jane stopped in her tracks. “How can you say such a thing?”

  Wills swept her back into the dance. “Come, Jane, you don’t want to make yourself more conspicuous than you already are. How can you not even consider the possibility? You’ve always been most practical, my dear. Don’t let your head be swayed by a handsome man – unless it’s me, of course – with a powerful name. What could be better for the Kellington family than to have you as a guest in their aunt’s home, giving your blessing to the man who quite possibly killed your grandfather?”

  “And what would Lord Edward gain by killing him?”

  “Perhaps he feared our friendship might grow into something deeper. Stranger things have happened. He might’ve gone to Huntington to demand your hand in marriage, then become enraged when he was refused.”

  “A man like Lord Edward could marry any woman of the ton and I daresay all of them would be a much more eligible match for him.”

  “There are rumors that your grandfather’s study had been ransacked. Perhaps there were documents pertaining to your allowance that he wished to read. It was no secret in Marston Vale that you had an inheritance and your grandfather was somehow keeping it from you. Second sons often have very little to live on. He might’ve been looking into your finances to see if offering for you would be worth his while. I mean that in the best possible way, of course, and not at all unkindly.”

  Jane was savvy enough to know that most ton marriages were financial transactions, but if this was Wills Overton’s idea of not being unkind, he didn’t know much about women.

  The music ended and he put his hand on the small of her back to escort her into dinner. If Ned had touched her like that, his hand would’ve burned a hole through her dress. But Wills’s touch didn’t affect her at all. In fact, he didn’t seem entirely comfortable with it.

  She and Wills found their seats and had just begun to eat, when Lady Crenshaw rose.

  “Thank you all for coming tonight – especially on such short notice. I probably shouldn’t have even held this ball, since I didn’t have time to properly prepare.”

  The lady paused at that moment, presumably to accept accolades from her guests about how beautiful the ballroom had been, how delicious the food was and how divine the music. Not surprisingly, those comments immediately materialized. After she’d basked in the glow she’d most determinedly asked for, Lady Crenshaw continued.

  “But tonight’s ball has a second purpose, besides the chance to see my dear friends. And that is to announce the betrothal of my nephew Lord Edward Kellington to the Honorable Miss Madeleine Merriman.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  There was a moment of stunned silence, then the room erupted. One of the ton’s most eligible bachelors had just been taken off the market by a country miss, the daughter of a rather obscure viscount. The mamas and their eligible daughters were outraged, but clapped along with the rest, even if their faces did look strained. The unmarried men who had no interest in marrying laughed and clapped, finding it hard to believe that a Kellington would succumb to a leg shackle this side of forty. The unmarried men who were desperate to find wives to support them were delighted there’d be one less Kellington in competition. And the unhappily married ladies simply clapped and counted the months until he’d once again be circulating among them – assuming he’d cease in the first place.

  But Jane’s heart stopped. As a surgeon, she knew it hadn’t really, but it certainly felt like it. It was as if the wind had been knocked out of her and she’d been kicked in the stomach by a horse. It was quite a physical reaction caused by just a few sentences.

  When she finally got a hold of herself, she looked up to see the reactions of the Kellington family. The duke was moving grimly toward his aunt. Arthur and Hal, with equally dour expressions, were trying to stop Lizzie from storming off to confront Lady Crenshaw. And Ned was rather calmly walking toward his fiancée.

  It was too much for Jane. “If you’ll excuse me, Wills, I’d like to get some air.”

  She rose from the table, then returned to the ballroom on unsteady legs. She was almost to the French doors, when she felt a hand on her elbow.

  Wills had caught up to her.

  “Jane, I’m so sorry. Didn’t you know this was about to happen?”

  Speech was beyond her. She simply shook her head no.

  “Come with me,” he said, as he led her out onto the terrace. “You must’ve known that Madeleine and Kellington have been engaged since birth. You’d heard her talk of it enough.”

  “She never mentioned a name.”

  “Then he appeared in Marston Vale and that’s all anyone could talk about.”

  “But he told me this was all a misunderstanding. He intended to break things off with her.” This couldn’t be happening, could it? Jane felt dizzy, sick to her stomach.

  “I’m sure that’s what he wanted you to believe,” said Wills gently. “And it may even have been what he wanted in his heart. But the Duke of Lynwood thinks of nothing but his family’s reputation. I’m sure he insisted his brother go through with the marriage. I just hope Lord Edward didn’t lead you on and make promises he couldn’t keep. I hope he wasn’t a cad. Was he, Jane?”

  He gently pulled her to him. He looked into her eyes, then whispered softly, “I’m your friend, Jane. If you ever need anything, all you need to do is ask.”

  Jane looked at the handsome man holding her in the moonlight. Then she nodded.

  * * *

  From inside the ballroom near the French doors, Ned thought his head might explode. That Overton bastard who was masquerading as a friend was about to kiss Jane. And what was worse, she was going to let him. She had to know he’d had nothing to do with that damned announcement. But he was so worried about her reaction that he hadn’t taken the time to straighten the mess out tonight. He’d simply told Madeleine he’d call on her in the morning, then hurried to keep Jane and Overton in sight. He didn’t trust the man, and now he could plainly see his instincts had been correct.

  After a few more words, Jane turned to re-enter the ballroom through the French doors while the rat Wills Overton remained on the terrace. Ned idly wondered if there was a handy flower pot on a third story window he could fling onto the man’s head. It was worth a quick run upstairs to check.

  As Jane was about to pass by, Ned grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, partially hidden by a curtain.

  “Let go of me,” said Jane with anger and hurt in her eyes. “You lied to me.”

  “I didn’t. I’m not engaged to Madeleine Merriman and have no intention of becoming so, a fact I’ll make perfectly clear to her tomorrow.”

  “Hundreds of guests just heard the announcement. There’s no way you can break the engagement – even if you supposedly wanted to.”

  “I will break it. But the more important issue is what in blazes you were about going off alone with Wills Overton.”

  “I needed a breath of air and he was kind enough to take me.”

  “There’s nothing kind about the man. He’s after you and wants to strike when you’re mo
st vulnerable. He probably thinks you’re easy pickings right now.”

  “Thank you for that lovely compliment, my lord. How you do turn a girl’s head.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Ned!” she said, looking over his shoulder. “There’s Evan Cantwell!”

  Ned’s jealously was quickly replaced by anger. “How dare he come to my aunt’s home?”

  “Could there be a connection between him and my grandfather?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He proposed to me, even knowing how I felt about him. Could he have learned about the money?” Jane thought that would help explain why he’d moved from wanting her to be his mistress to trying to convince her to be his wife.

  “There’s one way to find out.”

  Ned began moving toward the man. Cantwell looked up and after the shock of recognition, ran through the terrace doors to the back garden.

  Ned turned to Jane. “I’m going after him.”

  She grabbed his arm. “You can’t go alone. If he is mixed up in this, he could be dangerous.”

  “So am I, love. Find my brothers and tell them where I’ve gone. But I must go now so I don’t lose him.”

  With that he was gone.

  * * *

  “You wanted to see me, Miss Merriman?”

  The Duke of Lynwood was standing in the library alone with Madeleine Merriman. He’d been handed a note moments earlier by a footman, requesting the meeting. He was none too happy with Miss Merriman and her family, but was curious as to why he’d been summoned.

  She was wearing a light pink gown that was low-cut enough to leave little to the imagination. Miss Merriman had a pleasing figure and was truly one of the most beautiful women at the ball. But Lynwood rarely let himself be swayed by the superficial.

  “Your grace,” she said, as she curtsied deeply and bent forward just enough to highlight her breasts, as if they weren’t already on prominent display. “I just wanted to apologize for surprising you tonight. But when Lady Crenshaw heard about the engagement, she insisted on announcing it at her ball. I didn’t want to hurt the dear lady’s feelings.”