Damsel in Distress? (6 page)

“Well, you became weak; I’m surprised you managed as well as you did. I didn’t actually think I would get you out of the park, let alone all the way back here. Anyway, I had to carry you the rest of the way. You put your arms trustingly around my neck and I promised you then I wouldn’t let anyone ever hurt you again.” He took a deep breath and leaned forward until his lips were inches from hers and she could feel his breath caress her face. “I mean it, Harriet; I won’t let anyone get near you. You are safe with me.” He kissed her brow and stood up from the chair. “I’ll see you tonight,” he said and walked out of the room.

She raised her hand and placed it on her racing heart. Why did that last bit sound like a promise?

Chapter 12

“Harriet. Harriet, wake up.” A hand grasped her shoulder and was gently shaking her awake. Slowly the voices in her head receded and she was able to open her eyes. Philip was standing over her with tousled hair and unbuttoned shirt. “You were dreaming,” he said and sat back down.

He shut his eyes but she was certain he hadn’t gone back to sleep. “Sorry I woke you,” she said.

He opened his eyes again and looked at her by the light of the moon shining through the window. “It’s all right. Do you remember what it was that made you call out?”

She thought for a moment but again nothing came. “No. There were voices, but I can’t remember what they were saying. All I remember was a dark room with a light bulb swinging from the ceiling. Other than that and a sense of panic, nothing.”

Philip looked at her strangely.

“What?”

“A light bulb swinging from the ceiling? What is that?”

“Well, it’s a light bulb…swinging from a ceiling.” What was odd about that?

“I don’t know what you mean by a light bulb,” he said again.

The image flashed in her mind again and this time she saw the switch on the wall as well and the light lit up the whole room when it was flicked on. She looked at Philip and the candle in the holder on the table beside him. What was she remembering? Was she insane? A light that lit up the whole room? That couldn’t be right.

“I’m not sure either,” she stammered. “Just a weird dream, I suppose.”

Long after Philip had gone back to sleep she thought about the light and flicked it on and off in her mind. It seemed too real to be just something she’d thought up in a dream but surely if there was such a thing as that, they wouldn’t be using candles to see at night, would they?

She listened to Philip’s soft snores coming from the chair beside her and finally allowed herself to go back to sleep.

***

The next morning Cressandra brought her the paper to read. “As long as it doesn’t hurt your head to look at it,” she said when she handed it over.

Cressandra had also brought her a small mirror to look at herself with. Both of them thought it might jar her memory, but no such luck. She looked like a stranger to herself. The swelling had receded and her eye was back to normal size now and the bruising on her face and under her jaw was almost gone. Harriet touched her head and the lump on her skull wasn’t as large as before either. Soon there would be no evidence of her mishap…except the fact she couldn’t remember who she was.

After Cressandra left, Harriet opened the paper. She flicked through most of it. Nothing seemed familiar, but she stopped at the gossip section.

A certain gentleman has been missing from the usual events these last few weeks. Perhaps something or someone has taken his interest from the marriage mart. But what, or should I say who, has captured his attention?

Harriet wondered who the mystery man was and why anyone cared that he wasn’t attending balls and parties.

It became a ritual for the next week for Cressandra to bring the paper up after breakfast. And as Harriet began to recover from her ordeal, they would chat about what had been going on in the world outside Harriet’s window.

She got stronger every day and spent most of her days sitting in the sun at the window seat. When Cressandra left, Harriet would quickly flick to the gossip section to see what was written about the mystery gentleman.

Today was a surprise.

It is a great pleasure to inform you all, dear readers, that tonight our certain elusive gentleman will be attending Lord and Lady Bingham’s ball for surely even he wouldn’t dare miss that!

Harriet was putting the paper down when Philip came into the room. She smiled up to him in greeting and handed him the paper.

“I see you are up and about today.” He smiled at her as she rose from the window seat and walked towards him. “I was hoping you were out of bed.”

She laughed. “Philip, I have been ‘out of bed’ for days now, as you well know. I just wish you would let me come out of my room.”

“That’s why I’m here. Come sit down, and I’ll tell you my plan.” He led her back to the window and handed her down to her seat. He remained standing. There wasn’t enough room on the seat for two without touching and he didn’t want to risk it. Not after the night she’d slept in his arms. A night he couldn’t erase from his thoughts.

Now she was feeling better he didn’t feel he needed to sleep in the chair next to her bed and the stronger she got, the more he felt pulled to her. He tried to limit contact with her during the day but made sure he still came to see her at night before she went to sleep.

He looked down at the paper in his hands and smiled. His sister had been visiting. He was glad Cressandra made the effort; she had been busy heading off the gossips all week. Especially since that fool woman had started writing about him in the paper. What rubbish! As if he was ever interested in the marriage mart.

“Tonight I am going to my friend’s ball. Lady Bingham always puts on a wonderful affair and I was wondering if you felt well enough to attend?”

Harriet looked at him in surprise, “Are you the certain elusive gentleman?”

It was not the reaction he was looking for. “What?”

Chapter 13

There was no cause to be nervous, Harriet kept telling herself as she looked in the mirror, but the butterflies in her stomach weren’t listening. An entire colony had taken up residence there.

Rebecca, the maid Cressandra had assigned her, tucked the last jasmine flower into her hair and smiled at her handiwork. “You’ll be the loveliest lady there, miss, that is for sure. These flowers smell divine; you won’t need any perfume. Lord Eaglestone will be the envy of all the gents, you just wait and see.”

Rebecca’s smile was infectious and despite feeling as though she could lose her lunch at any moment, Harriet smiled in return. Rebecca had managed to transform her into a princess.

The maid dabbed a light blushing of rouge on Harriet’s cheeks and handed her the tube Mrs Johnson had found in her clothing the night she arrived. The label
lip gloss
gave Harriet a fair idea as to what was inside. She twisted off the lid and slowly pulled it away from its base. A long-handled brush slid out of the tube revealing shiny gloss on its tip.

Both she and Rebecca looked at it for a moment before her maid could hold her tongue no longer. “Well, put it on. Oh miss, that looks lovely, like you’ve just been kissed!”

“It tastes like strawberries,” Harriet laughed, smacking her lips together.

They were still giggling when a knock sounded on her door and Cressandra poked her head in.

Rebecca’s smile disappeared and she instantly became the maid again and started tidying away the leftover flowers.

Harriet looked at her curiously but Cressandra swooped into the room. Her presence was not one you could ignore.

“Stand up, Harriet, let me see you. Oh yes, Rebecca did a lovely job on your hair and I just knew that gown would look better on you that me. The colour is absolutely stunning next to your skin.” Cressandra leaned closer. “What is that on your lips?” she asked. “They look wet.”

“Ummm, it’s umm, lip gloss,” Harriet stammered holding the tube up for Cressandra to see. She wasn’t sure why she felt guilty for wearing some gloss on her lips.

“Are you certain you wish to wear it? It does make you appear as though you have just been kissed. It may give the men present tonight the wrong impression.”

Harriet was sure she heard Rebecca say under her breath, “And it smells like strawberries.” Harriet had a hard time supressing a smile when she looked at Cressandra. She couldn’t, however, risk opening her mouth with the laughter lurking on the other side of her lips.

“Well, if you are quite certain, I’m sure Philip won’t object. Come on then, the carriage will be waiting.” Cressandra breezed from the room, leaving Harriet little option but to hastily grab her wrap and rush out the door and follow her down the stairs.

***

Philip didn’t think anything could steal his breath away like it did on the night Harriet was attacked in the park, but as he watched Harriet descend the stairs, his lungs stopped working. He didn’t care. If his last vision in this world was of an angel walking towards him with flowers in her hair and a smile lurking on her wet lips, he would die a happy man. The crystals on her silver gown caught the light of the chandelier above, sending prisms of colour dancing across the walls with each step she took. A faint smell of strawberries permeated the air and he longed to kiss the moisture off her lips.

“Philip, close your mouth,” Cressandra admonished him out the side of her lips.

His teeth snapped together with a crack and finally his lungs filled with oxygen. He was light-headed and had the overwhelming desire to sit down, preferably with Harriet on his knee, but otherwise reality had returned.

When had the protectiveness he felt towards Harriet been replaced by desire? He had always found her attractive, especially since her bruises started to fade. Of course finding her naked in her bed had helped stir the flames as well, but this? This was a feeling he was not familiar with. Something other than pure lust burned through his veins. Something he wasn’t prepared to analyse. Not right now, not with Harriet and his sister watching him so closely.

Harriet reached his side and the smile she had been hiding burst into full illumination. His gaze stayed on her lips, the desire to lick them was more than he could bear. He turned to the door without offering either woman his arm.

“Philip?” his sister called from the doorway. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Damnation,” he muttered under his breath. “I could use a drink right about now.” He walked back up the steps to the women waiting in the entrance of the house for him to escort them to the ball. If he was this distracted now, how was he going to manage with a hundred other men in the presence of Harriet tonight, he wondered as he handed them into the carriage?

Chapter 14

Their names rang out through the crowd as their arrival was announced to the room. As one, the entire congregation turned to watch them descend the stairs.

White prevailed as the colour of choice for most of the women in the room. Harriet felt as though she had walked into a bridal convention. There were colours of course, some women wore bright bold reds and greens, but they were worn either over or under the seemingly prerequisite white dress. Colour flashed from earrings and pendants, the odd shawl wove a bright thread of gold or red through pale buff. Diamonds shone in the flickering candle light, adding sparkle to the atmosphere.

Harriet could feel every single eye of the room upon her. “Why are they staring at us, Philip?” she asked out the side of her mouth. It was with great relief that her foot finally touched the floor at the bottom of the stairs without her having made a fool of herself by stumbling down the steps into the ballroom.

“I have no idea.” His voice sounded strained and when she turned to look at him, his jaw was clenched tight.

“Oh Philip, you know exactly why everyone is staring,” Cressandra said from his other side. “The only person you have ever escorted to anything is me. And of course it doesn’t help with what the
lady
in the gossip column has written.” She looked at Harriet and they shared a smile. “They all think you, Harriet, have been the one to capture his attention.”

Harriet felt a blush creep up her neck and hoped the dimness of the room would hide it from Cressandra’s sharp eyes. No such luck.

Cressandra threw back her head and laughed. “Well, I see he has captured your attention too!” She wandered off into the crowd, still laughing.

“I apologise on my sister’s behalf. That was not at all ladylike and she had no right to embarrass you tonight. I’m sorry.” Philip spoke low so no one else would hear their conversation. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to some of the other women,” he said as he swiped two glasses of champagne from a passing tray. He handed her one and downed his in one great gulp.

“Thirsty, Philip?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“What?” he asked looking startled. “Oh.” He looked at his empty glass. “I need a little liquid courage before I walk among the wolves.”

She followed his eyes to the groups of women scattered around the room looking in their direction and whispering behind their fans. Harriet peered into her own glass. “Perhaps you’re right,” she said, raised the flute to her lips and drained the lot.

Unfortunately by the time Philip led her to the first group the heat that’d warmed her insides and given her confidence was long gone and she found herself wishing something stronger than champagne was available.

Philip, the coward, left her amongst the smiling women soon after introducing her, making excuses about finding their hosts. As soon as he was out of sight, the smiles that’d graced the ladies’ faces moments before turned into sneers.

“So, Miss Harriet,” a blonde lady in a debutante’s white dress said in a sickly sweet tone, “how did you become acquainted with
our
Lord Eaglestone?”

Sarcasm rolled in waves off the blonde beauty. How could Philip be so cruel by leaving her with these vultures? Harriet felt the flush of embarrassment colour her face, but she pushed it away and straightened to her full height.

“Oh,” she replied, forcing a lazy drawl, “
Philip
and I have known each other for years, Miss…what did you say your name was again?”