The Mask Revealed (The Jacobite Chronicles Book 2) by Julia Brannan Read Free Book Online Page B

She was deathly tired, and aware that she would need a good night’s sleep if she were to be able to carry out her plan effectively. She would endure the second hour of music, she decided, and then plead fatigue as an excuse to leave. Once alone with Sir Anthony, she would speak to him as little as possible, and hope he would keep his promise not to touch her until she wished it. This time tomorrow she would be on her way home, and that was some comfort.
    She took a glass of wine, and moved to hover at the edge of a group who were comparing tonight’s performance with a musical evening they had attended some weeks ago. She drank automatically, and realised suddenly that her glass was empty. She looked round for a waiter, and as if on cue, one appeared. She placed her glass on the tray and took another. As she raised it to her lips, a slender white hand descended on her shoulder.
    “May I be so bold as to caution you against drinking too quickly?” Lady Winter said. Beth took a small sip of wine rather than the huge gulp she had intended, and turned to meet the concerned gaze of the lady and her husband. Charlotte hovered in the background.
    “I see you are nervous, my dear child, as indeed was I when I was newly married to the inestimable Lord Winter.” The inestimable Lord Winter smiled smugly as his wife continued. “It is the most exciting time for any young woman, when she has found her perfect partner and is about to embark on a lifetime of bliss. But it is also a time when it is too easy to become intoxicated by imbibing too much in an attempt to allay one’s nerves.” Lady Winter glared at Beth’s glass as though it contained a demon, and Beth resolutely took another sip, to let the lady know that although she would take the advice on board, she was not about to relinquish her drink altogether.
    “Lord Winter and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you the greatest of happiness in your marriage.” She forbore from saying that she felt Beth would need more than good wishes if she were to make a success of this union. “Will you be joining us for the dancing when the music has ended?” The poor girl looked exhausted, although Lady Winter was too well bred to comment on this.
    “I would rather not, unless my husband wishes it,” replied Beth submissively. “I must confess to being a little weary. We are to spend tonight at his house, where we will stay for a few days until we sail for France.”
    “An excellent plan! It will give you the opportunity to become better acquainted in a tranquil environment before the distractions of the voyage take your attention from each other a little. Lord Winter and I did exactly the same thing, and it formed a solid foundation for the happy life we have since enjoyed together.”
    Beth wondered vaguely if she would have been expected to call her husband ‘Sir Anthony’ in public for the next twenty years. It was irrelevant now, in any case.
    “Yes, I think that is my husband’s intention.” She took another sip of wine and attempted to move away, intending to find Caroline and Edwin. It had struck her suddenly that if she were to leave London tomorrow, she would be unlikely to see them for a long time, if ever, depending on the view they took of her desertion of Sir Anthony. The realisation came like a blow to her, and she felt a need to at least exchange a few words with them, even if she could not divulge her plans.
    “Of course,” fluttered Charlotte, moving forward to unintentionally block Beth’s escape route. “Sir Anthony is the most delightful man. He reminds me greatly of my own dear Frederick…oh, I am sorry…” Her voice faltered, and she raised a scrap of lace to her eyes, swaying slightly as she remembered the lost bliss of her own short marriage.
    Beth was aware of a sudden commotion around her husband, who was now standing by the open door, taking a little fresh air and making desultory conversation with Thomas Fortesque, father of