Lady In Waiting Part 26

"I have a bone to pick with you, Mr. Lestrange."

"You do?"

"Yes, for we had an agreement."

A look of bewilderment came into his eyes. "Of course we do. And have you kept your half of the bargain by keeping my ident.i.ty a secret?"

"I have." She pulled her shoulders backward. This just had to work.

"And I have kept my half." He beckoned for her to lean down. "I have not reported your ident.i.ty, any of them, though I could have."

"But I have heard that tomorrow's Herald will reveal Lady Eros."

"Ah, I see." Hercule smiled with new understanding. "You've had a chat with Erma Soot."

Jenny rose up to her full height and set her hands on her slim hips. "As a matter of fact, I have. And here I took you for a man of honor," she added, hoping her teeth wouldn't fall out of her head for her lies, as her mother had warned her when she was a child.

Hercule Lestrange was clearly taken aback. "I have honored my vow to you." He crooked his finger and urged her to his level again. "Tomorrow, the usurper of Lady Eros's throne, the scullery maid, Erma, will be revealed and your business will be returned to you."

Jenny stared into the little man's wide eyes, and saw truth in them.

She was not going to lose Callum by morn after all. This little man, this beautiful little man, had saved her!

"I could kiss you, Hercule," she exclaimed. "In fact, I shall." And then, taking his oddly shaped head into her hands, she kissed both his cheeks.

Hercule Lestrange blushed fiercely. "My lady, people watch."

"I don't care. I really don't care. You are wonderful." She quieted suddenly as a very large question posed itself in her mind. "Why would you do this for me?"

The little man extended his hand to her and she took it, allowing him to lead her to a row of empty chairs at the floor's perimeter.

Hercule laid his chest upon the seat and swung his foot upward to pull himself upright in the chair. He patted the chair next to him, urging Jenny to join him. She did.

"Because, though I was dirty and my clothes were tattered-a look I often don to remain unnoticed by the ton-you treated me with great kindness-like a man. Not a small man, but a real man. You talked with me, allowed me to escort you home, then you invited me inside for something to eat. I don't know why you did that, and I don't care. For the first time in many years, someone saw the man inside this small, mangled body. And for that," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "I am grateful, Miss Penny."

Jenny's eyes were filling with tears again and she hugged Hercule to her breast.

"Here now, careful there, miss. Or you'll learn just how much of a real man I can be."

When she pulled abruptly back, he gave her a wicked smile, and she laughed. There was a nudge at her back, knocking Jenny forward in her chair. She turned and looked up to see Meredith rising from a chair behind her. Until that moment, Jenny hadn't noticed that the girl was near.

Certainly, Meredith had heard every word, for as she walked across the dance floor, Jenny saw her busily scrawling down the little man's roguish words in her book of observations.

When Jenny returned her attention to Hercule, she saw him gazing at the opal brooch she wore. In fact, he was studying the sparking bauble most intently.

His ruddy brows s.h.i.+rred for a moment. "Where did you get this?" he asked, looking up at her face.

"'Twas a gift from my father when I was a child."

"A gift, you say? Might I ask your father's name?"

"You might ask, but I cannot answer." Jenny shrugged her shoulders. "My mother will not say."

His eyes s.h.i.+fted to the brooch, and narrowed slightly. "May I?" he asked, reaching for the opal pin.

"How queerly you look at my brooch. Is it familiar to you? Perhaps you've seen one like it before."

Releasing the brooch from his thick fingers, Hercule looked up at her with a distracted smile. "Perhaps." He exhaled a long breath. "It is quite lovely. Guard it well this eve."

"Guard it?"

Hercule glanced about the room until he found what he was searching for. "Look there. The woman and the two men."

Jenny followed his gaze. To her surprise, she found herself looking directly at the woman in red-whom she'd seen in the Pump Room and then at Bartleby's-along with her two dandy escorts.

"Yes, I've seen those three before. Something is not right about them. They... they don't belong."

"Very astute, Miss Penny. I've been watching them too. I believe they are the swell gang responsible for the thefts in Bath these past weeks. Still, I've not been able to prove it."

"I'll be wary of them. You can be certain of that."

Hercule patted her hand. "Forget them for now. Go back to your man. I see he is waiting for you."

Jenny looked up and briefly met Callum's warm gaze. She smiled back and acknowledged him with a slight wave of her hand.

Though it would be difficult to simply forget about the swell gang prowling the ball, she had far more important things to worry about.

She came to her feet. "Thank you, Mr. Lestrange, for everything."

"And thank you, my s.h.i.+ny penny. Until we meet again." Hercule Lestrange tipped his head to her.

Jenny smiled once more at the strange but wonderful little man, then walked a few feet before turning again to wave good-bye. But when she did, he was gone. Perplexed, she glanced around the ballroom. Lud, he had absolutely disappeared.

With a confused shrug, Jenny had just started through the milling throng when someone slammed into her, knocking her breath from her lungs in a great whoosh.

She clutched her ribs, gasping for air. When the dark specks dancing in her eyes finally cleared from her vision, she noticed with horror that her father's opal brooch was missing!

The swell gang. Spotting the woman in red hurrying away ahead of her, Jenny raced through the crowd. Catching the woman up, she grabbed her wrist and spun her around.

"Give it back," she hissed, before dropping her voice to a low, menacing tone. "I know what you are and shan't hesitate to expose you."

The woman smirked at this and pulled her own wrist close so quickly that Jenny was hauled against her.

"I see you and the dwarf have become quite close. But just as the two of you can see we do not belong here-we have been watching you as well. You, Miss Penny... or shall I say Lady Eros, have not the standing to be in this a.s.sembly room either. And I shall not hesitate an instant to expose you... if I must."

Jenny shook so violently that she feared the ties of her corset would unthread. "You wouldn't dare it," she managed, surrept.i.tiously glancing at her opal brooch clutched in the woman's hand.

"Darling, I would. So be an obedient maid and leave us be-we have work to do." Seeing the path of Jenny's gaze, the woman tightened her grip around the brooch.

"Return the brooch to me." Jenny glared at the woman with a level of loathing she'd never felt in her life.

Her intensity seemed to unnerve the thief, and the woman's gaze darted about the room until she found her cohorts. Then a cold smile iced her lips.

Jenny couldn't help but turn to see what the woman had seen. There, walking between the two dandies toward the open doors, dripping with every jewel she owned, was the frail, tiny Lady Viola.

Heavens, why was she leaving the ballroom with them? Jenny's eyes scoured the ballroom for Callum, but when she finally glimpsed him, he was standing just below the blaring orchestra preparing to join in an English country dance with Meredith.

Even if she shouted for his a.s.sistance, he'd likely never hear her.

Jenny became light-headed. She was frantic. "Please. Take the brooch. It's yours. But leave Lady Viola alone," she begged. "Please."

The woman laughed. "Oh, I'll keep the brooch. And whatever we get from the old hag." She hoisted Jenny's chin up with her middle finger. "And you won't say a bleedin' word. Or I'll tell the entire a.s.sembly who you really are. What will your viscount think then? Or does he already know?"

Heat suffused Jenny's cheeks at the comment, but she said nothing.

"Hah, I thought not."

Swallowing very hard, Jenny glanced at Lady Viola who had paused to chat with a friend before crossing the threshold with the dandies. She had only seconds to do something.

"Call off your snakes now." There was a strange determination in Jenny's voice; a cool calmness. A new strength.

"I don't care what you say about me, but I will not allow those men to leave this ballroom with my lady."

The woman sneered back at her. "I don't believe you."

Jenny held the woman's wrist tight in her right hand as she shot an accusatory finger to the dandies, who even now were trying to urge Lady Viola through the door.

"Thieves!" Jenny shouted until the last breath in her lungs was expelled. "Stop those thieves!"

The orchestra ceased playing and the entire a.s.sembly seemed to turn to stare.

"Stop them!" Jenny screamed again. "The dandies by the door-and this woman here!"

A distinguished, gray-haired gentleman snapped his fingers and two burly footmen rushed forward to seize the two dandies.

The collective audience gasped as the gray-haired man closed on them and withdrew ring, after pendant, after watch from the dandies' deep pockets.

Shocked cries of owners.h.i.+p bubbled up and burst through the crowd, as ladies and gentlemen pushed forward to retrieve their stolen belongings.

Two men stepped forward and took hold of the woman in red. Jenny pried the brooch from her fingers, and didn't care a whit that the pin poked the thief's hand as she retrieved it.

"You've made a grave mistake, gel." The woman glowered at Jenny. "And now you will repent."

Callum rushed forward and took Jenny into his arms. She clung to him, knowing in all certainty that this was the last time he would hold her ever again.

"Hear me, good people of Bath! I wish to confess," the woman shouted and at once a hush washed over the a.s.sembly.

Even Callum released Jenny from his embrace to listen to what the thief would say.

"Callum." Jenny tugged pitifully at his sleeve, and he turned to look down into her eyes. Jenny worked the muscles of her throat to swallow her dread and eased Callum's betrothal ring from her finger. "Know that I love you. No matter what happens, my love is true."

The skin around Callum's eyes crinkled. "I do know, Jenny. But why are ye tellin' me this now?"

Taking his hand in hers, she pressed the ring into his palm. "I'm sorry, Callum. I love you... but... I'm so sorry."

Callum's dark brows cinched. "Jenny, what's wrong? Why are ye givin' back me ring?"

A dark, seething grin spread across the thief's pointed face. "Because of what I am about to say."

At her words, Callum turned his gaze to the thief once more.

The crowd continued to gather ever closer, heating the still air. Jenny gasped for breath.

"A thief I may be, but I do not lie," the woman stated with a strength and clarity of voice that allowed her words to touch every corner of the expansive a.s.sembly room.

This is it.

The thief arched a sardonic brow at Jenny. "I have stumbled upon a truth that might interest you all. This woman before you is not the lady she pretends to be."

A rumble of voices rose up like dust around Jenny. Her head began to spin and she began to swoon.

The woman leveled a sneer her way. "No, this woman is Miss Jenny Penny, a lady's maid within the Featherton household."

Jenny could not make herself look up at Callum, even as she felt his gaze burning down upon her.

A dull roar of conversation welled up from the two hundred people swarming around her, all jockeying for a glimpse of the imposter.

Then the thief's voice grew louder still. "But she is no ordinary lady's maid. She is famous. Yes, yes, you all have heard of her." She paused then, until the room fell into utter silence.

Jenny squeezed her eyes shut. Air. She needed air, needed to breathe, but her corset was too tight, the room too warm, the crowd was too close.

"For you see, good citizens of Bath... she is none other than Lady Eros!"

The mob roared, forcing Jenny's lashes to fly open. To her horror, she found herself staring straight upward into Callum's face.

His eyes were blank, the muscles in his cheeks had fallen lax leaving his mouth half open with shock.

Reaching out to her, he desperately grasped her shoulders.

"Tell me 'tisna true." Callum's voice. "Tell me, Jenny, and I will believe ye. Please."

Jenny looked up at him and channeled every bit of strength she had into uttering three simple, yet d.a.m.ning words. "'Tis true, Callum." A tear ran down her cheek. "I wanted to tell you. I truly did."

Suddenly she could not breathe at all. Perspiration speckled her skin, darkness crowded her vision, and all at once, she felt herself falling.

She was swaying to and fro, almost like a babe rocked in a cradle.

"Jenny," sang a voice just beyond the reaches of her conscious grasp. "Wake, dear. You're almost there. Just open your eyes."