Page 15 of Twice Upon a Midnight

The night of the ball, everyone who attended had handed their invitations to the master of ceremonies, who dutifully placed them into a crystal bowl so that Her Grace could later send notes filled with her gratitude for attending their little soirée and for welcoming them back to London—even if the duke, duchess, and Ella hadn’t spoken one word to them during the party. Even if they hadn’t met them at all and wouldn’t recognize them if they passed them on the street. But the card collection served a purpose, and now both she and Mama had hoped it would help them find her unknown dance partner.

Contrary to what Papa had assumed, there were only eight men who possessed the initialsSandR, in either order, and the duchess decided that those eight should have their notes personally delivered by her…and Ella.

So they had set out that afternoon for Mayfair and the townhouse rented by Sir Sebastian Randolph. When they arrived, however, the short, rather pompous man who greeted them certainly wasn’t the masked man in the shadows who had taken her breath away with his wit and kisses. Yet they had to stay for tea, refreshments, and superficial conversation…until Sir Sebastian asked if Her Grace might intercede on his behalf with Durham to support a canal bill he wanted to present to Parliament. That was when Mama feigned a terrible headache so they could leave and somehow avoided promising to call on him again.

The second man on their list was no closer to being her masked man. Robert Sampson, assistant to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was tall, skinny as a post, and pleasant enough, but watching rain dry on a window pane would have been more exciting than conversing with him. Ella was ready to take a long nap by the time they left his house an hour and a half later.

By then, the afternoon was over, and the duchess had directed the coachman to take them home.

Ella was beginning to believe she’d never see Spenser again.

“We had eight men on our list,” her mother reminded her. “We are now down to only six. That is a first-rate start, I daresay. We need to have patience.”

“What if we never find him?” she whispered, nearly unwilling to put voice to her fears. What if she never had the chance to speak with him again, dance with him in the shadows, kiss him…or perhaps more, if their next encounter didn’t end at midnight?

“Do not give up hope.” Her mother placed her hand lovingly over Ella’s. “In my experience, what a person is looking for is always found in the very last place one looks.”

“Of course it is,” she grumbled. “Because one stops looking as soon as it’s found, thus always making it found in the last place.”

“And since we have not yet found what we’re looking for,” Mama announced confidently, “we have not yet found our last place to look.”

Her mother smiled, proud of her circular argument, and leaned back against the squabs as the carriage’s wheels rumbled beneath them. She gave a final pat to Ella’s hand as if she’d conclusively proven her point.

Suppressing a long-suffering sigh, Ella turned toward the window. She didn’t have the heart to keep arguing against logic like that.

“Tomorrow,” her mother said with absolute determination, “we’ll call upon the next two men on our list and the next two the day after that, if we have to, until we’ve called upon all of them. We’ll find him eventually, you’ll see.”

Ella nodded, if only because it would make her mother feel better. She wasn’t certain she could continue to dash her hopes like this for the next three days.

They arrived home. The carriage stopped in the forecourt in front of the portico, and the tiger rushed forward to flip down the step and help them to the ground. The duchess linked arms with Ella and led her into the house, only for both women to halt in their tracks just inside the entrance hall.

Ella’s eyes grew wide as saucers. Vases of all kinds of flowers filled the room to overflowing, along with baskets of rose petals and English ivy. Every inch of the mahogany and ivory side table was awash with flowers, while more covered the narrow tables flanking both sides of the room. Even more sat on the floor, in the corners, in the wall niches decorating the curving stairs’ wall beneath the marble statues already standing there…even on the stairs themselves.

“Heavens,” her mother mumbled beneath her breath. “While we were out, someone turned our entry hall into a greenhouse.”

“Apparently,” Ella replied. She turned toward a frazzled-looking Hendricks as the butler hurried into the hall at their arrival. “Hendricks, what on earth…?”

“They’ve been arriving all day, my lady,” he answered, closing the doors behind them and holding out his hands as the two women dutifully gave over their wraps, bonnets, and gloves. “I started by putting them in the drawing room, but then all the tables there became covered. The same with the music room, the dining room…I didn’t know where else to put them all.”

“It’s all right, Hendricks,” Mama assured him as she crossed to the table and touched one of the roses in a large arrangement. “I’m certain you’ve done the best you could under these…most trying circumstances.”

Not noticing the way her lips twisted to keep down at smile at his expense, Hendricks nodded with deep relief. “Thank you, Your Grace.”

The duchess asked, “But who are they all from?”

“The gentlemen who attended the ball, ma’am. And some who didn’t.” He paused, the normally unflappable butler vexed by unending blooms, and muttered beneath his breath, “Apparently from every gentleman in London.” He glanced at Ella in sympathy. “They’re mostly for Lady Elenora.”

“Me?” Ella blinked, surprised, and walked forward to join her mother by the table. Men were sending her dozens of flowers? Heavens! But it was more than just flowers, she noted as she scanned the room. Porcelain figurines, cut crystal glassware, chocolates and candies, yards of ribbons, fine lace—

Her mouth fell open. Good lord, someone had even sent her a goldfish in a bowl!

“You’ve made quite the impression on London,” her mother whispered in her ear and squeezed Ella’s elbow with pride. “I daresay, some might call it a conquest!”

Ella choked down a strangled laugh of disbelief. She hadn’t conquered anything! No, she’d simply been announced. No—rather, her position as an heiress and daughter of one of the most important dukes in the kingdom had been announced. None of these gifts were truly for her. They were for her wealth and position. They were nothing but aristocratic bribery.

She grimaced. “I think we should just toss the lot of them into—” The words caught in her throat as her eyes landed on one of the non-floral gifts, tucked behind a basket of flowers almost in afterthought.A book.

Her fingers shook as she reached for it because she knew before she even read the title on the cover—it was a collection of Byron’s poetry.