“You must ask Mrs. Starr where Ellie lived. Then we must go there and speak to her landlord and to her neighbors. Someone had to have seen a man milling around. There’s a very good probability that man is responsible for her death.”
Chapter 8
That night Forrester escorted Dot and his sister to a musical. To make the evening even more enjoyable, Mrs. Gainsworth, who surely must have seamstresses employed around the clock, sent over a pair of extraordinary dresses from which Dot could select this evening’s ensemble. She settled on an exquisite dress of crimson crepe with a long-sleeved robe of the same colour, its center opening trimmed entirely in ermine. Dot paired it with ivory satin slippers trimmed in silver.
“Each time I see you, you’re more beautiful,” Forrester told her when he collected her. She could tell by the sparkle in his mossy eyes he was sincere.
She had never held hands with a man before, so when his fingers laced through hers when handing her into the coach, it caused a significant fluttering in her chest.
Miss Appleton sat across from her in the carriage, and her betrothed came to sit next to her, once more clasping her hand in his. Would she ever grow accustomed to being close to him like this? Would the day ever come when she was so immune to his touch that he no longer elicited a tingling in her nerve endings?
When they arrived at their destination and she realized how much finer her dress was than Miss Appleton’s, she felt wretched. She was much too fond of her future sister to do anything that would put that lady ill at ease.
That afternoon her father had told her the Appletons were not very affluent. Dot vowed that when she and Forrester were married she would take the Appleton sisters to Mrs. Gainsworth’s and pay for all their finery.
The very idea of having sisters was almost as thrilling as having their brother for her husband.
To her surprise, the musical was held in the ballroom of the Upper Assembly Room. Forrester had explained that these gracious rooms were often pressed into use for musicals on non-dancing nights.
It was such a windy, cool evening, she was happy to get inside. There, she was pleased to see Glee Blankenship standing at the rear of the half-filled room with an incredibly handsome man. “Is that Mrs. Blankenship’s husband?” she whispered to Forrester.
He stared across the chamber. “Yes, that’s Blanks. Come, allow me to introduce you.”
Dot already thought Glee and her sister, Felicity, were the most beautiful women she had ever beheld, and now she thought Gregory Blankenship, whom, everyone referred to as Blanks, was undoubtedly the most handsome man she had ever seen. He was quite tall—and not just because he was standing beside his wife, who was much smaller than average. In addition, Blanks was possessed of dark eyes and thick, dark hair cut in a fashionable style. Everything about the man’s dress bespoke impeccable taste. She recalled having heard that he was in possession of a large fortune—a fortune he had voluntarily shared with his younger half-brother.
“My dear Miss Pankhurst,” her betrothed said to her when they reached the handsome couple, “I should like to present to you one of my oldest friends, Gregory Blankenship.” Then he looked at his friend. “Blanks, Miss Pankhurst has done me the goodness of consenting to become my wife.”
Glee shrieked. Blanks congratulated both of them. Glee threw her arms around Dot. “I am just so very happy for you! I knew when I saw you two together you would be perfect for one another!” Then Glee turned to Forrester. “You’ve done very well for yourself, Appleton. And it’s well past time you settle down.”
“Indeed it is, old fellow,” Blanks added.
“So all of you men met as young lads at Eton?” Dot asked. She was uncommonly happy with Forrester standing beside her, his hand resting possessively at her waist. He gave every indication of being proud to be her prospective husband. Which made her feel as if her chest had expanded by several inches.
Blanks nodded. “Yes. George, who’s Glee’s brother as well as the current Viscount Sedgewick; Sir Elvin and his twin; Appleton; and myself. That’s five of us”
“Moreland’s the only one who’s the . . . outsider, so to speak,” Forrester said.
Her brows lowered. “Moreland?”
“I don’t believe you’ve met him,” Miss Appleton said. “He’s married to Mrs. Blankenship’s sister.”
Dot nodded. “The beautiful blonde.”
Each person there said, “Yes,” all at once.
“My sister lives just outside of Bath and doesn’t always come to events here.”
“You will have to see the Morelands’ place sometime,” Forrester told her. “It’s said to be the finest home in all of Somerset.”
“I daresay home is too modest a word for something as grand as Winston Hall,” Miss Appleton said.
Forrester chuckled. “Calling it a palace would be more accurate.”
So both beautiful sisters had married very wealthy men, and though the sisters came from an aristocratic family, neither of their husbands were from the nobility. It wasn’t uncommon for those with money to marry into pedigree. Isn’t that what her own father had wished for her? Forrester was offering his title in exchange for her money—not that she gave a fig for titles. She cared for the man, not the title. She hoped he cared for her, not her fortune.
She prayed there was more to this prospective marriage than a financial agreement. She had allowed herself to believe that Forrester had become her friend and champion before it could possibly have been known in Bath that she was an heiress.
“I hear you talking about this George quite a bit. Is he not in Bath?”
“That’s my brother,” Glee said. “He prefers his place in the country with his wife and children.”
Blanks nodded. “He’s certainly sown his fair share of wild oats. In the past.”
All at once, she sensed that Forrester stiffened. She looked up at him, and the pleasant expression on his face vanished. His gaze moved to
