But the gown was on, and swiftly being buttoned up the back as Victoria looked at herself in the mirror. She did look well in the gown. Heavens, it had been more than a year since she'd been dressed so, and Verbena was right: it did bring out the faintest pink in her cheeks. She bit her lips, bottom, then top, and they plumped and reddened as though they'd been kissed.
'Very nice, my lady,' Verbena told her, making a narrow braid from one long curl at the top of her crown. 'Ye have nothing to feel guilty fer, now. You've mourned your husband fully and completely, and whilst ye'll never stop loving him, ye must remember: You're still here, and ye still have a life to live.' She finished the braid and wound it around the rest of Victoria's hair, piled at the back of her head.
'Yes, a life. And a duty.' Her green-brown eyes glittered above her flushed cheeks.
Verbena's blue eyes met her gaze again. 'A duty you are well suited for.' She slipped the last pin into her hair and smiled with satisfaction. 'But it don't mean ye have to be a nun.'
Victoria nodded at her reflection, then rose from the chair. 'Time to go down to dinner, then. Perhaps I'll have a bit of gaiety before duty beckons me back to London.'
'I'm hoping you do, my lady. Ye deserve it.'
Victoria left her room on the second floor and made her way down to the drawing room, where the rest of the guests would gather before going in to dinner. She'd arrived only two hours earlier, and thus had had a short visit with Gwendolyn, and then had repaired to her room to change for dinner.
Now she walked into the large drawing room and found that several of the eleven who would be dining had already gathered. Three gentlemen stood near one side of the room, and appeared to be holding hostage a bottle of some golden liquid. One of them Victoria recognized as Gwendolyn's father, Viscount Claythorne. He was speaking with Baron Front worthy, Gwendolyn's most ardent suitor.
'Victoria! You look lovely.' Her friend rose and came to her side immediately. She was accompanied by an older, elegant woman. 'May I make my aunt, Mrs. Manley, known to you, Lady Rockley.'
Victoria curtsied and complimented the woman on her gown.
'Good evening, Lady Rockley.'
Victoria turned at George Starcasset's voice. He bowed over her proffered hand, and she made a brief curtsy. 'Good evening, Mr. Starcasset. I must thank you again for making me one of your party.'
'Gwendolyn and I are so very pleased to have you with us.' He smiled and tucked her hand over his arm. 'May I provide you with a sherry?'
'Indeed, that would be lovely.' Victoria cast a smile over her shoulder at Gwendolyn, who appeared to be not at all surprised at her brother's attentions. In fact, her friend's twinkling eyes told her that she was quite pleased with the situation.
'The others shall be joining us shortly. Mr. Berkley and his sister Miss Berkley, you might perhaps know, along with Mr. Vandecourt. And our other guest,' Starcasset told her as he presented her with a tulip-shaped glass, 'I am certain you will be quite pleased to meet. He is rather a celebrity.'
'A celebrity?' Victoria sipped the sweet sherry, looking up at Gwendolyn's brother with her head tilted gently to the side. How wonderful it felt to be thinking, not of vampires and stakes, not of losses and grief, but of the handsome gentleman who stood before her.
'Indeed. Dr. John Polidori, the author.'
Victoria blinked. No, apparently even here she could not get away from vampires.
Mr. Starcasset took her expression for confusion, and explained, 'He wrote the book
'Indeed,' Victoria murmured. It would be interesting to converse with Dr. Polidori. She wondered if he'd ever met a vampire. Quite unlikely, for he wouldn't be writing romantic novels about it if he had.
'Dr. Polidori and Mr. Vioget arrived only some minutes ago, and they hastened to change for dinner. We will wait for their arrival before going in to supper. Lady Rockley, is something the matter?'
'Dr. Polidori is not traveling alone?' Victoria managed to make her voice casual, but what should have been a small sip of sherry turned into a rather large gulp and set her to suppressing a rough cough.
'He travels with his friend Mr. Sebastian Vioget, whom he met, I believe, while lately in Italy with Byron.'
'Italy? I see.' So it was Sebastian, and he was here. With the author of a book about vampires. How very unexpected.
Victoria finished her sherry. The last time she'd seen Sebastian, she'd left him in his carriage after a most intimate interlude—which ended quite abruptly as he delivered her to a group of vampires out for her blood.
He'd had her half-undressed in that carriage, and lazy with desire, as she recalled, her face warming. He'd been delighted to learn that she'd broken her engagement with Phillip, and had attempted to take full advantage of her newly unbetrothed status… until she sensed the presence of vampires.
Since they had been riding in his carriage, under his direction, and Victoria hadn't seen any vampires for weeks until these three suddenly appeared, surrounding their vehicle, she couldn't help but suspect Sebastian's hand in the matter. His way of denying had been to protest that he had saved her life before; why would he endanger her at that moment…? But Victoria hadn't fully believed him.
'He seems a very amiable gentleman, if a bit shy,' commented Starcasset, hovering rather close to Victoria in a gentle waft of balsam.
'Mr. Vioget? Shy?'
'I meant, rather, Dr. Polidori, although Mr. Vioget is also very pleasant. Ah, and here they are now.'
Starcasset moved toward the door, but Victoria impudently remained across the room and with her back to it, pretending to be admiring an arrangement of tall purple lupine. She would find out soon enough if Sebastian was as surprised by her presence as she was by his.
Behind her, the other guests were being introduced to Dr. Polidori and Monsieur Vioget, as Sebastian identified himself. At the sound of his familiar voice and its intriguing accent, Victoria felt an uncomfortable prickle.
Then, at last… 'And Dr. Polidori, and M. Vioget, may I introduce to you my sister's particular friend, Victoria de Lacy, Marchioness of Rockley.'
Victoria turned to face the three men. 'It is a pleasure to meet a man of such renown, Dr. Polidori. Your work has made quite a reputation for you,' she said, offering her hand to the man with messy dark hair. A quick skim of her attention over Sebastian told her that she had the advantage of him. She had never seen such a look of discomposure on his handsome face. It would be comical if she weren't as taken aback as he.
'Madam, I am very well pleased to make your acquaintance. And thank you for your kind words.' Polidori bowed and released her hand, then turned to take a glass of brandy from the viscount as he remarked on his trip from London.
'M. Vioget,' Victoria said, and offered her hand to Sebastian. Obviously recovered, he took it gallantly, closing his fingers over her gloved ones and raising them to his lips.
He'd not changed in the last year: still impeccably clothed in the highest of fashion, with tawny hair curling over the high collar of his shirt and the same superficially charming smile that always seemed to have a hidden message behind it.
'May I express my condolences, Lady Rockley,' he said as he raised his face from her glove. He let her fingers slip through his as she returned her hand to her side, looking at her intently. 'I was terribly sorry to hear of your loss.'
Considering the fact that he'd been quick to take advantage when he'd learned she broke her engagement with Phillip, Victoria found that highly unlikely. But there was that hint of abashment in his face… perhaps he was feeling contrite over the events that had left the Silver Chalice in flames, and Phillip and Max ultimately in the hands of Lilith. Although whether it was the loss of his business or the cause of Phillip's death that he regretted, she was not certain.
'I was terribly sorry to experience it,' she replied coolly, and turned back to Gwendolyn's brother with a warm smile. 'Who is that lovely woman in the painting over the mantel, Mr. Starcasset?'
Happy to oblige her interest, Starcasset removed her from the presence of his guests and strolled with her to the portrait in question.
