Page 80 of Unmasking the Earl

Chapter Thirty-Five

Cassie had been back in Oxford for a full two weeks when one morning her papa shuffled his paper and exclaimed, “What remarkable news! The elusive Earl of Stranraer has been found.”

Her spoon crashed onto the edge of her porridge bowl, and when she tried to rescue it, she was all fingers and thumbs, which became an immediate point of interest for her family.

“This news has clearly overset you,” her cousin Becca stated. “But I cannot imagine why.”

Her reaction had been so patent, there was no demurring. “It’s all a bit complicated to explain, but I am acquainted with Lord Stranraer, you see.”

“Good Gad!” exclaimed her papa. “How did you fail to mention you’ve been rubbing shoulders with an earl?”

Rather more than shoulders, she thought, feeling the all-too-familiar stab of pain. A whole fortnight, and she’d heard nothing from him. Somehow, she hadn’t expected him to give in so easily.

“I met him in Aston while he was incognito,” she managed. “He was looking for his missing sister but didn’t want to cause a scandal. I promised not to reveal his identity or his whereabouts.”

Becca gave her a penetrating look. “You certainly became his confidant in a very short time. You were only at Aston a couple of days.”

“I hope you didn’t make a nuisance of yourself,” Papa admonished lightheartedly.

Becca continued to gaze intently at her, increasing her discomfiture. “Uncle, pray do not tease poor Cassie. We must assume that her encounter with the earl upset her in some way, which is why she is looking so self-conscious.”

The earl had, indeed, upset her. But not in the way they imagined. He had turned her world on its head, undermined all the truths that had been sacred to her, and opened up places in her body and her heart that now felt like chasms of aching emptiness.

Chasms not even a marriage proposal from Julian Carnforth could fill.

The former love of her life was now but the pale ghost of a memory compared to the powerful, energetic, infuriating, passionate Earl of Stranraer.

Had he not proposed marriage to her, as well? Had she but imagined that short conversation at the coaching inn? A dream? Wishful thinking?

Just hearing Ned’s name at the breakfast table was exquisite torture. How she wished it were possible to rewind the clock, to undo the demand for time she had made at their last meeting. Why had she stubbornly insisted on being allowed to think things over, when her mind had already been made up long before?

Then again, if Ned genuinely wanted to pursue a relationship with her, would he not have made every effort by now to convince her?

Maybe, now that he was returned to his proper sphere in life, he’d realized he was far too lofty and important to consider a liaison with plain and lowly Miss Cassandra Blythe.

She was about to push her bowl away, having lost all appetite, when Papa asked suddenly, “So, will you both be fit and well enough to go to this ball, d’ye think?”

Cassie blinked, rearranging her thoughts. “What ball?”

“A masked ball at Highmore House. The invitation arrived with the post.”

“But we don’t have anything to wear for a masked ball,” said Becca, her expression disappointed.

“Don’t worry,” Papa said cheerfully. “There’s a note on the back saying costumes will be sent to us.”

“How very singular,” Becca mused. “I suppose we should consider ourselves privileged. The Duke of Paxton can’t possibly be sending costumes to all his guests. How would he know their sizes, for a start?”

“A ball sounds…diverting,” Cassie said. It was during a ball at Highmore that she’d first met Ned. It seemed more like years than mere months ago.

“Is Julian coming?” she asked conversationally.

“I believe he’s received an invitation, as well.”

“We need to know if he’ll be coming with us, Papa. He’s very accomplished at getting you in and out of your chair.” Although, her next meeting with Julian would doubtless be highly embarrassing, for many reasons.

Not the least of which was his unanswered marriage proposal, which she had no idea how to respond to. Everyone would be shocked if she turned him down, after years of pursuing him. They would demand an explanation which, of course, she couldn’t give without compromising herself. And how could she accept his proposal when she knew she would only ever truly love one man?

A man who had forgotten all about her.