The Magnificent Masquerade by Elizabeth Mansfield Page B

you wanted me to be
ladylike," Emily objected, tugging embarrassedly at the neckline.
    Kitty thrust her hands away. "I do want
you to be ladylike. Ladylike, not prudish." She surveyed her handiwork one
last time. "You look absolutely splendid. Don't be goosish, just go."
And she took Emily by the shoulders and thrust her out the door.
    Emily hurried down the staircase, fearing with
every step that she'd trip over the extended toes of the ill-fitting slippers.
But no such accident occurred. She made the last turn of the stairs with a sigh
of relief.
    At the bottom of the stairway she found two
footmen awaiting her. "This way, miss," one of them said and led her
toward the drawing room.
    "Has everyone come down already?" she
asked as she hurried after him.
    "I believe so, miss," was the
impassive answer.
    They arrived at the drawing room door. She
could hear voices within, and as the footman was about to throw open the doors,
she heard a burst of masculine laughter. For some unfathomable reason, that
sound caused her courage to fail her. "Wait!" she ordered the
footman. "Wait just a moment."
    "Wait, miss?" He eyed her with a
tinge of surprise. "Yes. Just a moment." She turned her back on him,
looked down at her exposed chest, and flinched. Quickly, and as surreptitiously
as the situation allowed, she removed the pins from the decolletage. She
returned the neckline to its normal, modest position, tugged the shoulders of
the gown in place, and turned back. "Here," she said to the footman
in as imperious a tone as she could muster (hoping that her toplofty man ner
would mask her discomfiture), "get rid of these pins for me."
    The footman blinked. "Pins, miss?"
    "Yes, pins. Have you never seen pins
before?" And with a toss of her head, she grasped his hand, opened his
gloved fingers, and dropped the pins into his palm. Then she gave a last pat to
her hair. "There, now," she announced, turning to face the doors,
"I'm ready."

Chapter Nine
    "Ah, there you are," Lady Edith
clarioned, crossing the room and kissing Emily's cheek. "You've only just
enough time before dinner to meet Toby and drink your sherry."
    "What Mama means," laughed a
good-looking young man, rising from a chair at Emily's left, "is that
you're tardy but not so late as to need to beg forgiveness."
    "Oh, dear," murmured Emily, looking
about her in confusion, "am I late?"
    "Not at all," said Lord Edgerton,
also rising to greet her. "You are as punctual as a lovely young woman can
be expected to be. My brother, who has just arrived six hours later than he
should have, is a fine one to be lecturing on punctuality." He struck the
boy lightly on the shoulder. "Come and make a leg to Miss Jessup, you
mooncalf. Miss Jessup, may I present my brother, Toby Wishart?"
    The young man made a deep, wide-armed bow and
grinned up at her. "Your servant, miss."
    Emily felt herself flush without understanding
why. The young man's extravagant bow was obviously a teasing response to his
brother's formality, but there was no reason for her to feel embarrassed by it.
As she bent her knees in a responding curtsey, she studied the young man
carefully. He was certainly attractive. Shorter than his brother, he was
nevertheless quite broad-shouldered and manly. His dark eyes glinted with
humor, his large mouth seemed to twist naturally in a warm smile, and his head
was covered with a richness of tight, dark curls. Emily couldn't help thinking
that Kitty Jessup-as soon as she set eyes on him-would regret what she'd done.
But, for now at least, there was nothing Emily could do but continue to play
the game. "How d-do you do, my lord," she said shyly.
    "I shall do better with one more
sherry," the young man said, turning to the footman who was hovering about
behind him, plucking two glasses from the tray and offering one to her.
    "That, at least, was nicely done,"
his brother muttered in his ear. Then, taking Emily by the arm, Edgerton led
her across the room. "I hope you noticed, my dear," he said