"I was joking!"
He held the door and she entered. The lobby was empty, save for the doorman and two females who were having no luck within and had decided to grab the next gent before he got inside.
"You had best stay here," Hyatt said. "Stick close to the doorman while I take a run inside."
"I cannot stay alone!" she said, clinging to his arm as a couple of bucks strayed into the hallway. They were looking from the lightskirts to Laura in an assessing way.
"No more you can," he agreed. "I'll take you back to the carriage."
As he spoke, a sudden pounding of feet and raised voices were heard from the stairway. "Come along, gentlemen. The roundhouse is waiting. You can send for bail when you've sobered up.”
"Oh, dear!" Laura exclaimed, clinging tighter to Hyatt's arm.
They both watched as Bow Street led a band of miscreants out. Laura spotted Yarrow, his nose bloodied and his eyes glazed with drink. She looked at Hyatt, and he lifted his eyebrows to tell her he recognized the fellow.
"Livvie must be here," Laura whispered. "At least she has escaped incarceration."
"It is usually the gentleman who takes the brunt in these cases," he said, with an air of mock injury.
"I wonder if Mr. Meadows managed to rescue Olivia. We should make sure, before we leave."
"I'll take a run upstairs, while Bow Street is within shouting distance to protect you."
Before this was necessary, Mr. Meadows came down, holding a much subdued baroness on one arm and Miss Carstairs on the other. Olivia was sniffling into a handkerchief; Miss Carstairs was trying to look blase.
"Found her," Meadows said. "Unharmed but pretty badly shaken up."
Olivia interrupted her sniffling to say, "It was horrid! I should have listened to you, cousin. He didn't even bring enough money to buy wine. You won't tell Aunt Hettie."
"We shall settle on some story in the carriage," Laura said, patting the baroness's shoulder. She glanced at Hyatt to thank him and saw the look of disappointment on his face. "I must go with her. Thank you, Hyatt. You have been very helpful."
"Meadows can take her home," was all he said.
"I'll see that both these young ladies get home safely," Meadows said, nodding to Angie and Olivia. He planned to take Miss Carstairs home first. He had not had the baroness in such a chastened state before and hoped to take full advantage of it. "No point upsetting the old ladies. We shall say the baroness was feeling fagged, and I brought her home. You'll see that Miss Harwood gets home, Hyatt?"
"Yes, certainly. We might return to Peckford's for a waltz first." Seeing the blue mask dangling from Olivia's fingers, he turned to her and took her hand. "I hope you have learned your lesson, Baroness. Now dry your eyes, and run along." When he removed his hand, he held her blue mask.
They left, and he dangled the mask in front of Laura. "A lady should never visit the Pantheon without a mask."
That wicked smile broke out. "Could we?" she asked. "Livvie said it is horrid."
"It is, but with a hardened rake to guard you, lesser rakes will keep their distance-if they know what is good for them. I wonder-we cannot be the only people who have been caught unprepared." He went to the doorman and returned with a black mask, purchased at an inordinate price.
Laura put on the blue mask, Hyatt the black, and together they went into the ballroom. She was trembling with excitement. Never before in her life had she willingly gone into a treacherous situation, and she realized what wonderful excitement she had been missing.
When Hyatt drew her into his arms, she gazed up at him. The mask turned him into a stranger. Dark eyes glittered dangerously behind it, and below, his lips parted in a reckless smile.
"Does it live up to your expectations?" he asked.
"Oh, it is wonderful!" The reeling music and Hyatt holding her close produced some enchantment. If this was sin, then she was born a sinner, for she had never enjoyed a dance so much. She was unaware of the din of uncouth voices raised in mirth or anger. She did not notice that some of the gentlemen danced with both arms around their companions to keep from falling over. She was only aware of being held by Hyatt, in the magic circle of his arms, while they moved in unison to the music.
"Do you believe me?" he asked.
"What are you talking about, Hyatt?"
"That I paid only a brief visit to Lady Devereau, to tell her she might have the portrait. I only wanted to be rid of her. She was becoming a wretched nuisance.”
It was easy to believe what she wanted so badly to believe. "I suppose so," she said, "but-"
"Are there other sins on my part that require explanation? Let us tackle the whole dish now, Laura, while you are in this generous mood."
She thought of the groaning bedsprings. It did not necessarily take two to make such noises. Lady Devereau, presumably, had been in bed. She would not lower herself to mention it. As Laura hastily reviewed what she knew of Hyatt, she could find no outstanding offenses. In fact, if he was telling the truth about Lady Devereau, it was she who had acted badly. "I behaved like a ninnyhammer," she said simply. "I even tore up that lovely sketch you did of me, and have regretted it a dozen times since."
"I'll do another," he said, his voice husky with pleasure. "A proper portrait, in oils."
"Would you? How shall you do me?"
"As an angel-with a cleft foot," he added, and laughed. His arms drew her more tightly against him.
"You have already done a barefoot lady."
"Then I shall set your halo slightly aslant, to reveal you are in danger of becoming one of the fallen angels."
"I own I do enjoy the Pantheon. Perhaps I am a fraud for warning Livvie away, then coming myself at the first opportunity."
"It is temptation that makes sinners of us all. There is no merit in being unaware of temptation. It is withstanding it that builds character."
"Then we shall leave now," she decided.
"I thought you were enjoying yourself."
"I was, but that mention of a cleft foot jolted me."
"You darling, foolish girl! Satan is a long way from getting you in his clutches," he said, and he gave her a ruthless kiss, right in the middle of the ballroom.
Caught off guard, Laura was stunned into momentary immobility. This could not be happening! Even Livvie had never done anything as outre as this. She pulled away, looking all around for signs of outrage and finding none. "Hyatt!" she squealed. "What are you doing?"
"I am succumbing to temptation. Let us get out of here."
He drew her out of the ballroom, through the lobby, and into his waiting carriage, all at breakneck speed. "If anyone recognized me, I am sunk!" she wailed.
"And unfortunately, Lady Jersey, that unstoppable old gossip, did see you."
"Lady Jersey would never attend the Pantheon."
"She did tonight. Lady Emily Cowper as well, and Queen Charlotte. She spilled her snuff in shock when she saw you."
"Oh, you are too ridiculous," she laughed. "Why did you try to frighten me?"
"I was just setting myself up as your rescuer. A ruined lady requires a gentleman to do the right thing by her. Nothing short of marriage can save you now, Miss Harwood."
He removed first his own mask, then lowered hers. In the dim shadows, she saw that his playful mood had altered subtly. He was still smiling, but it was a different smile-softer, intimate. Before she could assess its component parts, the carriage gave a lurch, throwing her against him. Hyatt's arms closed around her, and his lips found hers.
In her mind, she was back in the Pantheon, reeling helplessly to the insidious strains of the waltz. Then his lips firmed, and she was wafted off to some loftier plain, above mere earthbound mortals. She soared into the ether, her halo perilously askew as she responded to Hyatt's embrace.
It was much later when she said, from the comfort of his shoulder, "Are you sure we would suit, Hyatt? I am really not the dashing sort of lady you take me for."
"I have a very good idea who and what you are, darling. I did mistake you for an experienced lady at first, but then I also mistook the baroness for a country charmer. It was not long before I realized your true nature: a conciliator. A lady of good sound sense, who realized her charge was a pain in society's collective neck, and with a kind enough heart to try to alleviate the situation."