it, Lady Toswick,’ Mae answered with a smile. ‘And curious, too.’
‘Yes, as am I,’ her mother agreed. Her eyes darted nervously around the room. ‘We’ve been abroad so long and this is our first social engagement since we’ve been back in England. Who could it be?’
‘A school friend, I understand. Lady Corbet. Although as she is newly married, I’m sure you’ll remember her as Miss Adelaide Ward.’
‘Oh, Addy! Yes, of course. I remember her fondly.’
‘Well, you’ll find her at the dancing, I’m sure.’ Lady Toswick was searching the ballroom with a practised eye. ‘Yes, there, she’s just ending a set. Oh, and she’s spotted us!’ The countess tucked her mother’s arm firmly through her own. ‘Go and enjoy your reunion, Miss Halford. My friends and I are all agog to tease your mother until she tells us where she purchased the gorgeous silk for her gown.’
Mae smiled encouragement and watched her mother follow alongside the countess before turning to meet Lady Corbet—Addy. She grinned at the spectacle her old friend made as she squealed her way across the ballroom, flapping her hands as she came. Miss Trippet of The Select School for Young Girls had not succeeded in squelching Addy’s vivaciousness any more than she’d cured Mae’s tendency to organise her schoolgirls into trouble.
‘Oh, Mae, it is you!’ Addy clasped her by the hands and squeezed. ‘How elegant you are! Is that waistline the latest Paris fashion?’ She stood back and examined Mae from head to toe. ‘You are going to put every girl in London to shame.’ She grinned. ‘I’m so glad you are back!’
‘Addy,’ Mae said warmly. ‘How glad I am to see you.’ She pulled her old friend in for a quick embrace. ‘You are practically the first person I’ve seen since we docked!’ She raised a brow. ‘And Lady Toswick says that you are newly married? Congratulations!’
‘Yes, I am a wife now—can you believe it? To Lord Corbet. He’s only a baron, which disappointed Papa, of course.’ Addy’s father was a wealthy cit like Mae’s, as were so many fathers of the girls at Miss Trippet’s school. ‘He can be the greatest dunderhead at times,’ she continued, ‘but he’s my dunderhead.’ The smile that crossed her face was tender. ‘Just as I am his addlepate. I confess, I am quite fond of him.’
‘Then I am supremely happy for you.’ And a tad envious, too. Mae could only hope that she found someone as willing to overlook her own flaws. ‘Is your husband here tonight? I should love to meet him.’
‘Oh, yes. He’s likely slunk off to the card room. We’ll go and drag him out of there in a moment.’ She frowned. The surrounding crowd had grown steadily larger and was pressing ever closer. ‘But first, I have to hear everything. There were rumours, you know, about you and a young man, but no one seemed to know who he might be—and then you were gone! Come. Let’s go sit in the chaperons’ chairs. We can put our heads together and gossip like a couple of old biddies.’
She pulled Mae through the glittering spectacle and over to a row of straight-backed chairs. She chose a pair well away from the closest, capped matrons. ‘Were the whispers true, then?’ Addy leaned in close. ‘Was there a completely ineligible young man ready to cart you away to Gretna Green? Did your parents whisk you to Europe in order to keep you from his clutches?’
‘Of course not!’ There had been nothing ineligible about the young man in question. And while Mae would gladly have travelled with him to the ends of the earth, he hadn’t been interested enough to walk her in to dinner, let alone willing to run off to get married.
‘Oh.’ Addy sounded vastly disappointed. ‘Well, it was a long time ago, in any case.’ She cocked her head. ‘How long have you been abroad?’
‘Nearly two years.’
‘So long? You must have been pining to come home.’
Mae laughed. ‘Not at all, actually.’ She smiled in reminiscence. ‘I had the making of all the travel arrangements to myself. My father cared not where we went, as long as there was an opportunity for business or a reputable horse breeder nearby. My mother only worried over the comfort of our rooms. So I was free to indulge myself.’ She shot a conspirator’s grin at her friend. ‘And I did. I simply wallowed in great churches and grand palaces and large estates. I explored battlefields and boated in lakes and rivers all over Europe. I attended theatres and salons in every great city and met scores of interesting people.’
None, however, who could completely erase the image of the man she’d left behind. Such a man did exist, however. He was out there—and Mae fully intended to find him.
‘But now you are back,’ Addy said with satisfaction. A crafty look descended over her pretty face. ‘And I’d wager you’re here because your father decided it was time to find you a husband.’ Her eyes rounded suddenly in horror. ‘But the Season is nearly half over! There’s no time to waste! You should have gone straight to London! Whatever are you doing in Newmarket, when there are husbands to be hunted?’
Laughing, Mae agreed. ‘We have left it a bit late, haven’t we?’ She leaned in, as Addy had done before. ‘We are in Newmarket, dear, because my father has brought home a most promising new filly. He means to race her in the Guineas—and he expects her to make a name for herself. He has grand plans to let her win a few important races and then pull in a fortune breeding future champions off of her.’ She lowered her voice. ‘Truthfully, although Father says it’s time I had a husband, I believe he is at least as concerned about searching out a stud to cover that filly as he is about finding one for me.’
Addy gasped. Then she let out a peal of shocked laughter. ‘You haven’t changed a bit, Mae Halford!’
‘Oh, but I have. I’ve grown up—and I’ve had the value of being circumspect forced down my gullet.’ She smirked. ‘I’m still me. I still analyse and organise and plan, but now I know how to make it look socially acceptable.’
Addy stared. ‘Oh! I know that look. You had the exact same gleam in your eye when you organised Miss Trippet’s girls to boycott the painting master.’
‘Something had to be done,’ Mae protested. ‘He was beyond appalling—coming in from behind to critique our work and sneaking unnecessary touches. The last straw was when he tried to convince poor Esther that posing nude was the only way to prove her dedication to art.’
‘And now you are trying to distract me! You are scheming something.’ Addy nearly glowed with mischief. ‘You must allow me to help. It’ll be as if we were girls again.’
‘This is no girl’s crusade. It’s far more important.’ Mae knew enough now to tamp down the enthusiasm in her voice. ‘I’m just as happy to be in Newmarket, for while my father is distracted with his horses, I intend to map out a plan for my future.’ She cocked her head at Addy’s surprised expression. ‘And why should I not? Should I leave it to my father? He used to say he wished me to be a lady, but I think he’s given it up. He’s determined to fire me off, and of course, he’s correct—if I were a man I would be using my talents learning the family business.’ She sighed. ‘Such is not my fate—and as marriage is, then I’m determined to have a say in it.’
Addy nodded, impressed.
‘What frightens me is that Papa spends more time poring over the Stud Book than his Debrett’s. I’m afraid he’ll hand me right over to the first man to come along and offer land with a good ore vein or a favourable shipping contract.’
