Another voice, a man’s this time, came from her other side. “Ods-fish, madame. But this is the greatest display that ever I’ve seen in public since I was weaned.” It was the King, lazy, smiling, obviously amused.
Amber felt suddenly as if she had been hurt inside.
She turned sick with a feeling of horror and self-disgust. What have I done! she thought. Oh, my God! what am I doing out here half undressed?
Her eyes swept round the room and every face she saw was secretly smiling, covertly sneering at her. All at once she felt like the person in a dream who sets out confidently to go uptown stark naked, gets halfway there and then realizes his mistake. And, like the dreamer, she wished passionately that she were back home where no one could see her—but to her wild dismay she realized that this time she was caught in her own trap. She could not wake up from
Oh, what am I going to do? she thought desperately. How am I going to get out of here? In her anguish and self-consciousness she had all but forgotten Lord Carlton and his wife.
And then, so unexpectedly that she almost started, she heard their names called out, loud and clear: “My Lord Carlton! My Lady Carlton!”
Without even realizing that she had done so she grabbed Almsbury by the hand and her eyes turned toward the door. The colour drained out of her face and neck as she watched them walk in; she did not even see the quick glance Almsbury gave her but she felt the warm reassuring pressure of his hand.
Bruce looked very much as he had when he had left London two years before. He was thirty-eight years old and perhaps a little heavier than when last she had seen him, but still handsome, hard-skinned and vigorous-bodied, a man who changed little with the years. Amber only glanced at him—and then shifted her attention to his wife who walked beside him, her fingers resting upon his arm.
She was rather tall, though slender and graceful, with clear blue eyes, dark hair, and a skin pale as moonlight. Her features were delicate, her expression serene. To look at her brought up some elusive emotion—the same feeling evoked by an exquisitely painted porcelain. The gown she wore was cloth-of-silver covered with black lace and a black-lace mantilla lay upon her head; about her neck was the diamond and sapphire necklace which had belonged to Bruce’s mother and which Amber had always hoped might one day be her own.
The King, ignoring ceremony, went forward with Lord and Lady Arlington to greet them—and as he did so all the room set up a noisy buzzing.
“My God! But she’s a glorious creature!”
“I know that gown was made in Paris, my dear, it must have been, it couldn’t have—”
“Can they really have women like that in Jamaica?”
“Poise and breeding—than which I admire nothing more in a woman.”
Amber was actually sick at her stomach now. Her hands and arm-pits were wet, all her muscles seemed to ache. I’ve got to get out of here before they see me! she thought wildly. But just as she made an involuntary movement to escape, Almsbury’s grip on her hand tightened and he gave her a little jerk. She looked up at him, surprised, but then quickly composed herself again.
Charles, with no respect for etiquette, was asking Lady Carlton to dance with him, and now as the music started for a pavane he led her onto the floor. Others followed and it was soon crowded with slow-moving figures, pacing to the rhythmic cadence of spinets, flutes and a low-beating drum. Amber scarcely heard Almsbury asking her to dance. He repeated his request, louder this time.
She glanced at him. “I don’t want to dance,” she muttered, distracted. “I’m not going to stay here. I—I’ve got the vapours—I’m going home.”
This time she picked up her skirts and took a step, but the Earl caught her wrist and gave her so vigorous a jerk that her breasts shook and her curls bounced. “Stop acting like a damned fool or I’ll slap you! Smile at me, now—everyone’s watching you.”
With a quick shifting of her eyeballs beneath half-lowered lashes, Amber glanced round the room. She wanted to turn and scream or pick up something to throw at them, something that would destroy them all where they stood and wipe out of her sight forever those pleased smirking faces. Instead she looked up at Almsbury and smiled, pulling the corners of her mouth as tight as possible to keep the muscles from quivering. She put her hand on his extended arm and they moved toward the floor.
“I’ve got to get out of here,” she told him, under cover of the music. “I
His expression did not change. “You won’t leave if I have to tie you up. If you had the courage to wear that thing in the first place, by God you’ll have the courage to stay till the end!”
