“Have you seen my family?” he asked, shouting above the noise.
“Ballroom.”
He thanked her, and then started to walk away, but Cynthia stopped them. “Your frock is simply divine, Miss Grey,” she said, lips brushing Angelica’s ear as she wobbled. “Has Mary Rose seen it?”
Before she could answer, Captain Neill eased Angelica toward the door. He hadn’t been paying attention to the ladies’ conversation, and was, instead, intent on finding his family. She allowed him to guide her from crowded room to crowded room, elbowing between the guests milling about the hallways and corridors.
Eventually, he and Angelica reached the ballroom. The air was hot and heavy, even though the windows had been thrown open to the night air. People reeked of stale cigarettes, champagne, and sweat. Some stank of chemicals she couldn’t begin to understand—only that they reminded her of the way Captain Neill smelled on the night they first met. Others smelled of hair brilliantine, and floral-scented toilet water.
Angelica wondered who they all were, and where they had all come from. Was Mary Rose Neill so important that half the county turned up for her birthday?
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
“Brody!” Marcus called across the queue of guests for the receiving line.
“Ah. This way, Angelica.” Captain Neill held her hand as he cut their way through the crowd.
When they reached him, Marcus bent down to kiss her hand. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a frock that blue. It certainly compliments your eyes.”
Everyone always seemed to make a fuss about her eyes. The wasted things were no longer an embarrassment to her—she was learning to be proud of them. “Thank you. That’s very kind.”
“Are you having a nice time?”
She smiled. “Oh, yes. I’ve never been to a party before. It’s all quite thrilling, don’t you think?”
“I don’t really care for these things, myself,” he explained. “Brody has always been the sociable one.”
Angelica laughed. “I’m starting to realize that. I think it took us half an hour to cross the house. Everyone wanted to chat with him.”
Captain Neill butted in, “Everyone wanted to chat with you.”
“Who could blame them?” Marcus agreed, making Angelica blush.
“There has to be a hundred unmarried ladies here tonight, Markie. Kindly stop flirting with mine, and find one of your own.” Captain Neill was joking, of course. Everything was a competition between them, though always in good fun.
“Someday, I hope to,” his brother said, growing serious. “But I doubt I’ll find the girl of my dreams in this crowd.”
Angelica pictured the scores of sweating, staggering, self-absorbed women, and hoped he was right. A kind man like Marcus Neill could do far better.
As she stood conversing happily with the Neill brothers, she began to catch snippets of gossip just over her shoulder.
“…What a pity to waste such a good-looking man on a girl who can’t even tell the difference…”
“Give it six months,” a second voice said. “He’ll grow bored once he realizes he’s more of a daddy to her than a lover.”
The third voice, Angelica recognized. “We have to help her do everything. I gave up one of my maids just so she’d have someone to walk her to and from the toilet. Mother and Father are simply horrified. But, you know Brody—he’ll do anything for a shock.”
Angelica turned her head in the girls’ direction. She wanted them to know she could hear every word. But, since she was Captain Neill’s guest, and because it was Mary Rose’s birthday, she daren’t make a scene. Later, she would tell his sister she didn’t appreciate her talking—literally—behind her back.
The girls giggled and scattered, leaving only Mary Rose.
Captain Neill’s sister grabbed Angelica’s arm, and hauled her around to face her. Angelica recoiled from the stench of strong drink on the young woman’s breath. “You’re not welcome here.”
“I’m Brody’s guest…”
Mary Rose’s nails dug into her wrist. “It’s not his party.”
She tugged her arm away. “If you had a problem with me, you should have said something before.”
“I did! No one would listen. But, when Peter told me what you’d done—”
Captain Neill stepped in, whispering, “M.R., don’t do this. We’ve a house full of people.”
“For once, you seem awfully concerned with what other people think!” The girl turned on her own brother. “Not once did you consider how I felt about you bringing a blind girl to my party. She’s frightening away my guests!”
Even Marcus joined in, trying to avert an argument. “Don’t be cruel, Mary Rose.”
“Cruel? What’s cruel was having to listen to my potential future husband go on and on about her!”