Beatrice Goes to Brighton by MC Beaton Page B

now being said that Miss Pym must be foreign royalty. That lady attracts adventures, so beware.’
    ‘If by adventures you mean distress and danger, I hope her days of adventuring are over. Goodness, this ballroom is hot. They have enough candles to light the Vatican.’
    ‘There is a balcony at the end which overlooks the sea, if you would care for a breath of air.’
    ‘Gladly.’
    They walked together to the end of the room and found themselves on a small balcony facing the sea. A small moon was shining on the sea and the susurration of the waves rising and falling on the beach reached their ears.
    Lady Beatrice put her hands on the railing of the balcony and looked out. ‘How very peaceful it is,’ she said, half to herself. ‘If only I could leave now. Sir Geoffrey, I feel, is determined to seek me out and make a scene.’
    ‘I do not think he can do that with the prince present. It is well known he craves a title higher than that of knight and will do nothing to bring the royal wrath down on his head. How did he come by his knighthood? Stealing money from Indian potentates hardly counts as gallantry.’
    ‘I assume he came by it as most men do in these venal days,’ said Lady Beatrice. ‘He probably paid vast sums of money to people in the right quarters.’ She turned and glanced back into the ballroom. ‘I wonder if I shall miss all this,’ she said. ‘Just at this moment, freedom is so sweet that I doubt it.’
    ‘And Miss Pym will be company enough?’
    ‘I am sure of it.’
    ‘And will you then cease to flirt? Or will you break hearts in some rural village?’
    Lady Beatrice sighed. ‘How cruel you think me. And yet I do not believe men have hearts to break.’
    ‘There speaks a lady who has never been in love.’
    She turned with her back to the shifting, restless sea and looked up at him. ‘I have been in love, my lord, or thought I was.’
    ‘So what happened?’
    She turned back and stood looking out to sea again, so still and quiet that he thought she did not mean to answer him, but at last she said, ‘I had just returnedfrom the seminary and my parents were delighted to discover they had a marketable daughter and Mr Blackstone was the highest bidder. But during the period of my engagement, I went to balls and parties during the Season. There I met a young man, handsome and courteous and kind. I was so very much in love with him. I told him I did not want to marry Mr Blackstone and he said I should have nothing to fear. He would marry me himself. All that was required was his parents’ permission, for he was dependent on their fortune. He rode off to York where they lived, promising to be back within a month. How I waited! How I dreamt of his return. He had lent me his handkerchief on one occasion at a ball and I slept with it against my cheek. But the days stretched into weeks and he did not come back. The arrangements for my wedding were going ahead. I could not believe he would forget me. Even when my father was leading me up the aisle of St George’s, I thought he might come bursting into the church to sweep me away. I learned later that he had married.’
    ‘His name would not be William Purdey, by any chance?’ asked Lord Alistair.
    She looked up at him in surprise. ‘Yes. Do you know him?’
    ‘I met him once when I was visiting friends in Yorkshire. He is about your age and married his bride about the same time as you wed Blackstone. I thought it might be he. Well, I regret to tell you that your lover is a hardened philanderer and causes nothing but grief to his wife and four children.’
    ‘How does he look? Is he as handsome as ever?’ She put a hand on his arm and looked appealingly up at his face.
    He covered her hand with his own and said quietly, ‘He is fat and vulgar. His looks were ruined a long time ago with drinking and womanizing.’
    ‘So,’ said Lady Beatrice in a low voice, ‘I have wasted years in worry and wondering what happened .’
    ‘He probably was