“An invitation?” she asked, barely aware she had spoken. She was reading the page now, already aware by the elegant, fancy script on the paper and the first few words at the very top as to what sort of invitation it was.
“It seems that there will be a ball in just a few weeks,” the Earl said.
“Yes,” Rose said, not quite understanding why her father would be so preoccupied by, or interested in, this invitation. “Are you thinking of attending?”
Her father laughed.
“Oh, certainly not,” he said, his voice once again jovial and boisterous. “I believe that I am a bit past the age of meeting young ladies seeking marriage in the ton.”
Rose opened her mouth to ask more questions, but realization dawned on her.
“You wish for me to go to the ball to meet more men,” she said, her words a statement, not a question.
“Not men,” the Earl said emphatically. “But perhaps you might see the young Lord Elbrook there.”
Rose considered her father’s words. With the Season soon to be in full swing, it was almost a certainty that Daniel would be in attendance, at least at a few of the dances. Although she was still very much intrigued by the Specter, she had promised that she would see Daniel again.
“And what if this is an opportunity for you to see the Dowager?” she said, her voice light but her tone meaningful.
Her father seemed to come to a different sort of realization. He first looked hopeful, then doubtful.
“I suppose that is possible,” he said cautiously. “But what of it? What would I do if I should see her there?”
“Well, it is a dance, is it not?” Rose asked. “What would be the harm in asking her for a dance?”
The Earl looked at her thoughtfully. Rose knew that he wanted a chance to be so close to the widow, and that the ball would give him that very chance. She only hoped that he would realize that, as well.
“Let us make a deal,” her father said after a moment.
“Alright,” Rose said, looking at her father expectantly.
“I will escort you to this ball,” he said. “And I will keep an open mind, but you must promise me that you will do the same.”
Rose rolled her eyes, but she smiled brightly. She wanted so much for her father to be happy, and it was becoming more apparent that he wanted that, as well, not just for her, but for himself. And she knew that he would be happiest by far if she found her own happiness.
“I accept your deal, Father,” she said. “We shall attend the ball together.”
The Earl rose from his chair and walked over to his daughter, pulling her into a warm embrace.
“Thank you, my dear,” he said.
Chapter 6
Daniel spent days thinking about little else except for Rose Danvers.
He felt some guilt about having not revealed his identity as the Specter, especially after he had spoken to her as himself. In truth, he had been quite close to revealing himself, and not entirely voluntarily.
Rose evoked something in him, a trust and comfort, that he had known very little of since his brother’s death. He knew that he must get to know her better.
Daniel was quite surprised to find a letter from his father on his desk when he returned from a business trip into town one day. Looking at the envelope, Daniel feared bad news. It had been some time since his father had written to him, and he could not think of any reason why he would suddenly reach out to Daniel, except to tell him that something bad had happened. As Daniel tore open the letter and read it, his surprise gave way to dread. Although no reason was given, the Marquess was requesting that his only remaining son travel to his home at the end of the week.
Daniel knew that the request was more of an expectation, and that he could hardly refuse. That did not make Daniel wish that he could decline his father’s request any less. Briefly, he considered burning the letter with a candle in his study and feigning ignorance of its existence when his father inevitably asked him why he had not come. But things were strained enough between him and his father, and he knew that was not wise. And, in truth, curiosity began to grip Daniel, and he knew that he must discover why his father had a sudden interest in seeing him.
***
On the trip to his father’s estate, Daniel braced himself. It was the house that he had called home as a child, and it was the house in which he and George had spent their childhoods. But those memories were not what made Daniel’s stomach churn. It was his father. Daniel had not seen his father in some time, and he doubted that much had changed since the last time.
Daniel had had a deep, great love of the theater since he was a child. His mother had enjoyed attending theater performances, but his father had never cared much for them. Any chance they got, Daniel and his mother would go to the theater, and Daniel found himself enthralled by the magic the actors wove on the stage as they portrayed their respective characters and brought plays that Daniel had spent hours reading to life before his eyes. His father thought that Daniel and his mother attending the theater was a waste of time, but he rarely said anything more to them about it than that. That is, until he saw Daniel’s books.
Daniel’s mother supported his love of the theater. She saw no harm in Daniel spending time reading all the plays he could get his hands on, and she would even bring him new plays and stories home when she would return from her shopping trips. She would often give him money to buy books himself, too, whenever she could not get away from obligations at home.
When Daniel became interested in reading books about acting and performing in the theater, his mother approved of those, too. Over the years, Daniel collected countless books that filled many shelves in numerous bookcases on all things pertaining to theater and the performing arts. When Daniel’s mother would come to read to him at night, she would sometimes read from those books, and she was always excited to hear new things he had learned from reading them. He had never mentioned to his mother that he wished to be an actor, because he feared his father’s reaction, but he felt that she would have approved of that, as well. In truth, it was part of the reason why he performed as the Specter. He just hoped that his mother would not be ashamed of him for hiding who he really was, even on the stage.
After his mother died, Daniel had no one with whom to share his love of the theater. That is, until, George met Lisabeth.
When Daniel learned that George had met, and become intensely smitten with, an actress, he was overjoyed. Of course, Daniel had been the first person that George told, because George was as aware of their father’s low opinion of the theater as Daniel was. And Daniel, unlike their father, had celebrated the courtship. It took a few weeks for George to feel comfortable with introducing Daniel to Lisabeth, because of their father, but once the two met, they became as inseparable as George and Daniel. Lisabeth was, naturally, very impressed by Daniel’s love for the theater, and more encouraging even than Daniel’s mother had been.