Remember When

Chapter 21

Careful not to make a sound, I opened the door slowly, tiptoeing into the room and chanting the mantra 'please be asleep' repeatedly in my head. As if saying it enough times would make it come true. 

I heard the rustling of sheets and mentally cursed myself. Luck was not on my side. 

"Where have you been?" Constance snarled, stammering toward me in her nightgown. "Father and I have been looking for you for hours and you were nowhere to be found."

Hurriedly, I racked my brain for an excuse. 

"I was taking a walk and fell asleep," I shrugged. 

Not bad, considering I had been known to do that from time to time.  

Constance appeared taken aback, her face softening. Good. She was buying it. Maybe luck was on my side.

"Did you inform anybody of your identity?" she asked, doing a miserable job of trying to come across nonchalant.

"You would be elated to know that no, I did not," I sighed. "Now would you please do me a favor and help me out of this dress? It is awfully restricting."

Her eyes widened ever so slightly at the directive but, in no mood to argue, she unlaced the dress. I easily slipped out, placing it gently over my trunk.

"Father is going to be livid with you tomorrow," she affirmed, laying down in her bed once more.

"I would not expect any different," I retorted numbly.

Curling my body into a ball to capture as much warmth as possible, I could not help the smile that made it's way onto my lips. 

I gently closed my eyes, picturing the way his full lips rose to one side when he asked me to call him by his first name, the brown waves that I desperately wanted to run my hands through, the feel of his muscles as he lifted me off of his horse, those hands. Snap out of it! I shook my head vehemently. He was to be married in less than two weeks time. If there was one thing I was certain of, it was that he was to marry Lydia. Prince Mathew was never one to forsake duty. Besides, who was I to think he would feel anything but pity for me? His feelings at the dinner table had been abundantly clear. He felt sorry for me; the fate I was now subjected to. That's it. They all did. I was a fool to think anything different.

However, the small voice in the depths of my mind told another story. Why did he insist on you joining him for dinner? Because he's a gentleman. Why did he request that you call him Mathew? Because I'm his friend; someone he can confide in. Someone like John. Why did he insist on accompanying you home? Easy. He's a gentleman. And he wanted to see to it that his horse was properly returned to the stables. And to your room?

I don't know, I sighed.

The last thing I needed was to fall for false hope.

Determined to rid myself of flailing thoughts, I squeezed my eyes shut and yearned for sleep. Eventually it came.

"Get up," someone spat in my face, shaking me awake.

The aroma of smoke consumed the air around me, and I groggily opened my eyes to the sight of a very irate Duke Mason.

"Get up this instant," he repeated frantically, pacing back and forth.

Adjusting my body into a seated position, I squinted towards him, the light beaming from the windows making it rather difficult to see. 

"Get dressed. You're to attend the ball in just a few hours time," he ceased his pacing, giving me a hardened look.

"What time is it?" I asked, realization dawning on me that the sun was positioned high in the sky. The events yesterday must have been quite exerting on my body to have overslept this long.