The Masked Heart - By Karla Darcy Page 0,78

she continued to sob. "All I wanted was to have a little fun and now I have brought ruin to our name and Robbie will never propose. I shall turn into an old, crotchety spinster like Cousin Lavinia!" she wailed.

With a look of supreme disgust, Val snatched the note from his weeping sister and, after blotting the tearstains on the sleeve of his jacket, he smoothed out the crumpled parchment . He looked questioningly at Blaine who nodded her permission for him to read it aloud.

" 'Please accept these flowers as a token of my good faith. If you wish to keep all of London from talking about your sister's masquerade, I would ask you to meet me tomorrow in Hyde Park. Due to the necessity for discretion, I would suggest you contrive some excuse to come alone.' At the bottom, there are directions and a time. The note is signed by Lord Stoddard," the boy concluded, looking thoroughly confused.

There was a heavy silence in the room when Val finished reading. Blaine's eyes leaped to Tate's and she saw the same question on her dresser's face as she had in her own mind. What exactly did Stoddard know? Since neither Fleur nor Val knew of the double masquerade, they assumed the letter referred to Blaine's pretense as Aunt Haydie. Blaine was not convinced of that. With a sinking feeling in her heart, she suspected that the infamous man had somehow stumbled on the far more damaging intelligence that she was La Solitaire.

"Oh, Blaine, whatever are we going to do?" Fleur wept. "I shall absolutely die, if everyone is sniggering at us behind our backs."

"Stow it, you henwit," Val snapped, losing patience with her wailing. "How can anyone think with all your squawking."

Despite his sharp words, Blaine could tell the boy was also troubled. He could not like the fact that his family might be held up to ridicule. He would be appalled, she knew, if he realized the full implications of this situation. Quickly she took a hand before things could get further out of hand.

"Sit up and dry your tears, Fleur. Nothing will be served by such behavior." Blaine bit her lip as she tried to organize her thoughts. "While this appears to be the end of the world, I assure you it is nothing of the kind. If we can manage to keep calm, I suspect we may be able to brush through without a scratch."

She crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping she was not just giving the children empty promises. Their expressions were a mixture of hope and fear, overlaid by a belief in their sister, that for her was considerably daunting.

"What will I tell Lord Stoddard?" Fleur whispered.

"You will have absolutely nothing to do with such a villainous person. I myself will deal with Lord Stoddard," Blaine announced to the girl's obvious relief. "For this evening, you will cancel any plans and remain quietly in your room. This has been a shock for you. Although you have done exceptionally well so far, you are not a good enough actress to pretend nothing is the matter. Until this business is settled, you will not be home to anyone."

"Not even Robbie?" she asked in a very small voice.

"Not Prinny himself!" Blaine answered. "Now run along with Tate and she'll tuck you up for a rest before dinner. We will carry on exactly as usual. Be warned though, Fleur," she cautioned as the girl sniffled her way toward the door. "If you tell any of this to Ellen, I shall wash my hands of you completely. Tate will tell Puff what is afoot but not one word of this is to go beyond these walls."

Once Fleur was dispatched, Blaine turned her attention to Val. The boy had watched wide-eyed as his older sister had taken charge but now there was a stiffness to his shoulders that told her he would not be content to be summarily sent to his room. Reseating herself on the chaise, she patted the cushions beside her.

"Well, laddie, we've gotten ourselves in the soup once again," she said as she placed a comforting arm around his narrow shoulders.

"I did not much like the tone of that man's letter, Blaine," he said.

"Nor I."

"It sounded very much like one I read about in one of those gothic novels that Fleur reads. The wicked count was planning to do something dishonorable and he sent just such a letter to the heroine of the piece. She was all