Free Twice Tempted by Eileen Dreyer

motioned just beyond Alex. “And this is, uh, Lord Wilde.”
    “Chuffy,” Chuffy said, sounding curiously complacent. “Everybody says so.”
    Lady Edna Mairead Ferguson Hawes blinked a couple more times at Chuffy. “You’re not sure?”
    He shrugged. “Enough for the engraver.”
    “And here, Mairead, is Lady Beatrice Gilbey,” Fiona finished, turning to include Lady Bea, who simply waggled her fingers at Lady Mairead, as if catching sight of her across a crowded ballroom.
    “They have come about our good news, Mairead. You know, that Ian is alive.”
    It was a small movement, but Alex caught it. Every muscle in the sister went taut. She was ready to bolt, but Fiona, smiling, kept tight hold on her. The sister took on a faint resemblance to a panicked horse. Her nostrils even flared, as if she smelled danger.
    “Will you join us, Mairead?” her sister asked, her voice brisk.
    Fiona’s twin spared one more panicked look at the intruders—funny, how Alex suddenly felt like an intruder—and then turned back to her sister, as if no one else inhabited the room. “Where is it, Fee?” Her voice sounded thinner, fretful. “Please. I think that woman has it.”
    Fiona never looked away from her sister. “She is resting against it, dear. Don’t you want her to be comfortable?”
    Obviously a harder question than it seemed. Mairead Ferguson began to rock, her hands clutching Fiona’s as if she were in danger of falling. “Please. These people, I can’t…I…” She was drawing in air now like a landed fish. Alex almost got to his feet, as if that could help. Fiona held her sister’s gaze.
    “You will have it soon, sweetings. It is safe.”
    “This?” Lady Bea asked, pulling a pillow from behind her back and holding it up. The size of a large book, the square was tattered and covered in needleworked thistles.
    Before she could say more, or Fiona react, Mairead broke free and grabbed the pillow to her chest, closing her eyes. “Sorry,” she said, still gasping a bit. “Sorry. It isn’t your fault, ma’am. I should never have let it out of my sight.”
    Lady Bea was still smiling as if she understood. “Ego te absolvo.”
    Mairead’s eyes sprang open and she laughed. “You look nothing like a priest.” Without a pause, she turned on her sister, the pillow still clutched close. “I must get time on the great refractor,” she insisted. “If my calculations are correct, the light from my Cepheid variable should be fluctuating again in the next few days, which would prove the orbit of the companion star. I need to catch the exact time so I can make precise calculations. Fiona, you must do something. You must talk to Mr. Pond. You must get me time. You told me that since we couldn’t live near Caroline and William, we would live here so I could have the chance at the observatory’s instruments. You even agreed to do his computing so he would give me time. But he isn’t. He won’t. Make him, Fiona.”
    “It is too late this afternoon, Mairead,” Fiona said, and Alex was impressed by her steady calm. “Of course I will speak to Mr. Pond in the morning. But for now, sit down for a few minutes and greet our guests.”
    And before Alex knew it, Fiona had drawn her sister all the way to the settee, where she sat her next to Lady Bea, who patted the girl’s hand as if she were a child deserving sweets.
    Lady Mairead blinked like a baby rabbit and rocked a bit in place, arms around the small pillow. “No, Fiona. No, now. Please. I won’t sleep. You know I won’t.”
    “Of course you won’t, sweetings,” Fiona said, seating herself in a chair next to her sister without letting go of her hand. “You will be up with me watching the night sky. But now I’d like you to give your greetings to our guests.”
    “I don’t want guests. I don’t want news. I want to see my star .”
    “Pond, eh? Astronomer Royal?” Chuffy asked with a nod. “Good chap. Bit old-fashioned. Friend of the pater’s. Help,