Dangerous Silence

Chapter 4

Dedicated to KhushiSoni15

Mhmm. Delicious. Absolutely spiffing.

Eating a piece of solid chocolate while looking out for Lord Dalgliesh is definitely one of the best ways to enjoy yourself in the enemy's den, and probably the only good thing that has happened to me ever since this morning. Or to be precise, ever since the blasted invitation for this even more blasted ball came.

I was knocked out this morning, resting my weary bones after yesterday's 'hard' work, and by hard I mean backbreaking, useless work after which you simply wish that you could curl up on the floor and go to sleep, when I was woken up by my aunt's screeching in my ear, and to say the least, well, no sane lady would have liked to be dragged about here and there, and to be treated as a rag doll to be dressed up like I had been.

Even Ella's excited squeals on finally getting to know her sister's non existent lover were getting on my nerves, no matter how good her intentions were. All that was running in my mind was how to escape and reach Empire house, before the tyrant could be angry enough about my day off work to permanently put me out of work tomorrow.

That was before I came to know exactly who had invited me. I nearly fainted! What if this was a trap? Bloody hell! I would have ran to Empire house to tell Mr. Ambrose about the spot of trouble I had got into, if it was not for my beloved aunt holding on to me as soon as she thought that I might think about running away, and no matter what excuse I gave her, she refused to let go of me. Immediately she launched into one of her famous speeches about how I needed to find a rich suitor for myself and behave like a proper lady and other things.

Aunt Brank had apparently procured an extremely frilly, expensive light pink coloured dress from 'one of her relations' as she put it. Hell, I was even surprised she had relatives to turn to. As soon as she was done choking me and tying the corset, she left me alone to put on the dress while she looked after other arrangements, I contemplated my options.

I could take a chance of running for Empire house as soon as Aunt let me out of the house, but the chances of it actually happening before I tripped in the various folds of the dress in front of me or simply buckling under its weight was more than me actually making it there. I also thought about asking Ella to give him a message, but simply the questions which would have to be answered for that made me change my mind. The only option left was to be brave and face the enemy. Without any help from the enemy's enemy, who got me into all this trouble. After all, I was an independent and intelligent woman, who did not need any help from any man, nor was afraid of any of the chauvinist fools. Except that Lord Dalgliesh was no fool.

So here I was, munching on the little pieces of heavenly bliss, determined simply avoid Lord Dalgliesh and pretend that this was any other ball, when there was a tap on my shoulder.

"Ms. Linton. I'm so glad to see you here."

Uh oh. That voice was dangerously familiar. Much more polite, yet much more dangerous than Mr. Ambrose's voice. Even if he was cold, atleast he did not manipulate or so politely threaten people on a daily basis.

Focus, Lilly! Now is not the time for your observations!

I slowly turned around, and in the process, caught the eye of my aunt glaring at me to encourage me talk with him and not let go of such an eligible, (read as rich), suitor. If only she knew what a conniving son of a bachelor Lord Dalgliesh was!

Finally, I met the eyes of Lord Dalgliesh with what I hoped was a undaunted and challenging look. He looked at me with a smile on his face, which would seem almost genuine to anyone not looking carefully enough, unlike me, and unmasked curiousity, like he was trying to find out who I really was. I only hope he would not succeed. Ever.

Dressed in a formal suit, he looked as sharp and cunning as ever, and even though I would never say it out loud, he almost looked handsome. Enough for any normal lady to marry him at the first chance she got. But not handsome enough for me. I was already used to working for such infuriatingly handsome men.

Lilly! You just implied that Mr. Ambrose is handsome too! What happened to-

"May I have the honour of a dance with you?" His dangerous blue eyes challenged me to defy him in public, deny him a dance, when he had been polite enough.

Oh, yes. If he could try to kill me and Mr. Ambrose numerous times, and then act like the perfect, harmless gentleman ever, then even I could play along. Gritting my teeth, I put on a small fake smile and muttered a small, "Yes." I was almost disgusted to put my hand, even though unwillingly, in his outstreched one, as he led me to the exquisite dance floor. I felt many eyes on me as I danced with him, and even though I was not actually led by him in each and every step, I actually caught myself wishing for the arms around me to belong to Mr. Ambrose. Even though he pushed me around the dance floor, I actually felt more relaxed with him, while dancing with Lord Dalgliesh was actually making me feel stiff and uncomfortable.

At first we just danced in silence, but after a while he chose to break the silence." I have also invited Mr. Ambrose, along with your brother, Mr. Linton. I wonder why they have not arrived as yet. Perhaps you know the cause of the delay of your brother's arrival?"

I almost tripped in the middle of the step, and would have met the floor, if it was not for the arms of Lord Dalgliesh around my waist. It was nearly repulsing! How...how dare he touch me like that! I immediately regained control of myself and took a step back as he released me. He watched me with his cold blue eyes, a slightly amused expression on his face, not really expecting any response from me.

Glaring at him, I spit out a reluctant thank you for anyone in hearing range and excused myself, mumbling something incoherent about using the powder room. That was probably the only place he would not follow me, and I desperately needed to be alone to digest the new piece of information he had thrown upon me.

When I finally got out of his sight, I panicked, the emotion I had so carefully hidden behind my glare. Turns out it was one useful trait I had picked up from my employer. Now what? What if the bloody fool actually came? What would he say, why had Mr. Linton, which was just me in men's clothes, not come to the ball? Because he was currently standing beside him in a woman's dress? What if he did not come at all? What would I say to Dalgliesh? That I did't know where my own non existent twin brother was? What if he doubted that Mr. Linton and Ms. Linton was one and the same? What if he found out the little secret between me and Mr. Ambrose? Or what if this was about that missing file of Mr. Ambrose? He had never actually told me what was in that file, except that the information was dangerous, so dangerous that someone was attacked for it. What if Lord Dalgliesh had that file? The unexpected torrent of questions swirled around in my head and I wringed my hands in utter frustration, until they started paining actually.

I thought about various scenarios where I could simply be calm and deny any knowledge about his whereabouts, but what if Mr. Ambrose actually came?

Bloody hell! Now I was having a nice headache to accompany my already huge horde of problems!

Peeking out of the thick gilded curtains to look for any of the business rivals, I again jumped out of my skin when another voice whispered in my ear,

" Hello, Miss Linton. May I enquire what are we doing behind the curtains?"