"Your first ball in the city!" Madison exclaimed as I rushed forward to take the garment bag from Victor's servant, silently grateful that Madame Francis had a secret cache of exquisite dresses that just so happened to be precisely my size and that she was so quick in shipping them all the way to Northumberland. "What are you going to wear?"

I checked the tag attached to the bag.

For my favorite customer. Good luck. XO

I grinned as I unzipped the bag and let the dress fall out in cascading waves of deep purple satin. Madison gasped, eyes bulging out of her head at the sight of it. I couldn't help my smile. She had taken my suggestion to do more purple dresses. This one, I was sure, she'd made just for me. I could hardly wait to try it on.

"Hurry!" I exclaimed excitedly to Madison. "Help me get it out."

She did, rushing forward to assist me in extricating the garment from it's bag. Once we had it out, I held it up to myself in the mirror. There was something different about it but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Are you going to stare at it all day or put it on? We've got to leave in an hour or so anyway," Madison reminded me.

Of course, the dress had arrived just in the nick of time. I'd waited, perhaps too long, in writing Madame Francis to request such a gown but my mind had been preoccupied as of late.

I shot a grin at Madison and then turned around so she could help me out of the dress I was currently wearing.

Some time and many layers later, I was standing in front of the mirror in that purple dress, realizing why it had seemed so different when I'd held it up before. It was tight, like almost scandalously so. It hugged my curves in a way that made my form look incredible, feminine, beautiful. It accentuated my waist, created a sort of hourglass shape, and drew the eye to my cleavage. I took one look and imagined my mother having a heart attack at the sight of it.

"It's very..." Madison started uncertainly, "French."

I sighed and turned to face her.

"What am I going to do?" I whined. "I can't wear this."

"Why not?" She asked, blinking back at me as if she truly didn't see what I was seeing.

"Madison," I gasped. "It's- it's-"

"Gorgeous," she finished, approaching me and whirling me around to face my own reflection again. She held me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes in the mirror. "You're beautiful, Ella. You always have been. A woman as pretty as you deserves a dress that shows it off. Besides, you were on the cutting edge of fashion in our town. Women here in the city, they're much more up with the times. This won't be as bad as you think it will."

"It's so... tight."

"I've seen women here wear tighter. I've also seen them show more cleavage. Though the combined effect... no matter. It's beautiful, Ella, and quite elegant. You simply have to wear it. This is your first ball in Northumberland and you'll be on the arm of the Duke. You must make quite the impression. After all, this could be your home very soon."

Madison was grinning ear to ear. I smiled back at her though I still felt my heart do an unexpected flip at her words.

"Besides," Madison continued as if reading my thoughts from before. "The heart attack your mother is going to have is nothing compared to what you're about to do to Victor."

I couldn't help smiling at that. The thought of the look on his face when I emerged like this kept me smiling throughout the rest of getting ready with Madison. Helping her into her dress, doing our hair and makeup, throughout all of it, I couldn't stop smiling. And I carried that with me through emerging with my best friend from my room, laughing and arm in arm. We made it to the top of the stairs and peered down to find a majority of the group awaiting us. Benthem, Elijah, and Victor stood huddled below, murmuring in conversation. They stopped when we emerged, Benthem smiling up at his wife, Victor's jaw utterly dropping at the sight of me. It was a satisfying feeling and I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning like a fool as we descended to join them.

"Elijah," Madison greeted warmly as we reached the men below and I realized she hadn't seen him yet.

"Madison," my brother answered, leaning in for a kiss on the cheek and a friendly hug. "You look beautiful, as always."

"I believe I'm the one who's supposed to tell her that first," Benthem interrupted with a grin as he took his wife's hand. "Exquisite, darling."

Madison smiled genuinely and allowed her husband to lead her off toward the carriage. I turned to Victor who opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a sudden clatter from upstairs.

"Heavens, Emily," my mother was shouting, exasperation clear in her tone. "Not those shoes! I told you, the gold ones. Dear me. Our first introduction to Northumberland society and you insist upon being-"

She stopped suddenly as she and my sister reached the landing themselves. Her eyes had found me and now they widened considerably.

"Ella," she gasped.

"Looks beautiful," Elijah finished for her, stepping forward, in front of me, protectively. "Doesn't she, mother?"

My mother blinked from him to me and back.

"Yes," she agreed, nodding. "Yes, of course she does. Come along then, Emily. We don't want to make the Duke late for his own engagement."

I breathed a sigh of relief, mouthing a thank you to Elijah as he turned back to face me. He nodded.

"I'm to escort Emily," he told me. "Mother will be arriving with Lady Winterbourne later on. So I suppose that means... Victor, would you mind escorting Ella?"

I didn't miss the way the Duke's lips quirked up in a knowing smirk.

"I'd be honored," he replied and then extended an arm.

Blushing furiously and trying desperately to hide it, I took it and allowed him to lead me from the foyer out to the waiting carriages.

"You look incredible," he whispered as we walked and I couldn't even respond for fear of giggling back at him like a foolish schoolgirl. "I can hardly take my eyes off of you."

I'd noticed. Throughout the duration of the near drama with my mother, he hadn't looked away from me. Not even once. I had been right. It was a satisfying feeling.

But now we were climbing into the awaiting carriages with everyone else, settling in for the ride to whatever member of the city's elite was hosting tonight. We arrived at an enormous manse which would have been the largest estate I had ever seen had we not just come from the Duke's. We were greeted by a few men and women around our age who welcome the Duke, Benthem, and Madison as old friends and seemed more than pleased to meet Elijah, Emily, and I.

It wasn't until we excused ourselves to make our true entrance that Victor was whispering in my ear again.

"How many times can I dance with you before it becomes suspicious?" He teased and I smiled.

"You know these people best," I replied. "You tell me."

"In that case, the rumors have already started. So we may as well take advantage of them," he said and then swung around so he was in front of me, extending a hand in a slight bow with a dazzling smile on his lips. "May I have this dance?"

I couldn't contain my grin as I answered, "I'd be delighted."

And so we danced the first song of the night together, both of us trying not to look as deliriously happy and taken as we were, though I imagined our efforts might have been in vain when we exited the dance floor laughing.

"Victor," someone spoke and the Duke's smile fell in an instant as we looked up to see who had come to greet us.

"Uncle," Victor replied, jaw tensing at the utterance of that single, simple word.

"It's good to see you out tonight, enjoying the festivities. I wasn't sure if you'd come given the amount of company you are keeping at home."

"Uncle, this is Ella Harrington. Ella, this is my uncle Edward."

"So nice to meet you, Uncle Edward," I said in greeting, extending a hand. He took it but, instead of a quick shake, he lowered his lips to my knuckles and gave them a lingering kiss. I felt the Duke tense at my side.

"And you as well, Lady Ella," Edward drawled, standing up again and lowering my hand gently back to my side. "Now I see what's been keeping my nephew so distracted."

My cheeks blazed at the insinuation and I opened my mouth to retort, "I'm not-"

"You're drunk, uncle," Victor ground out, more anger in his voice than I'd ever heard before. "Perhaps you should retire to the gardens to sober up before you embarrass us... again."

Edward's eyes flashes to Victor's and I saw something akin to hatred flood them once before it cleared and he smiled again, jovially and clapping his nephew on the back.

"Always the prudent one, this. I should get some fresh air then, I suppose. It was an absolute delight to meet you, Lady Ella. Until we meet again."

He gave my hand one last kiss before heading for the gardens. Victor glared at Edward's back the whole way out the door and I sat silently at his side, waiting. It didn't seem the appropriate time to speak. But luckily, I didn't have to.

"Your Grace! There you are. We missed you at your homecoming and I wanted to speak with you about a small tract of land out near..." one of the men at the party had taken the Duke's attention away. He seemed sufficiently distracted for the moment so I chose to meander off on my own accord to see more of this elegant ballroom and perhaps refill my glass.

I'd just made my way to the bar and placed my order when someone spoke up from behind me.

"Hello," a feminine voice said. I turned to find a ridiculously gorgeous woman in a deep navy dress smiling at me with perfectly plump red lips.

"Hello," I replied, still somewhat unsure if she was speaking to me.

"I'm Gwendolyn," she told me, still smiling. "You arrived with Victor's party?"

I tried not to notice the fact that she'd called the Duke by his first name.

"I- yes. Ella."

"Ella," she repeated slowly. "It's nice to meet you. How do you know Victor?"

She did it again.

"Um, we met back in my home town, when he came to visit with Benthem. Benthem is an old friend of my brother's so they stayed with us."

"I see," she replied but her smile was gone now, replaced by a sneer and a raised brow as she looked me over from head to toe. "So you're what? His new fling?"

"Excuse me?" I asked, blinking back at her, confused.

"Typical Victor," she sighed. "Gets tired of the mice around the city so the cat goes off to the country in search of a field mouse to change things up. Look, I don't know who you are or who your brother's friends are. But Victor is mine. He may stray sometimes but he always comes back to me."

I just stared at her, uncertain of how I was supposed to respond. Was this a threat? It felt like a threat. She was using a very threatening tone. But I wasn't sure exactly what she was threatening me with. I could only think of one thing to say at the time and even I wasn't quite sure what it meant.

"I'm not a field mouse," I told her and then I took my drink and stormed away.