Denial (Storm and Silence fanfiction)

A magnificent ball

When the carriage pulled up to the Dalgliesh estate, I surprised Edgar by not waiting for the servants to open the door, and by jumping out while pulling him by his arm instead of letting him help me down. However, he managed not to make any remarks about unladylike behaviour, which was a mark in his favour, and I decided to let him escort me into the estate instead of just marching in and demanding where the bloody hell Mr. Ambrose was.

I smiled and forced a (hopefully) feminine giggle at a joke I vaguely heard Edgar tell as I took in my environment.

The estate was the largest I'd ever seen, not that that said a lot. The white marble façade of the mansion was just the kind of house I had imagined Lord Dalgliesh living in, though it was less egotistical than I would have thought. In fact, the only indication of to whom the estate belonged was the family shield mounted on the fronton.

Before I could truly take in all the details of the estate (and its escape routes), Edgar Dalgliesh in his usual, annoying, gentlemanly manner offered me his arm, which I had to take to keep up appearances.

He quickly led me into the mansion, where servants swarmed around us to take our coats, meanwhile staring curiously and semi-subtly at me. Which I took to mean they were thoroughly impressed at my ladylike appearance and courtly manners, and not, say, bafflement at why a sophisticated Lord such as Edgar might wish to accompany me to a ball. I am proud to say that I in fact did not need to look around the ballroom to be absolutely certain that Rikkard Ambrose, my dear employer, pardon me, ex-employer, had not yet arrived. Not only was his presence unmistakable and not something anyone with the slightest observational skills could have missed, I was certain it would cause an upheaval of proportions when Dalgliesh found out he was attending.

"Oh, there's my brother."

I jumped. He didn't mean -

Of course he means Lord Dalgliesh, Lily, you dumb idiot, it's his party.

Right. And of course, him being the host, I would have to greet and thank him.

"Well, I would love to meet him, but... but... I... Have to... go to the ladies' room. Yes. I have to go to the ladies' room." Before Edgar could say or do anything else, I briskly walked off in the opposite direction of where he was watching, and, thank the Lord, the bathroom was located, which was very fortunate as Edgar hadn't exactly had the chance to tell me where it was, the poor soul. I was quite sure his gentlemanliness would be entirely distraught over it, but he'd survive.

I locked the door behind me, knowing the type of people who attend occasions like these, and breathed a sigh of relief. I was safe, at least for the time being. Of course, I would need a plan to avoid Dalgliesh, at least until I figured out what Mr. Ambrose needed my help with. I couldn't duck into the nearest bathroom every time he came into my line of sight...

Of course, in hindsight this was a glaringly obvious problem in my initial plan -- of course Edgar would be spending time with his brother and the host of the party, and I, in turn, would be expected to spend time with him... Then again, I'd never really cared much about what was expected of me.

Before Edgar would get suspicious and come looking for me, I stuck my head around the corner of the door and did a quick visual sweep of the perimeter for Lord Dalgliesh. I slipped out of the room and made my way over to the refreshment table which my trained eye had immediately spotted, almost instinctively grabbing hold of some solid chocolate and installed myself in a nearby chair to watch people step on each others' toes as I waited for Mr. Ambrose to make his appearance.

Edgar, to his credit and my annoyance, did not take long to find me there. "There you are, Miss Linton! You missed the opening dance!"

Darnit. I looked mournfully at the last square of dark goodness that I was still holding.

"Oh, yes, I'm awfully sorry." Lie. "I couldn't remember where I'd left you." Lie. "But thankfully you found me now!" All lies. I looked up with what I hope would be interpreted as an innocent, clueless expression.

Which promply disappeared when I recognised his companion to be the very man I had been trying to avoid. Lord Dalgiesh' eyes were as cold and calculating as ever, and though his smile and welcoming demeanor had every semblance of being sincere, a chill ran down my spine.

"Miss Linton!" he smiled with a radiance that would have fooled any girl into thinking she was the highlight of his evening. But he didn't fool me! I was impervious to the powers of ridiculously symmetrical blokes, be they Lords or miserly capitalists! "I didn't dare hope it would be you who accompanied my dear little brother this evening when he told me your name. You simply must tell me how you became acquainted."

I curtsied and forced a less convincing smile on my face. "Good evening, Lord Dalgliesh. This ball truly is exquisite, excellent choice of musicians!" Luckily, Edgar took over before I could start fumbling around for a believable lie about how we'd met.

"I gave her a ride home from the campus this morning, Daniel, I told you. She was there for her brother."

"Of course," Lord Dalgliesh said gracefully. "Well, Miss Linton, could I have this dance?"

I looked at him, dumbfounded. "Dance?" I managed eloquently.

"Why, yes. It is the purpose of this merry occasion, is it not? At least, if my dear brother doesn't mind?" He looked at Edgar, who nodded in spite of my meaningful look.

Darnit! Just my luck -- the one time a man's entitlement of ownership over me would have actually helped me out...

"Er... I..." Good Grace, Lily, surely you could think of a reason that you can't dance with him? Say your feet are sore! Say your hair will get messed up! Say something! Anything at all!

"Excellent!" And with an iron grip on my arm, Lord Dalgliesh pulled me onto the dancefloor.

As the music began, I found once again that he really was a spiffing dancer, so spiffing in fact I couldn't even step on all his toes as we were twirling about.

"So, Miss Linton. You will remember you caught my attention some time ago?"

"No, Lord Dalgliesh. I think I would remember if anything of the sort had happened."

He didn't deign to respond to my feeble lie and we danced a few paces more.

"I was surprised to learn of your... unfortunate history. Orphaned so young. I am glad you have your sister Ella. I imagine you would be awfully lonely without her."

I opened my mouth to tell him he knew nothing of me or my sister as he spun me around once, effectively cutting me off. "I cannot imagine how your aunt would react if she found out about dear little Ella and the piano tuner... I hope she will be favourable, and not send Ella to a convent, but..."

It may have seemed conversational and light, but something about his voice... "Is that a threat? How do you even know this?"

"Of course not, Miss Linton. I wouldn't threaten a lady such as yourself. As I said, you merely caught my attention. Information comes to me when I am interested. Do you know which information hasn't come to me?" The music had stopped, but Daniel Dalgliesh was still holding me steadily in place.

"I don't know." I said shortly, my mind racing. Of course I knew, but... what had I told him before? Not that we worked together. Definitely not that we were related... We met at the bank? No, what would I have been doing at a bank...

"I still haven't figured out what your connection to Rikkard Ambrose is... but I'll figure it out. Unless, of course, you want to save me the trouble and just tell me?"

I took a small step away from him. "There is no real connection, my Lord. We simply met once on the street, nothing more. I believe we have had this conversation before."

"What conversation was that, if I may ask?"

::

A/N

I apologise for the lack of updates. I'm on my exchange year and it's just really hard to find time and energy to write...  That being said, I'll try to post the next chapter(s) soon, like, before my exchange ends, in the spirit of endings :)

I hope you liked it, please vote and leave  a comment!