Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“Whyever do you say that?” Tricia asked. “It’s a lovely dark blond.”
“But my tresses aren’t nearly as thick as yours and Sarah’s. And Sarah, the color is just so unique.”
“Thank you so much for the compliment,” Sarah said. “But I fear it’s my complexion that is the bane of my existence. All these silly freckles, and I can’t stay out in the sun for more than about thirty seconds before my cheeks burn.”
“You’re both absolutely gorgeous,” Tricia said.
Lavinia was still looking away. But then she turned back. “Have you heard the latest gossip?”
Sarah and Clarissa both perked up at that.
Tricia did not smile.
She was sure she had been the subject of much of Lavinia’s gossip in the past, especially when Cameron first received his earldom, which elevated their family from mere tenants on the Lybrook estate to members of the peerage.
A lady of the peerage would never be chosen May Queen at a pagan festival.
And Lavinia knew it.
Patricia examined Lavinia. She was beautiful in her own way. Pale blond hair and fair skin, bright blue eyes. But they lacked the depth of Sarah’s or Clarissa’s eyes. Or indeed even of her own.
Lavinia was long and lean. Small busted. Some men liked that, Tricia supposed. Tricia considered herself lucky to have inherited her mother’s ample bosom.
She listened with only one ear as Lavinia chattered on about someone or something.
When she became bored, she excused herself discreetly, walking toward her mother and Kat, who were talking to the dowager countess herself.
“Why, Patricia,” the dowager countess said. “How beautiful you look this morning.”
“Thank you, my lady.” Tricia curtsied. “You are looking lovely as ever.”
Indeed, the countess was what Tricia’s sister-in-law, Rose, would no doubt look like in the next few decades. While Thomas and Lily favored their late father, Rose favored her mother, Flora Jameson, who was blond and blue-eyed and simply beautiful.
“The countess has invited us to join her for tea this afternoon,” Tricia’s mother said.
“Of course we would be honored,” Tricia said.
“And I’m invited too!” Katrina beamed.
“Oh, little Kat,” Tricia said to her. “You are going to be the belle of the season in just a few short years.”
“Won’t she though?” The dowager countess agreed. “You are such a lovely thing.”
Kat curtsied flawlessly. “You are very kind, my lady.”
Lady Clementine smiled at her younger daughter. “We shouldn’t take up any more time of yours, my lady,” she said to the dowager countess. “I’m sure many of the other ladies here are waiting to pay their respects.”
“Of course,” the countess said. “Though I do enjoy talking to all of you. Rose just couldn’t have made a better match than Cameron.”
“You’re very kind to say so,” Lady Clementine said. “Of course we adore Rose just as much.”
Tricia curtsied politely and then followed her mother and sister away from the dowager countess, resisting rolling her eyes.
She’d been taught from a young age by her mother, who was gentry born, how to address numbers of the peerage.
Still, though, it was all a complete bore to her. Of course she enjoyed the privileges that such membership provided. She now had everything she could want—a lovely wardrobe fashioned by the most sought-after modistes, enough money from her allowance to purchase whatever her heart desired, and even though, as a woman, she didn’t have a title, she was now a lady of the peerage. And she was treated as such, even with all the gossip Lavinia and her followers spewed.
Although she loved Sarah dearly, she had no desire to return to her, as she was still with Lavinia and Clarissa.
So she found another group of ladies she had made acquaintance with in the past and walked toward them, forcing her smile to be bright and contagious.
All the time wishing she could leave the party and go back to the fourth floor of the mansion, where she and Thomas had almost…
She drew in a breath, willing her racing heart to calm.
Then she joined the ladies.
13
After spending a few moments relaxing in the parlor, Thomas stood, thanked the servants for their attention, and strode out into the foyer and down the hallway to his father’s study.
Correction.
His study.
He lifted his eyebrows when he saw Lord Victor Polk and his cousin Jonathan Jameson walking briskly toward him.
“I say,” Thomas said. “What are the two of you doing in this wing?”
“I’m afraid we’re a bit lost,” Jonathan said.
Thomas cocked his head. It made sense for Jonathan, of course. He hadn’t been here since he was a child. But Polk lived at the adjacent estate and had been to parties here many times.
“You, Polk?” Thomas said. “Seems you should know this place like the back of your hand by now.”
“I suppose I should,” Polk agreed. “Which is why I was giving your cousin here the tour.”
“Indeed? Then why did Jonathan just say that you were lost?”