Almost A Spinster by Jenna Petersen

Author:Jenna Petersen [Petersen, Jenna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2011-05-21T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

“I’m not really sure what it is you want from us, Felicity.” Jane Hughes sipped her tea as she looked to her husband’s grandmother with a shrug. “But you know I adore you and I’ll do anything to help you.”

“Yes, dearest,” Lady Stanton said with a nod. “But don’t keep us in suspense any longer. Your note was so strange.”

Felicity sighed as she set her untouched tea cup to the side. Clenching her fists in her lap, she looked at the two women before her. Jane had been her best friend for as long as she could remember. Long before she had met and fallen in love with Wesley Stanton, Lady Stanton’s grandson. Felicity had a hand in their very happy union and had never been happier for her friend.

But now she needed Jane’s help and Lady Stanton’s, too. But for the opposite reason. She didn’t want them to help her find true love. She needed them to help her avoid Gabriel Morrison’s advances. And they could never know the true reason why.

“Felicity,” Jane said softly. “What is wrong? Why do you look so troubled?”

“Um, well I’m certain you noticed the Duke of Windsworth’s presence at my recital two days ago,” she began, willing the quell in her voice to cease without success. She arched a brow at Lady Stanton. “I know you did. You abandoned me to the man’s company!”

A ghost of a smile turned up the older woman’s lips. “Abandoned to the company of a handsome, attentive man. What horrors.”

“They are horrors to me, I’m afraid,” she said with a sigh. “The Duke wishes to pursue my hand and my father, for some unknown reason, has decided to allow that.”

Jane rose to her feet, raising clenched hands over her heart. “Oh, Felicity! That is wonderful. I’ve often wondered why you never accepted the advances of any of the men in our acquaintance.”

Felicity winced. No, she had kept her secret very well. It was too humiliating to admit she’d surrendered her virtue to Jonathon, even to Jane or Lady Stanton.

“Well, I have no intention of accepting Windsworth’s advances either!” she declared with more heat than she had intended. Both Jane and Lady Stanton stared at her.

“Why ever not?” Lady Stanton asked blankly. “What is so terrible about Gabriel Morrison that you would deny him before he even has a chance to court you?”

Felicity bit her lip. “You know how he is viewed. His family absolutely destroyed their name. I could never align myself with such a man.”

Jane’s face suddenly paled and she sank back into her chair with a frown. “You aligned yourself with me despite my family’s reputation.”

Felicity spun on her friend in horror. She hadn’t even thought about how her declaration would sound to Jane, who had been punished for her own family shames not that long ago. Now she saw the flicker of self-doubt in Jane’s brown eyes that hadn’t been there since Wesley Stanton declared his devotion to her.

“I never meant that, Jane,” she said as she rushed to Jane’s chair.

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