Anne Barbour by Step in Time

Author:Step in Time [Time, Step in]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

In the days following her instructive self-confrontation, Amanda endeavored to confine her activities to those befitting a proper Regency miss. She paid morning visits with Serena, she practiced her stitchery, for which she discovered she had absolutely no aptitude, and, under her mother’s tutorial eye, poured over volumes of The Lady’s Magazine and La Belle Assemblée, choosing bride clothes. She found herself in Serena’s black books only once when she went jogging early one morning in Hyde Park. It was her lack of anything resembling proper footwear, however, rather than her mama’s strictures that prevented a repetition of this activity.

Lord Ashindon did not come near the house in Upper Brook Street, and by the end of the week Amanda was in a state of boredom bordering on the frantic. When the day arrived of the dinner party at Grandmama Ashindon’s, she welcomed it almost with relief.

The earl was to collect his betrothed and his future in-laws shortly before the whole party was expected at Lady Ashindon’s, and in her bedchamber Amanda fretted and jittered as Hutchings performed her tasks.

“Now, miss,” said the maid, “if you do not hold still, you’re going to look as though you were pulled into this gown backward. And it is so lovely, you will not wish to ruin the effect.”

Indeed, thought Amanda gazing once more in bewildered awe at her reflection in the mirror, Serena had outdone herself, for the gown was her mama’s choice. It was gold satin, of a shade that almost exactly matched her hair, and it fell in heavy folds to her feet. Atop drifted a tunic of palest gauze, embroidered with gold acorns, and with it she wore a topaz necklace that gleamed richly against the creamy smoothness of her skin.

Hutchings had foresworn the usual curls this evening, instead sweeping Amanda’s hair into an old-fashioned polished coil that lay smooth as taffy on her neck. A few tendrils escaped to frame her face in a tantalizing filigree. Amanda longed for a camera to capture this fleeting moment of beauty that would vanish like the golden glory of a dawn sky should she ever manage to assume her own shape in her own time.

She was alone in the drawing room when Ash made his appearance, and his gray eyes darkened to the shade of embers shot through with lingering traces of fire.

He said nothing, but bowed over her hand, his lips brushing her fingertips with a sensuous warmth that she felt down to her toes. She was breathless, suddenly, and welcomed the bustling entrance of Serena a moment later, followed by Jeremiah.

Her father immediately instituted a machine gun burst of conversation, and Amanda realized with some surprise that he was nervous.

“Evening, Ashindon. Fine evening, eh? Well, don’t you look pretty as paint, Amanda? I reckon her ladyship will welcome you with open arms tonight. Don’t you think, my lord?” He plowed ahead without waiting for an answer. “Of course, my Serena is well acquainted with many of the nobs who will be at your grandmama’s house tonight.

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