Besotted with the Viscount by Susanna Malcolm

Author:Susanna Malcolm
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: war hero, bluestocking, small town, passionate connection, rogue
Publisher: Susanna Malcolm
Published: 2017-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

For a man who used to socialize as much as he did, Gideon had become a veritable hermit. His house, a refuge, was now overrun with people, and he found he did not like it one bit.

Felice was having her party.

"What's happened to you? Has the fish gone off?"

Gideon frowned down at his sister, not in the mood to appreciate her humor. "I think the entire village is here."

Sarah shrugged. "Did you think they wouldn't come if you invited them?"

"I didn't assume they'd overrun my entire house."

"It's the lawn, Gideon. Not a one of them would dream of entering the house, especially the way you're scowling at them. Do stop."

Technically, Sarah was right. It was a lawn party, and had been set up accordingly. White canopies covered white linen-draped tables, and all of the guests – what must be each and every living person in Littleover – were spread out across the clipped green grass. Still, he didn't have to like it.

"You need to make an effort," Sarah was saying. "You promised Felice, after all, and it's not the thing to stand here raining on her parade."

Per his custom, Gideon didn't respond when Sarah was right. He only tried to school his features into less of a scowl and scanned the party for the only person who interested him.

__

The party served to illustrate to Thea, in a manner most unpleasant, exactly how different she was from the family of her employer. Gideon's family had been exceptionally kind to her; who was she, after all, other than an insignificant employee? But their kindness had made her forget the gap between them, and now here it was, yawning as large as an abyss at her feet.

This party, she knew, was nothing in their eyes, only the most basic of niceties laid out for an afternoon's entertainment. And yet it was the grandest event Thea, and likely most of the villagers, had ever attended.

For all its simplicity, everything from the linens to the plates to the food were of a quality Thea had never beheld. Locked away in the library without the barometer of the outside world, Thea had come to feel no different from Lord Birch, or his sister, or his niece. And now, looking down at her "best" gown, the only one she owned that was not noticeably worn and, if it had ever been fashionable, was at least a decade behind the current mode, Thea saw that she was nothing like Lord Birch and his family. She wasn't even like their poorest relation.

It was more than money, though. Gideon and his family possessed an innate manner that betrayed their class. They had the polish of generations of good breeding and discernment that no amount of money alone could buy. They were, Thea thought looking around the group of Littleoverians, their "betters."

"I'm told you shouldn't scowl at parties. Although," Thea turned to find Lord Birch standing beside her, "you don't appear to be scowling so much as brooding. Either way, I have it on the best of authority that it is not the thing.

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