Eloisa James - Pleasures Trilogy 03 by Enchanting Pleasures

Author:Enchanting Pleasures [Pleasures, Enchanting]
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2010-01-07T07:30:53+00:00

Chapter 12

GABBY SPENT THE REMAINDER of the morning in a stranglehold of anxiety. When should she tell

Peter that their engagement was off? Or would Quill prefer to tell Peter himself? She would forget this

nerve-racking problem only to find her heart beating rapidly as she imagined Kasi Rao being forcibly

dragged from Mrs. Malabright's arms.

The only positive aspect of her paroxysms of worry was that her dropped bodice faded in her mind from

a dire humiliation to a mere embarrassment.

Lady Sylvias prediction about the number of callers they might expect proved to be absolutely correct.

By the time Gabby returned downstairs, the Indian Drawing Room was crowded with people come to

see the fashionable lady with the indecent gown—or the indecent lady with the fashionable gown,

however one wished to phrase it.

Sophie, the Duchess of Gisle, arrived just after visiting hours commenced. "I thought if we were in the

same chamber, we could accept commiseration together." Her eyes were dancing with laughter. "I do

believe that we ought to complain to Madame Careme, don't you, Gabby?"

The assembled ladies quickly noted the duchess's familiarity with Miss Jerningham and adjusted their

opinions accordingly.

"I, for one, will never patronize that particular modiste." A thin, waspish-looking lady shivered

dramatically. "Obviously, it was her design that was at fault."

"You wouldn't have to worry," Lady Sylvia snapped. "No gown is going to fall off yer chest, Amelia.

And if it did, there's nothing to expose." Lady Sylvia was proving herself a formidable opponent, taking

off the head of any person brave enough to insinuate that ladylike behavior did not include disrobing in

public.

Gabby nodded, and smiled, and murmured polite nothings, and blushed whenever bodices were

mentioned. She tried to ignore the fact that her throat tightened every time the door opened. Quill was

nowhere to be seen. It was rare for him to appear until the evening, but surely today he would join them

for luncheon?

"Well, you got away with it, gel," Lady Sylvia said after the throngs of visitors had trickled to nothing and

the room finally emptied. "Thanks to Her Grace. That girl is a right 'un, I'll tell you that."

The door opened once again and Gabby's heart jumped into her throat. Here she was, besieged by

trouble, and she kept being distracted by memories of Quill's hungry kisses and the way he groaned in his

throat when she—She took a deep breath.

But it was Peter, not Quill, who entered. Gabby could barely meet his eyes. What would Peter think of

her if he knew what she had been doing with his brother? She was jilting him. She was going to humiliate

him in front of the entire ton, given that he introduced her to all his friends as his fiancee only the night

before.

She wanted to die of mortification. Even more strongly, she wanted to burrow into the fierce warmth of

Quill's arms and remember why she was doing such an unladylike and scandalous action as marrying her

fiance's brother.

The thought made her shiver again. In fact, what with one memory and another, she had spent the entire

morning with a feverish pulse, and ill humor was beginning to creep over her.

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