Finding Forever (Infamous Ladies Book 4) by Nicole Bennett

Author:Nicole Bennett [Bennett, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-18T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Eliza wasn’t much of a gambler. While she enjoyed a social card game or two at the tables, high stakes and heated plays were not normally her cup of tea. Combining cards and drink was even more out of the question.

Until tonight, apparently.

After eyeing the activity at a nearby Faro table and chugging down her second glass of champagne, she hefted the bag on her wrist, hazily assessing the weight of her remaining chips and finding, much to her disappointment, that the amount wasn’t much more than what she’d started out with earlier in the evening. She’d lost and won exorbitant sums in equal measures, and though she was aware that breaking even normally signified a relatively good evening, Eliza found the prospect quite dull indeed. She’d come to the White Heather for a pleasant distraction from the current and rather sudden shambles of her love life, and found only some barely passable champagne and dull, droll company.

And it was all James bloody Berrington’s fault.

Well, perhaps not entirely. He was the sensible one in cutting short their would-be romance before it spun out of control. But that did nothing to soothe her aching heart. But really, the traitorous organ had no reason to be feeling so, Eliza thought sourly as she took another swig of her barely passable drink. A handsome man whom she fancied herself attracted to and almost had a friendship with had wisely rejected her impulsive desire, and she, as a perfectly reasonable adult, had accepted such and let him go. So why did it feel like her heart had been broken when he didn’t even held a shred of it to begin with? Did he?

“Of course not. That would be ridiculous,” she grumbled with a quiet snort.

“Lady Aircourt?”

The champagne jostled in her hands, nearly spilling over her fingers. Determined not to embarrass herself any further, Eliza turned around with what she hoped was a steady, placid smile. “Lady Clifton. I was not expecting to see you.”

Francesca Tremore, formerly Creswell, gave her a mildly perplexed but friendly look in return. Clad in her now infamous red gown and draped in diamonds, the young countess looked every inch the demimonde queen she’d bloomed into over the year. “I am always about on these nights, especially now that the ballroom is complete.” On Tuesdays and Thursdays, women were allowed entrance into the building, and Lady Clifton had convinced her husband that adding a ballroom to be used on those nights would only increase their appeal to the ladies searching for clandestine entertainments. It was a common occurrence to see the mistress of the establishment bustling around and playing hostess to the mostly masked women of the Ton, but it had been more than a little while since Eliza had donned her own disguise to attend the revelries.

“Of course,” she replied with a mild chuckle. “I am not sure what I was thinking.”

“I didn’t recognize you with your disguise,” Lady Clifton replied. “Your wig is usually black.”

Eliza absently fingered a red tendril that had fallen out of place.

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