Lady At Last (Defiant Damsels Book 1) by Annabelle Anders

Author:Annabelle Anders [Anders, Annabelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Annabelle Anders
Published: 2019-04-29T22:00:00+00:00

It had been Penelope’s plan to embark upon the journey to Land’s End as quickly as possible, but matters could not be dealt with so easily. Firstly, since she’d arrived in London a few weeks ago, her mother had once again begun to take an active interest in her only daughter’s marital prospects.

If she only knew!

And unfortunately, Penelope had made commitments to attend several functions over the next few weeks. How could she convince her mother that leaving London had become most imperative? She’d tried explaining that Lilly needed her, but unfortunately, Lady Eleanor had been visiting and disputed such a statement emphatically.

“Glenda and Lord Spencer left for a visit just yesterday,” Lady Eleanor helpfully provided. “You stay in town, dear. You’re causing quite the stir!”

“Oh, yes. Finally, I no longer find myself apologizing for you.” Penelope knew her mama meant no offense. Penelope had been something of an embarrassment to her parents by refusing to play the part of debutante. “More than one gentleman has gone out of the way to pay you his compliments, and the flowers… Eleanor, you’d never believe how many have been arriving on a daily basis!”

This was exasperating! For the briefest of moments, Penelope contemplated telling her mother the truth. Mama, I need to track down Lord Danbury before the babe I’m carrying, his, mind you, begins to show any more than it already is! And, oh, by the way, he does not know the baby exists. He doesn’t even know of its possibility. You see, Mama, I seduced the man after he’d had too much to drink and he remembers nothing of it. Now, may I be given leave to escape London or would you prefer I go for a ride in the park with one of the dandies who’s been hanging about?

But she could not. She was still hoping to get herself out of this situation with some semblance of dignity.

She’d never had difficulty going where she pleased before. It was just that her mother was so pleased with her recent transformation into something of a lady.

She needed to un-transform, somehow. She needed to be the embarrassment that she’d always been in the past. So, instead of the truth she said, “Mother, I believe I wish to open up our home in the evenings to host some progressive forums of discussion. We can discuss philosophy, history, science, and even the social sciences. Just last evening, I came across a piece of literature about a new method of thinking, which is in opposition to Unitarianism, called freethinking. Mother, it is earthshattering and involves rationalizing what we believe through logic and empiricism rather than tradition and religious dogma. I’m planning on sending invitations out to all of our acquaintances. If I cannot go to Lilly and discuss this, I’d like to begin discussing it with our peers, right here, now, in London.”

When Penelope began speaking, her mother looked intrigued. That expression changed to exasperation, which changed to outrage, which then turned into resignation.

The baroness had been through all of this with her daughter before.

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