Lord Bredon and the Bachelor's Bible by Mia Marlowe

Author:Mia Marlowe
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-11-29T12:02:15+00:00

Chapter 14

When I agreed to become Miss Finch’s sponsor, I suspected the task of helping this unique young lady make a suitable match would be Herculean. However, I greatly fear I have done my job too well.

—Lady Howard, writing as herself

As soon as Mr. Dickey took leave of Anne, she found a chair by the wall with the other matrons and surveyed the room, looking for Martha. Given the girl’s propensity for eating every chance she got, Anne glanced first in the direction of the table that held light refreshments, but surprisingly enough, Martha wasn’t there.

Lady Pickering, who was seated beside her, made a hmph-ing noise and drew her skirts closer so that not a stitch of her ensemble touched Anne’s.

Anne decided to ignore her snub and continued to look for Martha.

Lady Pickering cleared her throat wetly.

Anne turned to her. “Do you have something you wish to say to me, Lady Pickering?”

“Because you feel compelled to force it out of me, yes, I do,” the woman said, fairly quivering with suppressed outrage. “I hope you are proud of yourself, Lady Howard.”

“In general, yes, I am.” Anne blinked in surprise, wondering how she could have offended the lady merely by sitting down beside her. “To what specifically do you refer?”

“Pay her no mind.” Lady Hapsted had to lean forward to speak to Anne because she was perched on the other side of Lady Pickering. “She’s merely upset because his lordship requested his first dance of your Miss Finch instead of her Eleanor.”

“Oh!” Anne hadn’t thought to check the dance floor for her protégé, but sure enough, there she was, lightly tripping along beside Edward. Martha wasn’t the finest dancer on the floor, but she wasn’t disgracing herself either. “Well, so he has.”

Lord Chatham was definitely wearing his station this evening. His dark suit of superfine fabric was cut in the first stare of fashion. Diamonds winked at his cuffs and down his shirtfront. His shoes were so brightly polished, Anne suspected she’d be able to see her reflection in them. But even without all that sartorial splendor, tall, broad-shouldered Edward was far and away the most handsome man in the place.

Especially without all that. Anne’s chest constricted and she forced herself to draw a deep breath.

“As if you’re surprised that Miss Finch should be granted the honor of the first dance with his lordship when it’s clearly your doing,” Lady Pickering said. “It seems to me you and Lord Chatham spent a good deal of time in each other’s company the year you came out. You know the earl quite well.”

“It is no sin to know someone.”

“But to use that knowledge in an underhanded way to cut out more deserving young ladies...well!”

“I had nothing to do with Lord Chatham’s choice of dance partners,” Anne said testily. “And Miss Finch is no less deserving than your daughter. Besides, I consider it his lordship’s great good fortune to be dancing with Miss Finch, not the other way around.”

Anne thought nothing of the kind,

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