No Decent Gentleman by Patricia Grasso

Author:Patricia Grasso
Language: ron
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Had it only been two days since she'd waltzed with the marquess in the drawing room? Sabrina wondered as she paced back and forth across her bedchamber. Those two days felt more like two minutes now that the moment had arrived to attend her coming-out ball. Almost as bad, the urge to bake was growing stronger with each passing second.

"Come in," Sabrina called when she heard someone knock on her door.

With a blush of nervous anticipation staining her cheeks, Courtney walked in and closed the door behind her.

"Belladonna and Aunt Tess are tormenting me with the rules and regulations of London society," her sister complained, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I thought I might escape them here."

Sabrina smiled and joined her sister on the edge of the bed. "You look lovely in your white gown," she said, and then fixed her gaze on her sister's neck. "Where did you get those pearls?"

"The marquess purchased them to complement my gown,"

Courtney told her. "Isn't he the most thoughtful man in the whole world?"

"I have not thought of Adam in those precise terms,"

Sabrina said dryly. "In fact, I've—"

"Have you begun to love him?" Courtney asked baldly.

"You certainly get straight to the point," Sabrina said with a smile. "To answer your question, I don't know how love 195

No Decent Gentleman

by Patricia Grasso

feels. I consider Adam a charming and attractive man, but he is also exceedingly arrogant and much too authoritarian."

Courtney placed a hand over her sister's. "I'm certain that you and the marquess will enjoy a long, happy marriage."

Sabrina burst out laughing. She was sorry she hadn't been quieter when her aunt opened the door.

"Here they are," Aunt Tess called, marching into the bedchamber. Behind her walked Lady Belladonna.

"Stand up," Belladonna cried. "You'll wrinkle your gowns before the guests arrive."

In an instant, Sabrina and Courtney rose from their perch on the edge of the bed. The two older women descended on them, smoothing nonexistent wrinkles and fixing perfect coiffures.

"We want to give you a few last-minute instructions,"

Belladonna announced, standing in front of them like a general addressing his troops.

"Oh, dear!" Aunt Tess exclaimed. "Sabrina's gown is cut too low in the front."

"Nonsense, that neckline is all the rage," Belladonna assured her. She gave the girls her attention again. "We'll stand in the reception line until Prince Adolphus arrives and then escort him upstairs to the ballroom."

"Don't eat too much when we go down to supper," Aunt Tess ordered. "Ladies do not stuff themselves."

"Don't dance with any gentleman more than twice,"

Belladonna advised. "To do so would cause a scandal because you were favoring one gentleman over the others."

196

No Decent Gentleman

by Patricia Grasso

"You need not accept a dance with a gentleman merely because he asks," Aunt Tess added. When Sabrina and Courtney looked at each other and dissolved into giggles, she demanded, "What is so funny?"

"Dear Aunt, I believe that both Courtney and I have been concerned with a lack of requests to dance," Sabrina said.

"Don't be ridiculous," Belladonna admonished them.

"Courtney and you will need to fight potential suitors off.

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