One Good Gentleman: Rules of Refinement by Summer Hanford

Author:Summer Hanford
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: 0
Published: 2017-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

EMILIA WOKE THE MORNING of the third ball with mixed emotions. She wished to find a husband, and remain in Edinburgh, but the second ball and her ride in the park had produced no suitable candidate. This was partly because none of the available men seemed interested in her, or rather interested enough to defy Viscount Dunreid, but also because, to her despair, she’d come to realize that only one man would suit…Mister Banbrook.

Robert, as she now called him in the privacy of her thoughts, was everything she’d hoped for in a husband, and more. He was also things she never imagined she wanted, but now did. He suppressed his passions. Drawing out a man was a pleasure she’d never before experienced. In the park, when he’d laughed so hard and free, she’d given up any hope of keeping her heart.

Yet two obstacles prevented pursuit of him. He might still love Lady Cinthia, and he wasn’t in the market for a wife. Emilia sighed.

These obstacles occupied her thoughts as she went through her morning. No matter how she twisted and turned them, they couldn’t be set aside. She could find no way over, through or around those two truths. A sinking despair began to fill her. How could she wed any other man now that she knew Robert? If she couldn’t wed, she would return to the country and die an old maid, a burden on her family forever. She almost rued the day she wrote to Sir Stirling and brought Robert into her life.

In need of solace, she went into the garden to draw. Not the flowers that bloomed before her, but to give in to the impulse to sketch his fine features. Once down on the page, she gazed at his likeness in misery until she could no longer bear the pain, then forced herself to turn to a clean sheet. Resolutely, she began a sketch of his Cleveland Bays.

She had a fair rendering, one she felt Missus Millview would approve of, before the familiar patter of a maid’s footfalls drew her attention. Emilia looked up to find she was, once again, Mary’s goal. She felt a surge of hope, for perhaps Robert had come to call, to give some indication he esteemed her as she did him.

Mary proffered a box. “Another package for you, Miss.”

“Thank you,” Emilia said. She took the package, and waited for Mary’s departure, which was almost immediate. Emilia turned the paper wrapped box over in her hands. This time, the message was affixed to the outside, and showed signs of having been opened. More than likely, Lady Peddington already knew what the note said. With a shrug for what couldn’t be changed, Emilia opened the page.

To wear tonight.

Yours, with the greatest affection,

RB

With hands that shook, Emilia peeled back the paper. The box inside came from the same jeweler Viscount Dunreid had used, which wasn’t surprising. Lady Cinthia had said they were the best in Edinburgh, which meant the jeweler on High Street.

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