Surrender the Past by Elizabeth Johns

Author:Elizabeth Johns [Johns, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781500401665
Google: A2XroAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 22785484
Publisher: Createspace
Published: 2014-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

***

The next afternoon arrived along with a slew of callers at Loring Place. Elinor’s presence in London had inevitably become known, and many became quite curious to see the latest fad in town. Elinor did not enjoy the attention, but she was determined to be agreeable. When Lord Vernon was announced and revealed his errand in taking Elinor for a drive in the park, Beatrice gasped and shot daggers at Elly. Lord Vernon, astutely foreseeing the impending tantrum, asked as he bowed over Beatrice’s hand, “Are you free to join us Lady Beatrice? I promised Andrew I would show your cousin the delights of an afternoon drive in the park.”

That was smooth, Elinor thought. It also meant Elinor would be forced to spend the next hour or so in a small space with Beatrice. Beatrice was pacified, for now. Elinor saw nothing but doom and destruction in her future. Lord help her if she ever acted the shrew that Beatrice did.

Josie was delighted at another chance to dress Elinor to best advantage, and had selected a pale lilac sprigged muslin with long sleeves with a high waist that was in fashion. Elinor donned her robed pelisse and kid gloves to thwart the afternoon chill and placed a matching bonnet atop her head.

They made their way to the curricle, and Beatrice was clearly entering the desperation phase in Elinor’s opinion. Hopefully she did not always act like this around men. Perhaps that explained why she had no serious offers this past season. When they made it outside to enter the curricle, Beatrice began shrieking. “But you cannot mean to take all of us in that!” Clearly she did always act this way.

“Of course I can. The two of you are slender enough to equal the size of one adult male. Or you can choose to stay home if you object to being in close quarters to myself or your cousin.” He grinned at her, knowing she had hoist herself by her own petard. Elinor tried not to smile, but it was lovely to watch Beatrice stew. She dare not stay at home, though, so she grudgingly accepted Vernon’s assistance into the contraption. It was quite small, but Elinor was enjoying Beatrice’s discomfort and felt little guilt about it.

They made their way down the street through the gates, and then they came to a slow roll. Apparently, when Lord Vernon said an afternoon drive in the park, he actually meant an afternoon sit in the carriage. There was such a crowd in the park, it was impossible to move at more than a snail’s pace. For London being supposedly thin of people this time of year, Elinor shuddered to think of it when it was considered crowded. However, Lord Vernon and Beatrice seemed undisturbed with the pace, as every carriage passing stopped to greet them. Lord Vernon looked quite pleased with himself, being escort to two beauties, and was able to flaunt it in front of the other dandies in attendance.

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