The Lady Dauntless by Elizabeth Cole

Author:Elizabeth Cole [Cole, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: SkySpark Books
Published: 2015-02-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

GEMMA WAS ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR the kind friendship extended by Lady Forester. The woman was unquestionably above her socially, yet welcomed her into her circle, which meant that Gemma had now met everyone in London, or so it seemed. She found herself with multiple events to attend every night. Aunt Maura did her best to keep up, but Sophie acted as Gemma’s chaperone half the evenings now, and said it was a pleasure to do so.

The event at Lady Mathering’s was the first full scale ball Gemma would attend after braving the ordeal at Almack’s, where a terrifying council of old ladies had looked down their noses and declared her fit for dancing. Gemma never dreamed a society test could be so frightening. She half expected one lady to look into her eyes and call her impure. Maura’s knuckles were white the whole time fearing Gemma would make some hideous mistake of manners.

But she didn’t, and now Gemma could go nearly anywhere in London and expect proper treatment. She was a little nervous for tonight, despite the fact that Sophie had told her not to worry. She had even given Gemma an impromptu dance lesson the previous day, showing her all the latest dances, which were mysterious to Gemma, since she never even went to parties where the old-fashioned country dances were still popular. Lady Forester was an astonishingly graceful dancer, moving with total confidence through all the steps. Gemma had been quite impressed.

She hoped she would not embarrass herself by comparison. Lord MacLachlan had told her he would attend as well, and requested one dance with her. Gemma agreed instantly, even before Aunt Maura could approve it. She decided she quite liked Ian MacLachlan. He seemed as steady and comfortable as Logan was elusive and dangerous.

But as she got dressed for the party, it was Logan’s reaction she was thinking of.

“Bond, is the green dress ready?”

The maid bobbed her head once. “I thought you might want that one, so I laid it out and found the matching slippers.”

“Excellent.” Gemma smiled at the girl.

“Oh, you do look fine in that,” Bond said admiringly, after Gemma was dressed. Whenever Bond got excited, her voice slipped slightly into a thicker accent, redolent of London, but certainly not the parts of London that Gemma was permitted to visit. “Your hair simply must be put up in the silver band tonight.”

“If you insist.” Gemma relaxed under the girl’s ministrations. Bond did have a gift for making Gemma look her best. She began to brush out Gemma’s red tresses, a little song in her throat.

A short while later, Gemma stared at the wide mirror in astonishment. Bond had managed to style her hair into something sophisticated yet natural. A silver band of ribbon encircled her head several times, allowing the red locks to be bound up, a few curls slipping between the coils. Her jewelry was restrained, just little silver earrings and a silver bracelet. Her neck was left bare, and Gemma looked nervously at her décolletage.

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