The Lady's Blessing by Liz Botts

Author:Liz Botts [Botts, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Astraea Press, LLC
Published: 2014-10-25T04:00:00+00:00

I peeked up at the other woman and saw she was smiling at me.

“Thank you.” As I exhaled, I realized how much tension I had stored up. The woman gazing down at me was tall and thin with a long, elegant neck and lovely green eyes that put me at ease. Her brown hair curled beautifully around the sides of her face. As she smiled wider, I could see a gap between her two front teeth.

“This is your first ball, isn’t it?”

I bit my lip, and then told myself to stop. Such behavior was unbecoming of a lady. That had to be my mantra. “How could you tell?”

“You look like a lamb being led to slaughter. Certainly it can’t be that bad?”

I hesitated. Grandmother had cautioned me not to get too detailed in my responses, because the ladies of London liked good gossip. And apparently I was delicious gossip. “I just joined my grandparents here in London, so yes this is my first ball. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect.”

“Oh? Who are your grandparents?” The woman glanced around the room as if she could identify them on sight.

I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. “Lord and Lady Marwick?” My voice twisted up into a question, which made me feel stupid.

“You are Lady Felicity?”

“Um, yes?” How did she know who I was? Grandmother had warned me that London society liked to gossip, but I had hardly thought it would have started so soon. My stomach quivered as nerves flared again.

“My brother told me all about you. I had hoped you would be here this evening.” The woman beamed at me, showing off her tooth gap once more.

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other as a sense of unease descended upon me. The familiarity with which this woman spoke made me nervous. If her brother had told her about me, then the gossip must have spread far and wide. Did that mean all of London society knew of my circumstances? Was this woman being sincere or was she talking to me out of curiosity? Or worse, pity?

“Your brother?”

With a laugh, the woman reached out and linked her arm through mine. “I am so sorry. How rude of me. I am Lady Penelope Blessington, but you may call me Penny, if you wish.”

My jaw unhinged itself, and no amount of trying would make me shut it. This had to be Graham’s sister, but I couldn’t remember if he had ever mentioned a sibling. In fact, he had only barely told me about his daughter. No wonder her eyes looked familiar. They were the mirror image of Graham’s. I could see that now.

“I-I didn’t know Gra-Lord Blessington had a sister. My apologies.” I stammered as I spoke, my words falling over each other in my astonishment.

Penelope laughed again. She seemed utterly delighted that she was with me, or perhaps she was gleeful because her brother had given her the scandalous information on me before the rest of society. Either way, I could feel heat rising in my cheeks.

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