The Toffee Heiress by Sydney Jane Baily

Author:Sydney Jane Baily [Baily, Sydney Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-23T21:00:00+00:00

BEATRICE FELT AS IF she’d been punched in the stomach. Lady Emily St. George! Now she had a name for the female he was interested in. It was happening so quickly. The Season had been going but a couple weeks. Sadness washed over her at the notion of losing her friend, as would most assuredly happen. And while he was eager to dance with her a second time in a row, when it came to his lady friend, Mr. Carson wouldn’t risk staining her reputation with a second dance all evening.

Vaguely, she knew she ought to be insulted. On the other hand, no one cared about an unknown toffee heiress and an American, while a rumor about an earl’s daughter could spread like fire through dry kindling. And she knew Lady Emily to be such, for Lord St. George had been in the newspapers over the years for his vociferous support of the ’76 Medical Act and the Prison Act over the past summer. Besides, she didn’t feel the least bit wronged, not while she was to remain in Mr. Carson’s strong arms for another dance.

She might as well enjoy the best dance partner she had experienced so far. The others gripped her hand either too tightly, as Lord Melton had done, or disinterestedly. Some moved her around the floor as one might expect a general to direct his soldiers, while others seemed wholly disconnected. Some partners seemed to spend their time looking over her head and hardly seeming to notice whom they were leading.

With Mr. Carson, dancing was lively and warm. And although she knew she shouldn’t have such feelings, it was also romantic. Increasingly, she found those emotions difficult to keep at bay. Where his hand landed in the middle of her back, she felt his warmth searing her through the thin layers of her ballgown. And where their hands clasped together, it was like a link forged from affection.

With their bodies in a constant state of motion and touching, brushing across one another over and over, Beatrice thought she might melt from the sizzling sensations coursing through her before they finished the polka.

It was nothing at all like dancing with Lord Melton, nor any of the other men at previous balls. Nevertheless, when the dance ended, she thanked him coolly and let him escort her back to the side of the room, where another man quickly asked her for the upcoming mazurka.

A few dances later, when the end of the evening was in sight, Mr. Carson returned again, this time with a sheepish, hopeful expression on his handsome face. Beatrice found she neither wanted nor tried to say no. If this was to be her only Season, and if Mr. Carson was soon to be courting a lady in earnest — maybe becoming engaged — then Beatrice would enjoy him while she still could.

When the final dance came and she was asked by Lord Longden, whom she’d met weeks earlier at Amity’s ball, she watched Mr. Carson approach Lady Emily.

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