The Untamable Antonia by Carolynn Carey

Author:Carolynn Carey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance, Historical Romance, Napoleonic era romance, Privateers, England-set romance, English nobility, Romance
Publisher: Carolynn Carey
Published: 2017-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Antonia had assumed that all dinner parties were pretty much alike, but that was before she had attended one of Venetia’s dinner parties. Venetia, Antonia was learning, had the ability to make everyone around her feel at ease and comfortable with themselves and with their neighbors. It was not a conscious act on her part, Antonia decided, but it was real nonetheless—that wondrous gift for making people feel good about themselves.

The people who gathered in the large front salon before dinner that evening composed anything but a homogeneous party. They ranged in age from the seventeen-year-old Averil twins to Monsieur de Lousant, who must have been approaching ninety, and their interests were as disparate as their ages. The young people talked about their horses while their parents were engrossed in discussions of the weather and their crops. Monsieur de Lousant was boring everyone within his sphere by describing in great detail his latest acquisition for his moth collection. After receiving a thirty-minute lecture from the Frenchman on why she should start her own moth collection, Antonia understood why Jonas had sailed away again so soon. His claim that he had pressing business in another part of the Caribbean was a mere excuse, she felt sure, to avoid dining with his elderly neighbor.

As soon as Antonia managed to slip away from Monsieur de Lousant, she was surrounded by the Pickett sons who began, as Venetia had predicted, flirting outrageously. Their efforts, however, were soon cast into the shade when Venetia broke through their circle with their guest, Lord Delevon, to make him known to Antonia.

Approval was written clearly in the peer’s gray eyes as he acknowledged Antonia’s curtsy with a deep bow, reminding her of how startled she had been when Marti finished dressing her and then invited her to survey her appearance in the full-length mirror located in a dressing room adjoining her bedroom.

Antonia had gazed with some confusion at the image she saw in that mirror. She had never expected in her wildest imaginings to look so thoroughly and so exquisitely grown up. But she did. Marti had trimmed away the scraggly ends of Antonia’s hair and then intricately woven among the remaining uniform curls tiny yellow ribbons that suggested a golden crown atop her head.

The yellow gown, which now fit as though it had been made for her, was by far the most sophisticated garment Antonia had ever worn. Her previous gowns had been designed in the pastels that were considered de rigueur for young unmarried females in England. This yellow silk emphasized the mahogany highlights in her hair, the soft olive tones of her skin, and the sparkling dark brown of her eyes. She was, Antonia had to admit, not a bad looking young woman. And with that realization, she found herself longing for Damien’s presence so that perhaps even he would admit she was no longer a child.

But Damien was not there and could not be expected for a few more days, so Antonia allowed herself to enjoy the flattering attentions of the Pickett boys and especially those of Lord Delevon.

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