The Wallflower's Christmas Surprise by Isabella Hargreaves

Author:Isabella Hargreaves
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance, Christmas Romance, Regency Christmas Romance, Holiday Romance, Regency Holiday Romance, older woman younger man romance, Wallflower romance
Publisher: Isabella Hargreaves
Published: 2022-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

I have to get out! Before I dissolve into tears in front of everyone. I must not humiliate myself in front of the whole county.

Violet found her father chatting with a neighbor and pleaded a headache. He took one glance at her face, which despite all her efforts must have looked stricken, and immediately led her from the ballroom. Clutching her father’s steady arm, Violet wobbled as she descended the staircase on legs of jelly. Her other hand trembled on the balustrade.

Soon they were in their gig heading back down the gravel drive of Whitton Grange. The cold air cooled her flushed cheeks, while a woolen blanket swathed their legs. Lord Dunridge’s words ricocheted around her mind: A secret Valentine to the plainest and most unlikely-to-marry woman of your acquaintance.

This evening had surpassed even the worst ball of her London seasons, when not one gentleman among the hundreds at Lady Mollison’s ball had asked her to dance—such was her reputation as a boring and plain wallflower who wore unfashionable glasses and talked of nothing but the joys of botany and her plan to establish a botanical art society.

In the weeks prior to the event, she had sought support from those in society by inviting influential persons to join her in such a group. Little interest and much criticism had been forthcoming. She was labelled a bluestocking, an educated and intellectual woman, the worst appellation that could be attached to a lady’s name.

On the evening of the ball, her forward and presuming ways had been gossiped about loudly in her hearing. Her stomach turned to ice as she remembered the glare of their censorious gazes. On that occasion too, she had fled the ballroom...never to return.

There was one thing of which she was certain—she never wanted to see Sebastian again. She could never look him in the eye now she knew he had sent those silly ditties as a joke. How he must have laughed with his university friends as they shared his verses. The iceberg in her stomach grew bigger.

Perhaps she could ask Aunt Theodosia if she might visit her until she was sure that Sebastian had left Whitton Grange. After her return, she would invite Lord Dunridge’s aunt to stay and introduce her to Mr Shorncliffe. She nodded at her decision and pushed her glasses up her nose.

“Father, my annual stay with Aunt Theodosia is overdue. I should like to leave as soon as possible.”

In the dim glow of the carriage light Violet saw her father’s brow wrinkle. “My dear, this is all rather sudden. And since when did you ever volunteer to visit Aunt Theodosia? You hate Bath!”

“I believe I need a change of scene.”

“Would this have anything to do with Sebastian making a spectacle of kissing you under the mistletoe?”

“I would rather not talk about it,” she muttered.

“For some time, I have thought that Sebastian favored you. Tonight appeared to confirm it to me. Did he propose to you and that is what has upset—”

“Father, it was not what it appeared.

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