The Colonel and The Enchantress (An Enchantress Novel Book 4) by Golden Paullett

Author:Golden, Paullett [Golden, Paullett]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2020-02-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

The guests arrived the following week. Not wedding guests, but rather the Duke and Duchess of Annick’s house guests for the annual foxhunt and shooting party. For a week, guests took advantage of the hospitality, lavish dinners, and land, all in pursuit of pleasure. A musical soiree was planned, rather than a grand ball, to end the house party.

The guests consisted mostly of Drake’s friends and their wives, along with a few friends of Charlotte’s and their husbands. For the unattached, there were an equal number of ladies to gentlemen, the former hoping to land the latter before the end of the week. Duncan was not among the guests. Drake did invite him for the shooting party and the soiree, though he had asked Mary in advance if he ought, for he had been concerned with Duncan’s ability to walk during the hunt. Well, of course, he should be invited, Mary had insisted. It would be up to Duncan to decide if he felt comfortable attending.

Through the week, Mary arranged rides with the women since none of them wanted to join the hunt. A pity since Mary enjoyed riding to hounds. She suspected the women cried off because they were not skilled with the ribbons. It took a fine horsewoman to join the hunt, after all. And so she played nanny to the tittering and sniveling ladies, never mind that most of them were older than her. On sedate rides they went, and in archery tournaments, they competed. Most of the ladies only wanted to participate if the men could watch, but they agreed, after persuasion, to practice while the gentlemen were distracted by the hunt.

More than once per day, Mary thought about her future and how it would look. She could not imagine foxhunts or shooting parties at Sidwell Hall. Every year, she looked forward to this, and yet this year seemed lackluster without Duncan by her side to share it. Perhaps they could find their own annual tradition that would be equally as enjoyable. They could, of course, attend the house party at Lyonn Manor every year, but the crowd was not Duncan’s type.

Was that disloyal to say? Aside from a few heirs and a handful of second sons, those in attendance were titled. Duncan had little in common with these people. On the contrary, they had always been her people, but she would not be sorry to see the back of them, for none of them cared one whit about her or her interests. The feeling was mutual.

Nevertheless, the days leading up to seeing her betrothed were exhausting, but fun. Most of the guests were the same each year, and so she knew them, for better or worse. Among the numbers was her brother’s childhood friend, Mr. Winston Everleigh, eldest son of Viscount Rutherford. His presence made for a happy occasion as she adored him, despite his age, gambling, and rakish reputation.

His mood was somber this year, and she could not help but recall Charlotte’s on dit about him having been left at the altar.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.