Miss Fellingham's Rebellion by Lynn Messina

Author:Lynn Messina
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Potatoworks Press
Published: 2014-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The next morning Catherine kept out of her mother’s way, staying in bed later than usual. On her lap sat a book that she had been trying to read, but she couldn’t concentrate. How could she concentrate when she needed to come up with a plan, something that would ensure that she would not be at home when Deverill arrived? What errand could she invent? She racked her brain for something she needed, but there was nothing to be done. Besides, she knew her mother would not let her walk out of the house any time that day. At least not until Deverill called to propose.

Propose—ha! What would her mother think if she knew the truth? Lady Fellingham probably wouldn’t be surprised. If she’d thought about it logically instead of launching into transports, she would have known that Deverill’s interest was too good to be true. In six years, nary a gentleman had paid a jot of attention to her eldest daughter, and now Deverill, the primest of the prime catches, was dangling after her. It was a lovely story, yes, but the stuff of fairy tale, not real life.

No doubt Deverill looked at her long career of failure and thought her inured to the appeal of a handsome beau. That was probably why he’d played with her expectations—because he assumed she was too old to have any.

It was funny, Catherine allowed, in a gallows humor sort of way, because she had assumed the same thing. It was humiliating and oddly exhilarating to realize an old maid such as she still nurtured hope. Perhaps one day, when she was over this demoralizing and perfectly absurd heartbreak, she would try to find another man who made her laugh as much as he.

For now, however, while the pain was fresh, she could not go through with the interview. If she couldn’t calmly walk through the front door without getting caught, she would sneak through the back door or even a window like a thief. She would do whatever she had to to avoid seeing him again. Of course, she realized such a solution would work only for today. Deverill and she inhabited the same social sphere and would inevitably run into each other periodically. She couldn’t very well climb out of windows in the middle of balls. But she had existed on a separate social plane from him prior to Lady Courtland’s plan to rehabilitate her and she would simply return there.

Catherine slid out of bed and dressed without Betsy’s help. As her plan was to steal away, it seemed wise to call as little attention to herself as possible. She put on a pink lawn walking dress and kid boots. She examined her appearance in the mirror and decided she looked passable, despite the headache that lingered from last night. She doubted it would go away until she was out of the house and safe from Lord Deverill’s presence. Because she was still pale, she pinched some color into her cheeks and went to find Melissa.

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