Nobody's Lady by Annabelle Anders

Author:Annabelle Anders [Anders, Annabelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: romance, historical, REgency
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2018-03-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Old Friends and New

1824

The Willoughbys, as was tradition, hosted the first ball of the season. With the betrothal, arrangements had been made weeks ago for Michael to attend with his fiancée’s family. After dining at the earl’s home, they traveled by carriage and arrived at the ball together. Lady Natalie seemed more relaxed in his company and even managed to carry on a polite conversation for most of the ride. She asked after his friends, for she had met Harris and Danbury on more than one occasion and knew they had attended school together. She seemed pleased to hear both Harris and Danbury would be attending tonight. She expressed how nice it was to have close friends at these events so one wasn’t always forced to make conversations with virtual strangers. Michael nodded and agreed.

Did she consider him a stranger?

Although he watched her lips move and stared into her eyes as she spoke, Michael’s thoughts were elsewhere.

If he could have ducked out of this damn ball, he would have.

It was understood, however, as Lady Natalie’s fiancé, he was to partner her for the first dance and later, the supper dance. He was expected then to escort her into the supper area and attend her during the meal. To suddenly back out of his commitments at this late hour would be a slight to both the lady and her family. He hadn’t any choice and was thus compelled to attend.

Thoughts of Lilly, however, plagued him.

He could not help but compare the seventeen-year-old girl from his past, brash and open, loving him unreservedly, to the woman he’d visited the other morning.

With maturity, her beauty had taken on a gossamer quality. Sitting in her aunt’s home, she had seemed ethereal, fragile, brittle even, before falling off to sleep. Pursuing her was futile, and yet, he hungered to know the woman she had become.

Although clouds threatened, rain held off as the sleek carriages lined up outside of the Willoughby mansion. Men and women of all sizes and ages, dressed in their finest evening wear, materialized like butterflies emerging from their cocoons as coach after coach moved slowly past the grand entrance. The gentlemen ushered ladies inside regally as befitted the exalted members of the ton. The Ravensdales, along with their guest the Duke of Cortland, were no exception.

Drawing the eyes of many, the betrothed couple made a striking pair. Natalie, only about six inches shorter than Michael, stood tall and elegant with her golden hair drawn up in a jeweled tiara. While she wore a pale-yellow chiffon gown, Michael wore mostly black. Duncan had used a touch of pomade to slick his black hair back, and it had held so far. Their wedding, scheduled for May, promised to be the pinnacle of the season.

Two of the earl’s sons were present as well. Michael had been pleasantly surprised to find them gentlemen modeled after their father. The other two sons, busy addressing concerns at a few of the earl’s northernmost properties, had been unable to come to London for the season.

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