The Belle of Winchester: A Traditional Regency Romance (The Ellsworth Assortment Book 2) by Christina Dudley

Author:Christina Dudley [Dudley, Christina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BellaVita Press
Published: 2022-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The crow that is so black, my dear,

Shall change his colour white;

And if ever I prove false to thee,

The day shall turn to night, my dear,

The day shall turn to night.

— Roxburghe Ballads, “The True Lover’s Farewell” (1710)

Her aunt’s words stuck with Lily. She found herself thinking of them as she prepared for bed. She found herself thinking of them still when she woke the next morning. Could Mr. Kenner’s heart really be collected like any other? It would be a fitting revenge for his attempt to malign her to his cousin. And yet, it was not revenge Lily thought of.

No. She thought of what it would be like, to see those pale eyes warm with love for her. Or to note hesitation in his movements which were always so certain. Or to hear doubt in that arresting voice. It would be…delicious. Rolling over onto her breast, she fingered the tassel of the bedcurtain, the dark hair which had loosened from its braid tumbling over her shoulder and the coverlet tangled beneath her.

But it would also be dangerous, collecting Mr. Kenner. Because somehow she did not think he was a man she could command, as she could the others—Mr. Wright, Mr. Willett, all of them. Even Mr. Dailey, who had caused her such trouble, only disobeyed out of dimness, rather than willful rebellion.

Mr. Kenner would be different, however. He would never submit to her will from any desire to please her, not if it did not also please himself. And therefore his behavior could not be predicted.

Her braid slipped down now, brushing the carpet, and, with a sigh, she rolled onto her back again, staring up at the plaster rose on her ceiling with its swags of plaster ribbon.

Moreover, Aunt Jeanne had no idea—no one did—that Lily was engaged to Mr. Wright. Not only would it be wrong under the circumstances to lure Mr. Kenner into her train, but it would also be terribly disloyal to Mr. Wright and might even cause a permanent family conflict. (Which reminded her, she thought with a grimace, she really ought to tell her father soon about her engagement. Suppose Mr. Wright returned, and she had not yet done it?)

But these reasons, numerous and weighty as they were, were not all. Mr. Kenner would be dangerous not only for having his own mind, and he would be dangerous not only because he was her intended’s cousin, but perhaps the most dangerous part of his dangerousness was that—and here Lily groaned and put a pillow over her face—was that there might be the narrowest, slightest, most infinitesimal possibility that, if she tried to collect Mr. Kenner’s heart, her own heart might be collected in return. And then what would become of her?

As soon as she allowed herself the thought, she sat up and thrust the pillow away. Even stuffed it under the coverlet, as if that would make her wayward notion vanish accordingly.

“It is all nonsense,” said Lily aloud. “Utter flim-flam. Firstly: Mr. Kenner is not at all the sort of man I could love.

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