The Marriage Gamble by Sarah Eagle

Author:Sarah Eagle
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Peregrine
Published: 2016-08-23T21:00:00+00:00

“Ohhhh, Lowd Emsley, that’s so vewwy, vewwy bwave,” gushed Letitia Templeton-Smythe for the dozenth time since Lady Covering’s guests had been seated at the table.

Damara suppressed a shudder of distaste, hastily stuffing a portion of the roll in her moth as she looked across the table to see Evelyn rolling her eyes. Miss Templeton-Smythe had been holding forth from the moment she laid eyes on Emsley, the only male in the room. Her proud mama would nod in approval, jostling her triple chins whenever her darling managed once more to monopolize the marquess’s attention. Presently the girl, who was almost buried in yards of insipid ruffled, was admiring the daring of his exploits on the Peninsula.

“Miss Templeton-Smythe, there really wasn’t much bravery needed,” Simon explained in a slow manner, enunciating every word carefully. He glanced beseechingly at Damara on his left, but she simply smiled and raised her eyebrows in question as if she, too, was waiting with bated breath for his reply. “The army had been at rest for the most part for over the last six months. My troops spent a good portion of the time digging trenches in the rain and keeping the caisson from sinking in the mud.”

“Oh, la, sir, such modesty,” the imbecile reprimanded and tapped his arm with her fan yet again. Damara was more than fascinated by the fact that the young person could eat, chatter inanely, and still manage her fan. Of course, she rationalized, since the girl did not have a brain it was mostly reflex action. If the Templeton-Smythe miss touched Simon one more time, however, she might find her fan broken, Damara decided as she twisted her napkin in her lap for practice.

“You mustn’t worry, my dear. You won’t be seeing her at our little assemblies,” a soft voice assured Damara from her left.

Damara turned her head to meet the kind gaze of the lady, some ten years her senior, who was sitting next to her. Lady Sefton had not spoken unless directly addressed since her arrival just before luncheon for the twenty guests was announced. While the others chatted and exchanged gossip, she would nod occasionally and reward a few with her sweet maternal smile. Damara found herself tongued-tied, now that she was this close to one of the patronesses of the holiest of holies.

“Her father made his blunt in the mills and married his oldest girl Abigail to Sir Gareth Wilson, the quite girl sitting next to her mother,” Lady Sefton confided in a hushed tone no one else could hear. “Sefton and I are tolerant of others, including my own brother Craven, but the fact that this Smith person made his fortune at the expense of other’s toil – then tried to hide his identity in a contrived name – cannot be condoned.”

Damara began to relax under the soothing voice of her companion. She knew that the Earl of Craven's marriage to the well-known actress, Louisa Brunton, had caused a mild sensation, but the lady was accepted by Craven's argumentative family.

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.