Spinster Ever After (The Spinster Chronicles #7) - Rebecca Connolly Page 0,36
help if I laughed during our dance, Miss Anne?”
Anne snickered, her thumbs rubbing against her fists at her side. “Probably not. The last man who laughed during a dance with me found himself shamelessly pursued by Roslyn, all the way into the army.”
“Good heavens,” Michael coughed in surprise.
“It’s all for the best, though,” Anne whispered with a quick grin. “He and I still write, and I think he may offer for me when he returns.”
Well, there went any potential suit for Anne Lawson, but at least he could enjoy a dance with a reasonable girl.
“So I may consider myself safe from you, then?” he asked, laughing with her. “And you are safe from me?”
“I’m afraid so,” Anne said, glancing up the line of dancers before looking at Michael again. “But not, I trust, from Roslyn.”
He shuddered. “If the way she looked at me was any indication, she’d rather offer for that footman on the east wall.”
Anne looked where he indicated and pretended to consider it. “Well, he is mightily good looking…”
Michael coughed a laugh, then reached for Anne’s hand as they finally joined the other couples in the dance.
Chapter Nine
Surprises are a part of life, so one must become adjusted to the unanticipated. Accept the good, adapt to the bad, and move forward in preparation for the next unanticipated event.
-The Spinster Chronicles, 24 November 1817
“So how were things at the Preston ball? I’m ever so sorry to have missed it.”
Charlotte wrinkled up her nose, picking up her tea. “Well enough. I didn’t get on with the Prestons’ son, but I got the impression that no one particularly cared. Julian Bruce doesn’t talk when he dances, which is not a crime, but it certainly made the whole thing less enjoyable. I met a lovely fellow named Mr. Riley, but only for a moment. If I see him again, I may inquire further.” She shrugged, sipping slowly. “It seemed a lot of fuss for precious little results.”
“Results that you could see,” Grace murmured with a hum. She winked at Kitty Morton, who snickered at it. “The gossips were delightfully unsettled by it.”
“They were?” Charlotte sat up and slapped a hand on her arm rest. “What did they say?”
Grace rolled her eyes and set her own tea down. “Let me see if I can recall.”
“I think you’ll find you can,” Charlotte demanded, hating when her friends intentionally put her off for their own enjoyment.
“Give her a moment,” Georgie told her without much sympathy. “It can be very vexing to recall so many details in the days following.”
Charlotte threw her a glare. “It has been barely two, and the only reason we did not gather yesterday was because my head ached after the lateness of the hour at which we departed. Or rather, the earliness.” She returned her attention to Grace. “What was said, Grace?”
“Oh, the usual shocked fuss,” Grace said dismissively, eyeing Charlotte with delight. “What a beauty you were, how marvelous it was that you had come, what a fine catch you’d be, and what a credit you were to your parents.”
“They said what?” Charlotte clapped her hands together, squealing in delight. “It worked!”
Izzy shook her head in disbelief. “Charlotte, they said the same thing about you three weeks ago. This is what they always say about you.”
“Yes, but the occasion is different, don’t you see?” Charlotte grinned at her, determined not to lose her enthusiasm in the face of logic. “I will be talked about with new interest! Isn’t that so, Grace?”
Suddenly the center of their attention, Grace looked around, her expression not quite so mischievous. “I suppose…”
“It’s not going to change in one night,” Elinor reminded them all, though Charlotte knew well enough it was meant for her. “It will take repeated exposure to Charlotte as we should now see her in order for her to be taken seriously as a candidate for matrimony.”
“I’ll do it,” Charlotte vowed with determination, nodding firmly. “Every night, I’ll put myself through the gamut and become that same beauty they saw.”
Georgie snorted softly. “Not every night, surely.”
Charlotte ignored that, thinking quickly. “I wish now I hadn’t given Edith the lavender silk. It would be beautiful to wear to the Bond family’s dinner party. There is sure to be dancing there, and the skirts of that gown move so beautifully.”
“I am sure you’ll find something,” Elinor mumbled, looking at Kitty with exasperation.
“How was the theater, Kitty?” Grace asked as she smiled at her. “Was the music as divine as you hoped it would be?”