The Last Eligible Bachelor - Ashtyn Newbold Page 0,10
vanished. I corrected my expression and regarded Mr. Hill in as timid a manner as possible. “It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Hill.” I looked away from his face, doing all I could to be forgettable and meek. It was not difficult to feign shyness around him, and I was quite proud of my performance.
With another wobbling curtsy, I moved aside to allow Mrs. Ollerton room to address him. Amid my thoughts, I had not heard the drawing room door open, nor had I heard the maid sneaking past me with the tea tray. As I came out of my curtsy and stepped abruptly to the right, I collided with something solid.
A slight shriek met my ears as a young maid stumbled over my foot, catching hold of my sleeve to steady herself as the tea tray tipped forward, sending a bowl of jam and tray of tartlets to make a solid impact with Mr. Hill’s jacket. One tart made a sound splat against his firm jaw. Only once I had gathered my senses did I notice the tea pot that had shattered and spilled its contents all over his boots and Mrs. Ollerton’s Turkish rug.
“Oh, Miss Sedgwick!” Mrs. Ollerton’s voice came out, high-pitched and enraged as she took in the scene. My jaw hung loose, and I quickly scrambled to the ground, scooping up as many of the spilled tartlets as possible, the raspberry jam oozing between my fingers and causing further dripping onto the carpet. The maid I had caused to trip was already doing all she could to clean as well, and only when I noticed her look of alarm did I realize that a lady would never have been crawling across the ground to gather up tarts.
I straightened quickly and came to my feet. My face burned hot, no doubt redder than the jam that was smeared on the right side of Mr. Hill’s face.
The other four ladies in the room watched me as if I were a foreign species of animal that had meandered my way from the Indian jungle right into the drawing room of Winslow House. I had been crawling across the ground, after all.
I wiped my hands on my skirts before realizing it.
Elegant, Tillie. Very elegant indeed.
Chapter 4
The walls of the drawing room seemed to be closing in on all sides, and I wished they would. It might have been a much-needed distraction from the disaster I had just created.
Mr. Hill calmly withdrew his handkerchief. I thought he would raise it to his own face to wipe off the jam, but instead he extended it to me, half his mouth lifting in a smile. “I must say, raspberry jam is my favorite, but I prefer eating it over applying it to my complexion. Is that what you ladies do to achieve such a flush to your cheeks?” He winked, much to my dismay, before setting the clean white linen in my hand.
My dripping, sticky hand.
A new surge of heat engulfed my cheeks as I cleaned between my fingers as best I could. Had he just smiled? After I had ruined his clean clothing and embarrassed him in front of the entire party? I must have been imagining it. I hurried as quickly as I could to clean my hands before looking up at Mrs. Ollerton, who still wore an obvious expression of dismay.
“Miss Sedgwick mustn’t be allowed near the tea tray on future occasions,” she said between deep breaths. I noticed a tartlet near Mr. Hill’s shoe, but before I could point it out, he stepped forward, crushing it further into the carpet. I cringed.
His stare bore down on my face. Could I have possibly made a greater mistake? I had made myself anything but invisible. Thankfully, though, I had shown myself in an inelegant, disagreeable light; if this was Mr. Hill’s first impression of me, it was sure to keep him far away. Sophia would be mortified if she knew how I had represented her, crawling along the ground gathering up tartlets. I grimaced before reluctantly meeting Mr. Hill’s gaze.
Before he could speak, a tall young woman spoke up from behind him. “So we see that the charms of Mr. Hill affect even the most stoic of women. I cannot imagine a single lady would not be inclined to humiliate herself to gain his attention.”
The other three ladies laughed, a myriad of intonations from rasped and quiet to shrill and loud.