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Helen tasted some of the strawberry cakes, feeling the sweetness explode in her mouth. Her thoughts diverted as usual from the ball. She thought about the talk she had with her father the week before. Helen wanted to make him proud by becoming engaged to a proper gentleman among theton, but her own desires were clouding her judgment.
“Are you even listening?” Kate’s voice pulled Helen from her daydreaming. For a moment, her best friend sounded like her spiteful aunt.
“I was lost there for a moment, Kate. My thoughts lie far away from this boring ball,” Helen replied, regaining her composure. She kept the image of Aunt Gertrude in her mind to keep Jack Whitticombe from slipping in.
“Boring?” Kate asked incredulously. “You call this boring? All night, you were moving from one eligible bachelor to the other as they asked for waltzes and quadrilles. Now you dare to call it tedious?”
“You sound just like Aunt Gertrude,” Helen replied and sipped from the glass of champagne, just like she had been taught.
The very idea of marriage was something that Helen wanted to keep away from her life for as long as she could, yet she did not want to become an old maid like the rest of the boorish spinsters who lived the rest of their lives tucked away in some convent, nor did she want to become like her mean aunt with her nasty remarks because some man left her at the altar.
Instead, Helen wanted to explore pleasure. She longed for the best things life could offer. A rake — like Jack Whitticombe — before she was married off to some boring gentleman in London and shipped away from her father’s house.
“That is a stab to my demeanor. I am better than your aunt in a lot of ways,” Kate asked with a predatory smile on her face.
Helen took another sip of the champagne before whispering back, “Are you really sure about that? I have seen how you gossip with the other wallflowers at this ball.”
“I forbid that such evil is flowing through my veins,” she replied, faking a pain across her heart. “I am even hurt that you liken me to her.”
“Nothing to be worried about. I am just trying to lighten the sour mood of this ball. My feet ache from the quadrilles I've been enduring.”
“Seeing how you were dancing with Lord Thackey, I would beg to differ.”
Helen wished Sonya had loosened the cords of the corset a little bit more. She wanted her body to breathe, just like it did when she was in her morning gowns or chiffon peignoir. When Kate grabbed her gloved hand, Helen was lost once again in the wonders of her mind.
“Your dance card is full?” Kate asked, mouth agape for a while before she closed it to avoid pushing away the bachelors that did not even come close to her. “Have you included a love potion in your dress tonight?”
“Why would you speak of such, Kate?” Helen asked. “This gown is enough dowry for any eligible gentleman at this ball.”
“You have yet to make a point, Helen. All these men and not one your heart goes out to? Not even Lord Hemming?”
Helen Jarvis shook her head, letting her blonde ringlets dance around her shoulders. She was not the diamond of the first water, but she was favored because she was beautiful enough. Also, her father was the Earl of the Erbury. An enormous dowry would be prepared for whoever she got engaged to.
“Not that you know what I am going through anyway. The ball will be over soon, and not even one bachelor has approached me for a dance. It is becoming alarming.”
Helen pursed her lips, still searching the crowd for someone to catch her fancy. “Alarming? Are you becoming rather desperate to make a match?”
Kate nodded, twirling the silk ribbon on her dance card. She was tired of the ball already, but there was no other choice. If she wanted to get married as soon as possible, having one bachelor at the ball was the best option.
“You know the state of my family and the rumors surrounding the Williams Abbey. Getting married is the only way to get my family out of our present condition.”
Helen pulled Kate toward the large double doors that led to the garden. She was feeling a little nauseous from the crowd in the ballroom, and a part of her hoped that she would find something interesting in the gardens.
“Finding a husband during the Season is easy, my friend,” Helen said, hitching up her gown a little when they crossed onto the manicured lawns. “Every eligible bachelor is searching for a bride. The odds are in your favor this Season.”
“In my favor?” Kate asked, worry written all over her face. She wagged her dance card in Helen’s face. “Then why is my dance card empty?”
“There will be other balls this Season. It means there are other chances for you to make the right match. To find happiness. I heard the Queen throws a delightful soiree when the Season is in full swing.”
“I can’t stand the rumors anymore, Helen. Even Jack and Simon, the two sons of the Finch family, are avoiding me like the plague. I am sure that the Great London fire certainly did not get such discord.”
Helen stared at Kate, transfixed by her friend’s words. “The two Finch sons are not good-looking men, and their father is almost in debt from gambling on those horse races. They should not even be on your list of eligible men.”
“That,” she drawled, “is how dire the situation has become. Any gentleman will surely suffice.”
“Great gods!” Helen exclaimed as she dabbed her wrists with perfume from her reticule. “I am sure that everything will be fine, Kate. I heard the Viscount of Pemberley has not one, but three eligible bachelors this Season.”
“The Viscount is not even in London at the moment,” Kate replied.
