AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’d have to harden herself against the man. She straightened her spine, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin as she followed the rest of her family inside, where introductions were already being made.
One of her brother’s friends was in attendance, Lord Smith, while Tillie’s friend Lady Juliet had also come.
But she barely looked at the others as her gaze swept down the back of Rangeley. How had she never noticed that a man’s back could be as masculine and handsome as his front?
“He cuts quite the figure, doesn’t he?” Lady Greenburg asked as she looped her arm through Millie’s.
Millie ducked her chin, realizing that she’d been caught staring. “Who?”
Lady Greenburg chuckled. “Never mind. Tell me. Are you rooting for your sister to marry Lord Rangeley?”
Millie shrugged, lifting her chin to look at the other woman. “If he makes my sister happy.”
Lady Greenburg raised her eyebrows. “Isn’t your mother most eager to have you come out?”
“I’m sure she is.” Her mother was certain that Millie was the great hope for an excellent match. That Millie had the beauty and grace to be a stand out debutante. Millie didn’t care about any of that. What she wanted, what she’d always wished for, was to be as talented as Tillie. As confident and as smart.
“With Tillie married, you’d be free to join society,” Lady Greenburg reasoned.
Millie shrugged. “There are families who have multiple daughters out at once.” But it wasn’t done often. If the younger daughter married first, she’d surpass her older sister in societal rank. And while Tillie did not care a wit, it bothered Millie to think of it. It bothered their mother too, but for different reasons.
“Your mother would do such a thing?” Lady Greenburg asked, looking truly surprised.
And for good reason. Her mother believed in doing everything by the strictest of rules. But Millie didn’t say that as the butler bowed to Lady Greenburg, offering to escort her to her room for a repose.
She agreed and left Millie standing in the foyer alone. She drew in a deep breath. Perhaps she could escape. Disappear into her own room. Would anyone notice if she remained there for the entirety of the week?
“Millie,” Tillie called. “Join us, we’re going to walk out in the garden.”
Or not. “What a wonderful idea,” she said with a smile as she inwardly sighed. Accommodating. That’s what everyone thought of her. Why didn’t she just say no?
But instead, she found herself pulling on her bonnet as she followed the group outside, her gaze continually straying to Lord Rangeley’s back.
