AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Freddie gave him a maddening smile but didn’t say anything.
Percy’s frown deepened. This was the danger of going down this road with her. He didn’t want her to think he was offering love. It would have been so much more straightforward if she had just accepted his first proposal and been done with it. Then they both would have known where they stood with one another.
Chapter 12
A few days later, Jane walked into the Lethbridge’s grand townhouse with Marianne and Lucy. Another infernal ball. She had tried to wiggle out of this one, but her sister had insisted for some strange reason.
“Why must I go?” Jane’s voice had been peevish. “There is no reason for me to be there. You and Lucy can have a perfectly fine time without me.”
“You are turning into an old lady, Jane,” her sister had said in a tart voice. “You sound like you are five and seventy rather than five and twenty! You are coming to this ball, even if I must drag you along by the ear.”
Jane had sighed but complied. It had seemed easier to just give in to her sister rather than argue the point. It was only one night, and it would soon be over. But when she had descended the staircase in her ball gown—the same plain one she always wore—Lucy had looked at her furiously.
“What?” Jane had been bewildered. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
Lucy’s lip had curled. “The brooch, of course! Must you advertise that Lord Carlisle gave you a gift? I do not understand you at all, Jane. You always insist that you are not interested in marrying, and yet wearing the gift of a gentleman is encouragement, you know. What is going on?”
“Nothing,” Jane had insisted, reddening. “I just happen to like the brooch. That is all.”
Lucy had sniffed her disdain. Jane was suddenly filled with doubt. Her cousin was speaking out of selfish crankiness, but she was right. Wearing the broochwasa sign that she was encouraging the Earl. And she really didn’t want to do that. Did she?
I should never have even accepted it, she thought.How could I have done such a thing?
Hastily, she had removed the brooch. Lucy had looked pleased, at last. And now, here they finally were. A bit late, but still with the whole boring, tedious night stretching ahead of them. Time was going to drag. Jane just knew it.
Lucy stiffened, staring at the dance floor, with a poisonous look on her face. “What is the earl doing dancing withher?” Her voice was filled with outrage.
Jane followed her cousin’s gaze. Now she knew why Lucy was so put out. The Earl was dancing with Miss Beatrice Prescott. The lady was smiling at him as she took her steps, looking utterly entranced with him. And he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off his dance partner, either.
Jane shifted uneasily. There was a strange, burning feeling in her chest that she didn’t recognise immediately. With shock, she realised it was jealousy.
She was feeling the exact emotion that Lucy was.
Confused, she turned away, walking quickly out of the room. She didn’t like this feeling, and she didn’t understand it. How could she be jealous that the Earl was dancing with a lady? He was free to dance with whomever he chose. She had no hold over him. And he had been honest with her that he was searching for a wife.
Jane took two big breaths, trying to stifle this ugly, unwanted emotion. Miss Beatrice Prescott was one of those ladies who would jump at the chance to marry him if she could. Jane had known Beatrice forever. They were around the same age. Beatrice was sophisticated, elegant, and beautiful. She was also supremely confident.
But the lady hadn’t been successful in securing a good marriage yet, despite all her manifest gifts. Beatrice had spent three fruitless years hoping that Lord Litchfield would propose to her. The gentleman had wooed her, stringing her along, before suddenly marrying another wealthier lady.
Since then, Beatrice had grown increasingly more desperate, although she hid it well. She was also artful at this game. She knew how to lure a gentleman.
Lucy and Beatrice didn’t like each other, probably because they recognised that the other was competition. No wonder Lucy had reacted the way she had when her cousin saw them dancing together.
But that didn’t explain why Jane felt the same way.
“Jane?” Marianne was by her side. “Are you quite well?”
Jane took another deep breath, trying to gain control. “Yes. I just felt a bit hot, that was all.”
Marianne frowned. “Do you want to sit down, dearest?”
Jane nodded. “Yes, that would be good.”
Marianne steered her to a seat, sitting down beside her, before jumping to her feet again. “I shall get you a lemonade. That will cool you down.” She walked off.
Jane leant back, still struggling to contain her emotions. She had never felt anything like it before. She had been indifferent to all gentlemen. None of them had ever made her regret her vow to her mother and wish it had been different.
She gazed at the other ladies seated beside her. The wallflowers. The ladies who were not popular and rarely asked to dance. They all looked subdued and defeated. Jane had never felt that way.
