She spun on her heels to find her sister Clara in a lovely blue gown, minus the cap, frowning at her with concern. Her eyes flicked down to Diana’s left hand, still clutching the article.
“Did someone say something hurtful to you?”
A laugh escaped Diana at the question, and her sister walked to her, more concerned.
“Diana.”
Diana shook her head. “I’m sorry. No, it is nothing like that.”
Not believing her, Clara said, “You must tell me what’s wrong.”
Diana handed her sister the article, and Clara read it. When she was done, she looked back up, still confused. “What does this have to do with you?”
Diana struck the same pose as the lady in the caricature, and a giggle erupted from Clara. She raised a brow, and her sister sobered.
“I’m this uneventful lady they are writing about.”
Clara started to deny it, but Diana held her hand up. “Don’t.”
“There is nothing wrong with this type of lady,” Clara offered.
Diana knew she was right. Yet for some reason, she had the urge to denounce this woman who embodied so much of who she was.
“It is quite insulting now that I think about it. Do you think this paragon explained in the paper can be broken down into these characteristics? I doubt it. I would say, ‘Shame on this writer for portraying women as such simple creatures.’”
Diana smiled at Clara’s attempt to write off the words that so strongly affected her. “Truth be told, I have always liked being this type of lady, but for some reason, lately, I feel adrift.”
Clara’s eyes widened at her revelation. Her sister took her hand. “You can be and do whatever you want, Diana. You are so young.”
Diana snorted. “Not true.”
“I mean it. There is a whole world to explore out there, but do it because you want to. Not because this article reduced your circle of friends to caricatures.”
Diana squeezed her sister’s hand.
“Are you missing Hensley?” Clara asked.
She always missed her husband. Even two years later, she wished he were by her side, but she couldn’t shake the sense this was not because of his passing. This was something more, but she didn’t know what.
“Of course, but this feels different.”
Clara turned them so they looked in the mirror. “Diana, you can and should do whatever you like.”
Diana smiled at her sister as their eyes met. “Thank you for your support.”
Still, all she saw when she stared back at herself was the caricature of the uneventful lady. And, until now, she would have been fine with that lady. What changed?
*
“Devons, open thedoor,” his half-brother Malcolm, the Marquess of Derry, called from the hallway outside the apartment Sebastian Devons kept at their gentlemen’s club, the Den.
Malcolm had a similar space but seldom spent time there now that he was a happily married man. Sebastian’s brother knocked loudly, interrupting his thoughts.
A blonde naked minx groaned. “Tell him to go away.”
Sebastian smacked her bottom. “Unfortunately, my sweet, I think I’m late for an appointment with him. We have business to discuss.”
Abigail Spencer, a rising star of the London theater scene, rose from the bed and coyly asked, “Are you sure?”
