A hand rested on his arm and Edward met Felton’s sympathetic gaze, “If it is any consolation, I thought you had him there.”
“So did I,” he said. “But now, I have no idea where to pivot.”
“You could get him drunk and take him to an altar,” Felton offered humoredly. “I know a priest you can use.”
Despite the gravity of the moment, Edward laughed, albeit bitterly. “I’ll consider that as the last resort.”
CHAPTER 11
While brushing her sister’s hair out for the Duke’s ball two days later, Alice tried her best to reassure her. “It will work out, I promise.”
Dressed in a yellow gown with delicate daffodils stitched on the hem of puff sleeves and cascading down a stripe from Penelope’s right shoulder to her left hip, her sister smiled. “I think his lordship will love your costume.”
“I am sure Benedict will,” Alice agreed, trying not to think of the moment Edward had seen her in the same delicate dove costume.
While she was in business with Edward, Benedict was the one courting her and she would do well to keep both relationships apart.
“Are you sure Aunt will not be upset that we were invited, while she and Eliza weren’t?” Penelope asked, biting her lip.
“Officially,Iwas invited, with you as my chaperone,” Alice said while twisting her sister’s hair into a chignon and sliding the unadorned pins in. “I wouldn’t leave you home while I know you could benefit from a relaxing night away.”
Reaching for the sprigs of daffodil flowers, she slid them into the coiffure and stepped back to view her work. “You look like a summer garden.”
Twisting her head, Penelope smiled. “I always love when you do my hair. You still have your artist’s touch.”
“I haven’t touched a brush in months,” Alice lamented. “But hopefully one day I’ll return to my drawings.”
Plucking up the silk yellow mask, she handed it to Penelope while checking her hair in the brass mirror; instead of the updo she had worn the night she had crossed paths with the Duke, her hair was down in ringlets this time.
“If you marry him.” Penelope shook her head. “No,whenyou marry him, you will have all the time in the world to paint and sew and garden.”
Guilt assailed her from all sides and red assailed her cheekbones as Alice fought down the remorse which had tormented her in the early days.
Benedict is the one courting you. Edward is not.
A knock on the door barely preceded Eliza stepping into the room, clad in her dressing gown and bonnet. “I wanted to see what you two were wearing to the ball,” she said, her nose wrinkling with distaste at Penelope. “Isthatwhat you are wearing?”
Looking down, Penelope asked, “What’s wrong with it?”
“Well, nothing,” Eliza shrugged. “If you do not mind wearing a dress outdated two seasons ago. It’s sufficient, I suppose, but nothing spectacular.”
Alice bristled at Eliza’s clear attempt to undermine Penelope’s confidence but as she opened her mouth to redress her cousin, Penelope seemed to shrug the subtle insult off.
“It is beautiful still. We may not get new in-season dresses as you do, but I am happy to wear it anyhow,” Penelope chimed. “I am simply going to chaperone. I doubt anyone will be looking at me. Let your mind be at ease, I hardly doubt that I will be engaged to the last eligible bachelor by the end of the night.”
Eliza’s scowl did not ease the worry in Alice’s heart. “Speaking of bachelors, what came of the lord who was dancing with you a few months ago, Lord Ratling, or Rutter. I—erm, oh yes,Rutledge. That is it. What happened to him? Why did he suddenly disappear?”
Color stained Penelope’s cheeks at the dig. “I do not know.”
“He lost interest in you, I suppose,” Eliza's fake sympathy did not match the ungodly glee in her eyes. “I am sorry, Penelope, but I would be lying if I did not admit that I could see that happening. He was much more…worldly-wise, if you understand my meaning. While you’re an innocent.”
This time, Alicehadto step in, “I suppose that means you have moreexperiencethen? Please, regale us with yourworldlytales.”
Lips pursing, Eliza said, “I just remembered something I should be doing. Please, excuse me.”
When she flounced off, Alice huffed, “I do not know how long I can go with her, Penelope. She grates on my nerves every day and just as I thought she could not go any lower, here she comes, trying to shatter your confidence.”
“She didn’t shatter anything,” Penelope replied with a soothing pat. “She tried, but I’m wise to her antics. I have been for a long while.”
