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The home of Lord and Lady Onslow
Mayfair, London, England
Early May 1895
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The London Season waseverything Fiona had always imagined it might be, and so much less.
“Fiona, please do not slouch!”Lady Hyde, her maternal grandmother, poked Fiona in the back with the end of her fan, the sharp blow mercifully dulled by the stiff steel of her corset.
Aye, this wasexactlyhow she imagined it.It was like being seventeen again when she had dreamed of a Season.
Vin had been correct.There had been a time when she wanted nothing more than to have a London Season.To attend balls, garden parties, and the theater.To dance and flirt and find the man of her dreams.
She had managed that without a Season at all.
Since then, the potential to seehim andmeethimagain kept her from pressing for a true London Season these past two years.
And here she was anyway.
“Yes, Granny,” she sighed and straightened her shoulders dutifully, knowing that any other response would only make matters worse.
But even the worst of her imaginings hadn’t included being prodded with the business end of a surprisingly sharp fan, and Fiona was in possession of a luridly vivid imagination.Vivid enough to cast ghostly sightings of a particular gentleman in every crowd.To hear haunting echoes of a deep, rich voice and warm laughter.
To conjure enough dreadful anticipation to catch at the very fibers of her nerves until they were frayed to the last thread.
Only the dogged unwillingness to back down from a challenge kept her nerves intact.Of course, it was the same cursed stubbornness that had landed her in London to begin with.She was her own worst enemy in so many ways.
She had been on pins and needles all week.Waiting.Dreading.
Thankfully, the very worst of what she expected from the Season hadn’t yet come to be.They’d been in town a week so far without the reason for her reticence making an unwelcome appearance.Fiona was beginning to feel the first stirrings of optimism that she might not face that awkward encounter at all.
It was optimism enough now, halfway through her first ball, for Fiona’s natural good humor to begin reasserting itself.
Another jab.“Posture!”
It was a good thing, too.Two nights past, the tension of waiting for a glimpse of him would have had Fiona snatching that fan from her grandmother’s hand and snapping the delicate mother-of-pearl blades in half.Thankfully, tonight, she could comply, if not cheerfully, at least without a sharp retort.
Unfortunately, throwing back her shoulders also caused a forward thrust of her breasts.They swelled against the low neckline of her ball gown, prompting another frown to crease the older woman’s brow.
“Demure, Fiona,” her grandmother dictated, gracefully lifting her head and shoulders by example.“You must be more reserved if you want any potential suitors to approach.”
“I’m finding that being surrounded by nine overly protective brothers seems to frighten off any potential suitors far more efficiently than my demeanor,” Fiona responded pertly.Sadly, the only reward for her rediscovered sense of humor was yet another arrogantly raised brow, but it wasn’t enough to deter Fiona’s tongue.“’Twould be like passing beneath the stare of the Sphinx to approach.”
“They do serve to filter out the rabble, however,” Lady Hyde countered as she fanned herself haughtily.“We cannot simply have you thrown to the wolves like a robber baron’s only daughter.No offense intended, of course, Evelyn,” she added to Glenrothes’ wife, who stood at her other side.
“None taken, my lady.”
Fiona shared a grin with her sister-in-law, who was technically not theonlydaughter of an American robber baron.She had a sister.
“Wolves, Granny?”Fiona addressed her grandmother with a low chuckle.“Nay, they are not wolves but sharks.See how they circle me, like a tasty bit of bait in these frigid waters?Every one of them ready to devour me.”
Fiona smiled flirtatiously at a passing gentleman, even going so far as to hold her fan in front of her face with her left hand to indicate in the age-old language of the fan that she desired his attention.Though the man nearly tripped over his feet as he turned to watch her, he didn’t approach, proving her point.“My brothers have become the shoals that protect me and keep me safe, and you as well, Granny, as colorful as an anemone that enfolds me.Little do my brothers know that their behavior is counterproductive to their edict that I let myself be courted—and so is yours, Granny.One cannot court where one cannot first meet.”
Lady Hyde’s lips pursed.“Evelyn,” she said tightly aside once more.“Your influence upon my dear Fiona has made tremendous strides these past several years.Shecanbe everything that is proper and demure, a true lady...when she wishes to be.However, with such unseemly outbursts continuing, I fear that her more rebellious nature is not to be contained.”
