“That’s it,” Evie promised. Returning to her dressing table, she dabbed a circular brush into a pot of pigmented chalk and dusted it beneath her eyes to disguise the dark shadows that loomed there courtesy of her late-night chat with the Duke of Hanover. “Most men like nothing more than to discuss themselves and their favorite hobbies in great detail, and if you give them the opportunity to do so, they will fill an entire conversation with the proper way to tie a fly for trout fishing.”
“That sounds interesting. Howdoyou tie a fly for trout fishing?”
“I haven’t the vaguest idea. I don’t actuallylistento what they’re saying. I just pretend to.”
“And they never guess? That you’re just pretending?”
Evie slowly lowered the brush. “Most of them don’t, no.”
“What about the ones who do?”
“They’re rarely worth the trouble.” She fixed a smile on her face. “It’s almost time for the welcome breakfast. Why don’t you go, and save me a seat. There’s one last thing I want to fix with my hair, and then I will join you momentarily.”
“All right.” Off Rosemary flitted, leaving Evie alone. Even Posy was gone, having been taken on a walk by Hannah.
Turning her palms inward and pressing them on the edge of the dressing table, Evie met her own stare in the mirror. She’d needed every bit of her talent with creams and potions to disguise the lack of color in her face and the drab texture of her skin. Losing her heart to Weston, it seemed, did not agree with her. Like coming down with a cold, or having an allergic reaction to a sting. If the poetsreallywanted to capture what being in love was like, they could start by being honest about it.
As she saw him
Standing there
Her heart galloped
And her skin glistened
With red hives
All over her body
Let Elizabeth Barrett Browning writethatand then see how many women wanted to fall in love.
Evie was willing to bet the number would shrink considerably.
After all, why would anyone want to feel as she did?
Hopeful and anxious.
Excited and tired.
Happy and afraid.
If any more emotions tried to fit inside of her, she might burst!
And there’d be no amount of rouge in the world to fixthatmess.
Her one bright spot in a sky of clouds was that following her unusual interlude with Sterling, she had a better understanding of Weston. And she was going to use that newfound knowledge to her advantage. Sheneededto use it. Because Martha Smethwick was arriving today.
The woman Weston wanted to marry.
The woman hewouldmarry, unless Evie convinced him that she was a better match.
Unless she convinced him that she was a better wife.
A better partner
A better lover.
Dissatisfied with the way she’d curled her hair (this morning, especially, she needed to look her very best as she was formally presented to the other guests, having skipped the receiving dinner the night before) she began to remove the pins in an attempt to loosen her coiffure, and had three of them clamped between her lips when the door unexpectedly slammed inward and Hannah rushed inside.
