Nicola Cornick Read Free Page A

humour, and she found that powerfully attractive…
    ‘…the lady in blue is Mundell’s elder sister, Lady Wallace,’ Mrs Eddington-Buck was saying, her feathered head-dress waggling with excitement. ‘And the lady in pink gauze is Mundell’s other sister, the unmarried one. And the other lady is a Miss Hurst, of the Hampshire Hursts, you know. There—’ she pointed across the room ‘—dancing with that odd man, Sir William Weston.’
    Annabella fanned herself vigorously, for the heat in the room was growing. No one had asked her to dance and she could only be grateful, for it would inevitably rouse Lady St Auby’s ire. It was a very long time since she had attempted the country dances which were so popular, for Francis had usually been too drunk to be steady on his feet when they attendedsuch gatherings, and he preferred the cardroom anyway. Mrs Eddington-Buck and Lady St Auby had moved on to discuss the dresses of the ladies in Mundell’s party, and were full of extravagant praise. Annabella privately thought that Miss Mundell’s rose gauze was far too outré for a country assembly, and Miss Hurst looked a cold and haughty beauty. Once again, her gaze was peculiarly drawn to the tall figure of Miss Hurst’s partner.
    ‘Shameless hussy!’ Lady St Auby had followed her gaze with malevolent eyes. ‘Already casting out lures to another man, and my poor, dead son scarcely cold in his grave!’
    It was not an auspicious moment for the first gentleman of the evening to approach Annabella for a dance, and her heart sank when she saw who he was. Glittering in his scarlet regimentals, and with a smile easy and charming, Captain George Jeffries had managed to come upon her quite unawares. He gave Lady St Auby a punctilious bow, acknowledged with a grin the thin line of disapproval in which her mouth was set, and pulled Annabella into the dance with a proprietary hand she found almost intolerable.
    ‘You must be in a fit of the dismals this evening, my love,’ he observed with cheerful informality, ‘for you have barely spoken a word all night. There!’ He gave her a grin he fondly imagined to be attractive. ‘You should be flattered that I have given away the fact that I have been watching you the whole time!’
    ‘I did not see you come in, sir,’ Annabella replied repressively. She had no heart for idle flirtation, especially not with Jeffries. Once, perhaps, she had found him attractive. But that had been at a time whenshe was particularly lonely and vulnerable, and he had been quick to take advantage of the fact. Unfortunately, he was not now to be dismissed very easily.
    ‘No, indeed!’ Jeffries was eyeing her with objectionable familiarity. ‘You were too busy fluttering your eyelashes at a Viscount to notice a mere half-pay officer!’ He leant closer and she could feel his breath on her face. ‘But you should not be so dismissive of my worth, my love! How much longer—?’
    ‘Kindly stand back, sir!’ Annabella said smartly, embarrassed by the licence he was taking and aware that several of the nearer couples sought to eavesdrop on their conversation. ‘And refrain from addressing me in that intimate whisper!’
    Jeffries recoiled as though he had been slapped. The figure of the dance separated them momentarily, but when he rejoined her he immediately took up the theme again.
    ‘Then where and when may I address you?’ The boyish charm had been replaced by a sulky, mulish expression all too reminiscent of Francis when he was in a bad mood. Annabella’s heart sank. She knew that she had encouraged Jeffries’s attentions during the long and boring months of incarceration at Hazeldean that had followed Francis’s death. His admiration had been balm to her after Francis’s black moods and Lady St Auby’s constant fault-finding. Perhaps she had even allowed him more liberty than had been wise, but she had never intended that it should lead to more…And now that was what Jeffries was wanting,