Shipmate: A Royal Regard Prequel Novella Read Free Page B

my
curiosity.”
    “And why is that, Miss Smithson?”
    “It just seems improbable for a girl who has
passed her life in the countryside.” She stopped short of saying,
‘a girl without means’.
    “Obviously, you have journeyed as far as
Bath. Have you not seen London?”
    She dropped her eyes and wished he hadn’t
mentioned the capital. Even more, she hoped no one he knew had
attended the fateful party that had ruined her chance at a London
come-out before it had even been planned.
    “Only briefly.” The lemonade shook in her
hand, like it might go flying across the room with the least
provocation. “I much prefer the country life.”
    “I see.”
    She quickly sipped the last of the liquid,
so it wouldn’t somehow end up on his breeches. Or his nose. He
cleared his throat, took the glass from her hand and placed it with
his on the table.
    “I am forced to return to Town for a few
days on the morrow, Miss Smithson, but might I call upon you when I
return, perhaps for a carriage ride? If your family will join us,
we could make a picnic of it.”



Chapter Four
    April 12,
1805
    Bath, England
     
    The morning of the proposed picnic dawned
clear and bright. The Firthleys appeared at breakfast so Charlotte
could help Bella prepare for the engagement, not that Bella thought
it should take six hours to be made presentable. When Charlotte
asked what she intended to wear, Bella had suggested her russet
walking dress, at which both her cousin’s and aunt’s brows turned
down at exactly the same angle.
    “That dress should have been given to a maid
years ago,” Charlotte nagged. “Why did you even bring your old
clothes to Bath? I thought that was the point of a new wardrobe.”
Had Aunt Minerva had her way, Bella would have come to Bath with
nothing but rags, but instead, Charlotte had hired a modiste with Firthley money, to outfit Bella as well as any other
debutante, and better than most. “No, the bronze green muslin and
Brussels lace is a much better choice. It is springtime
personified, and looks just lovely with your eyes and hair.”
    “Charlotte is right, Isabella. You won’t
keep his interest by your conversation, and if you add that drab
gown, you might as well climb up onto the shelf this morning. You
are not precisely decorative , but you do not look so poorly
in that gown, provided you are corseted tightly enou—”
    “Lady Effingale!” Uncle Howard snapped.
“Leave discussion of my niece’s corsetry for the dressing
room.”
    “If only something could be done with your
awful hair. And a picnic, of all things! Any weather at all will
ruin the hours of work it will take to make you fit to be seen. You
should have suggested the theatre or a museum, where the lights
might be dim.”
    After the meal, Charlotte, Bella, and Aunt
Minerva retired to Bella’s chamber with a bevy of maids, where no
fewer than seventeen attempts were made at a stylish presentation
of her fine, straight, thick mass of hair, and no less than
fourteen different lotions and unguents were applied to her face,
throat, hair, and hands. During this same occupation, each and
every gown, chemise, stocking, and slipper that had been brought
from Evercreech to Bath was removed from wardrobe and trunk,
inspected, mended, pressed, and evaluated for this
ever-so-important ensemble. For all the effort that had been
expended on Bella’s foray into the marriage mart, it seemed no one
had actually expected a gentleman might ask to call.
    In the end, it took six-and-a-quarter hours
for Aunt Minerva and Charlotte to proclaim Bella ready for a
picnic, by which time, Bella had been well and truly reminded of
every fault her family insisted she possessed, and had added to
them a hundredfold, most notably by a decided lack of her usual
patience and calm forbearance.
    “Lord Holsworthy values punctuality,” Bella
finally insisted to her aunt. “He said so to me, and it is an ethos
I share. He has been waiting too long already. Would you have