Page 1 of A Dangerous Engagement

CHAPTER ONE

Spring 1815, London, England

Felicity took the young gentleman’s arm as they moved away from the dance floor. He was quite handsome, with brown hair and a gentle manner.

“You dance very well, Miss Mayson.” He smiled shyly at her.

“Thank you, Mr.Kellerman.”

“Would you honor me with the next dance?”

“I would be—”

An older woman walked up behind Mr.Kellerman and tapped him on the shoulder. She glared at Felicity as she took Mr.Kellerman’s arm.

“You are not to dance with that young woman again.” The woman spoke in a harsh whisper, loud enough for Felicity to hear.

“Mother, please. I already asked her.” His cheeks were turning red.

“She has no money. No money.” She punctuated her words with a tug on his arm. “Go and dance with Miss Gandy over there.”

His face flaming red, he turned toward Felicity and bowed. “Excuse me, Miss Mayson.”

“You are excused.” She held herself with as much dignity as she could and matched his ugly mother stare for stare. They both turned and walked away.

Felicity stood alone by the wall.I will not care what those supercilious, grasping people say or think,she recited over and over in her head. If only her friends Julia and Leorah were there, she wouldn’t feel so embarrassed, but neither of them had yet returned to town for the Season.

The rest of the night, the only people who asked her to dance were her father and the host’s fifteen-year-old son.

In the carriage on the way home, Felicity announced, “That was the last ball I ever plan to attend, unless it is given by the Withinghalls or the Langdons.”

“Oh, you do not mean that,” Mother said.

“I certainly do.” But she wasn’t sure anyone heard her, for two of her brothers and her sister began to argue.

“You’re taking too much room! Move over.”

“You move over! You’re sitting in my lap.”

“Your hair is in my face!”

Her father was wealthy enough to live in Mayfair and be invited to assemblies and balls but not wealthy enough to give each of his five daughters a significant dowry, and he had to do at least a little something for each of his eight sons. She had never been lonely growing up with so many siblings, but being one of thirteen was not helpful in securing a husband.

From now on, she would do what she liked, and she would give not one thought to marriage or eligible men.

She had been studying Chinese in the hope of traveling to the Orient, ever since hearing the impassioned words of a missionary at a lecture hall a few weeks before. But truthfully, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to be a missionary. She might just write a treatise on what was wrong with the conditions and restrictions society placed on ladies, its dictates on who should and shouldn’t marry whom, and on how money was a crude and unfair factor in marriage.

Perhaps she could be a sort of young Hannah More.

All she really knew was that she wanted to dedicate herself to something besides standing around waiting for a husband who wouldn’t snub her for her tiny dowry.

“Have you heard? Napoleon is in Paris, and the king has fled France.”

Felicity looked up from her book. Alas for the French. It seemed their government was always in turmoil.

Tom’s eyes were bright, and his voice pulsed with excitement. “The war will be recommencing, and my regiment leaves tomorrow.”

And alas for England, joining in another war. Felicity’s friend Casandra had lost a brother to the war a few years ago. And Felicity would have to be blind not to notice all the soldiers who had come home missing an eye, an arm, or even both legs.