Page 77 of Never a Proper Lady

Nevertheless, she didn’t shy away from examining why she’d responded as drastically as she had.

The answer had blindsided her, striking her so forcefully and unexpectedly that she’d collapsed onto Lady Edyth’s bed. Staring up at the sky-blue pleated canopy, a parade of recollections traipsed across her mind.

She’d done the untenable, the very thing she’d vowed to eschew—she’d fallen in love with her aristocratic employer.

Ooh, the heart was a traitorous, feckless organ.

If Constantine had hinted that he held her in any affection, she might’ve been tempted to consider his offer. Her heart had screamed, “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you.”

But Faith’s common sense, her cautious self, had flinched with each plausible reason he gave for them to marry.

She knew he was a logical, practical, confounding man.

Lord, how well she knew it.

It shouldn’t have surprised her that he’d approach marriage with the same pragmatism and rationale he did all else. What did surprise her was that he’d choose her. And that brought her full circle to the irrefutable fact that he valued her amanuensis skills far more than he did her.

Lady Edyth sobered, her earlier radiance fading.

“I wish you could be my sister, Faith. I adore Charlotte, of course, but she’s sixteen years older than me. I know she loves me, but she’s always been more like a second mother than a sister—a confidant and friend.”

“I’m several years older too,” Faith reminded her as she collected her white satin elbow-length gloves.

“Yes, but I feel like I’ve always known you.” Lady Edyth’s pretty green eyes grew misty. “And you’re going away, and I shall probably never see you again. And Charlotte is going away, and it will just be me in this big house. My brothers will return to their lives, and I shall have no one.”

Faith gathered her into her arms.

“We can write, and there is no reason why we cannot see one another when I am in England.”

Actually, there was a six foot two, jade-eyed reason.

“Do you promise?” Lady Edyth pulled back and searched Faith’s face.

There was always the risk Faith would run into Constantine, but what this young girl asked was within her scope to make her happy.

“I promise, Edyth.”

A glance at the white marble bedside clock revealed it was time to go below.

Faith’s stomach roiled at the thought of seeing Constantine after this morning. But she wasn’t a coward. She would face this evening with the graciousness and eloquence she’d been taught.

She would do Hester Shepherd proud.

“Wait.” Lady Edyth rushed to her dressing table. She seized a crystal perfume jar. “It’s only heliotrope eau de toilette. Mama says I’m too young for perfume, but this is my favorite scent.”

She removed the stopper and dabbed her inner wrist and behind each ear. Afterward, she passed it to Faith, who did the same.

Once Faith pulled on her gloves, she took a final glance in the mirror.

A confident, regal woman stared back at her. A woman who was perfectly capable of going below, holding her head up, and cocking a snook at those who looked down their pretentious noses at her. More on point, she was strong and capable, and any encounters with Constantine she would handle with grace and aplomb.

“Shall we go?” She extended her elbow.

“Indeed.” Eyes sparkling with excitement, Lady Edyth slipped her hand into the crook of Faith’s elbow. “This is my first formal ball. Do you think I’ll dance every dance?”

The lovely girl would have the young bucks eating out of her hand.

“I have no doubt you will.” Already a beauty on the cusp of womanhood, the girl’s kind heart and generous spirit were certain to make her a favorite among the ton. They might also make her a target of the waspish-tongued, envious wallflowers.

Edyth gave her an uncertain, sideways look as they went below.

“Will you dance with Constantine?”

Faith had considered that since running back to the house.

If he asked, she must accept because to refuse meant she’d have to sit out every dance for the rest of the evening. And by Jupiter, as this was likely the only le beau monde ball she’d ever attend, and she’d probably never wear anything as marvelous as this gown and these borrowed jewels again, she meant to put aside her concerns and enjoy herself for a few hours.

“I shall.”

For in two days, she’d start a new chapter of her life and leave the man who had captured her heart as easily as netting a Holly Blue.