Chapter2
Aurora Hillcrest accepted her dance card back, said goodbye to the last man who would dance with her tonight, and glanced at her oldest cousin. “There. Satisfied now?”
“Yes. You need to be seen,” Mrs. Eugenia Berringer promised, offering an impish smile. “Now the business of the evening is arranged, I have to ask how many times Sylvia tried to get you to go away with them?”
Aurora glanced about to see who was near enough to overhear her answer. “Seven directly, four indirectly when speaking to her husband and the dowager marchioness while I was in the room. And I had already declined,” Aurora Hillcrest answered with a grimace for her absent cousin’s persistence. “Of course, I would not go. I could have enjoyed two whole weeks away from London, but with one of them spent trapped in a carriage with Sylvia and her husband, and then another spent watching them take the waters in Bath for their health—of which mine is already excellent, by the way—it made the decision to refuse very easy.”
Eugenia laughed softly. “A visit to the pump room ensures plenty of conversation might be had by all. They are going for the fresh air. It will be good for all of them to get away from the great city for even that long.”
“It will be good for her husband. Wharton’s been looking harried of late.” Aurora shrugged. “Politics gets him riled up too easily.”
“Chasing Sylvia about the house used to do the same thing,” Eugenia whispered, drawing close. “I thought some time away would do their marriage good, which is why I was so eager for them to go.”
Aurora leaned against her cousin. “If you were trying to inflame their passions, why on earth did you suggest taking the dowager marchioness along with them?”
Eugenia winked. “Wharton has to sleep sometime. Besides, Sylvia would never have left the dowager behind in London. She has old friends there, and I knew she was keen to see them again. She’s become nostalgic.”
Aurora nodded, understanding why. The dowager was in good health now but early last year, she’d suffered through a dangerous surgery to remove a growth in her breast. She was only now professing to feel like her old self again. “You know, I’m not sure I’d want to travel anywhere with a mother-in-law.”
“Only time will tell, and you’d have to be married first to ever know for certain if you would like the experience,” Eugenia said, giving her a pointed look that always led to a lecture about her unpopular opinion that she would never marry.
Aurora shook her head quickly, drawing back. “Let’s not argue here.”
“Very well, but I think it grossly unfair that you deny yourself a chance to be happy.”
Aurora would make any man a poor wife indeed. Certainly, for anyone connected to the ton where a sterling reputation, family connections and fortune by way of a handsome dowry meant everything.
Aurora glanced down at the costly delicate white silk creation she was wearing tonight. Once upon a time, she’d never have believed she could own something so very fine and elegant. Her cousins’ marriages had propelled her into a world she had been and still felt undeserving of.
Aurora winced and lifted her chin. The past could not be changed, and this was her life. Accompanying her cousins about Town to the best events imaginable. She fixed a smile on her face and looked upon the happy guests chattering in the Castlereagh ballroom and tried to imagine she was one of them. Marriage may not be for her. Not ever. But she would never begrudge others their joy.
Aurora could not bear to be an embarrassment to her cousins. She was a lady now. Expected to dance, smile, and be gracious at all times in public. She could no longer flirt with handsome strangers and be swept into a scandalous and brief dalliance. Sadly, of late there were few opportunities to meet anyone beyond the rarified circles she traveled in these days with her cousins.
Once though, before her cousins’ marriages, she might have gone out to dance and encouraged anyone who caught her fancy. In these dignified circles, Aurora’s choices were severely curtailed. Marriage or scandal were her only options here, and a stolen kiss discovered was a guaranteed path toward a hasty marriage, especially for someone in her position.
“Are you sure I cannot convince you to stay with me?”
Aurora shook her head. “But thank you for the offer. Before I forget, will you be attending the Richmond Ball next week?”
Eugenia sighed. “I am waiting to hear what the duke and duchess’ plans are before I make my own.”
“As always now,” Aurora grumbled under her breath, hiding her disappointment.
Eugenia’s social calendar seemed to be set at the whim of the Duke and Duchess of Exeter. Aurora hadn’t been able to make any plans with her cousin this season without them being consulted first. Once, Eugenia had been capable of making her own choices. That was the only complaint she had against Eugenia’s marriage.
Her cousin looked her way suddenly. “Were you invited?”
Aurora hadn’t had an invitation to go anywhere herself in a long time, and shook her head. With Sylvia’s abrupt departure from Town, she didn’t think it likely she’d be remembered at this late stage, either. And since Eugenia hadn’t made up her mind to go, she might miss out on what was being feted to be the event of the season, thanks to the tiny number of invitations doled out.
That was how many events in Aurora’s life seemed to go of late, unfortunately. She went along with her cousins and nowhere else besides. But she shouldn’t complain. Her life had truly only begun to flourish when she’d moved to live with her cousins. That life had been good in the beginning. Adventurous. Just the three of them against the challenges the world doled out. But now her two cousins were married, and so well, there were no hardships to face unless one considered the pain of waiting for the next invitation to arrive.
Aurora glanced at her gloved hands. Hands now so soft they might never have worked a day in her life. But she remembered them red and chafed. Of being poor and made to feel grateful for the roof over her head. Aurora knew first-hand how easily anything good could be taken away. She didn’t like to think what would have become of her without her cousins.
At present, she was a perpetual guest of Lady Wharton, her married cousin Sylvia. And an infrequent visitor to Eugenia’s home with the Duke and Duchess of Exeter. Aurora hadn’t had a home of her own since she’d been a gullible child.
She shied away from that train of thought quickly and forced a smile for the elegant couples swirling by.
When Aurora looked ahead to the future, she imagined a series of nights similar to this. Yet she often felt uncomfortable. She’d had sufficient time to accept her situation could not be any different. Her freedoms were more restricted than ever. But they chafed.