Phineas, Viscount Barrington, has known — and teased — Lady Louisa all of his life. But when another man takes an interest in her, he suddenly realizes he’s been taking her for granted…
Read on for a sneak-peek!
PROLOGUE
London, England 1800 (or a variation thereof)
“Anne, you look as though you’re about to faint,” Lady Louisa Beaumont, second eldest daughter to the Earl of Whickerton, commented upon seeing her cousin’s whitish, pale face and her huge, round eyes staring at the crowded ballroom as though facing a firing squad. “This is your first ball, not your execution.” Chuckling, Louisa squeezed Anne’s hand reassuringly. “You’ll be fine.”
Whether or not Anne believed her was unclear as she continued to eye her surroundings with wary caution, her shoulders tense and her steps all but steady.
Turning her head to look at her younger sister—by only one year, mind you—Louisa whispered over her shoulder, “She looks worse than you did, dearest Leo.” A sisterly snicker followed.
For a short moment, Leonora all but ignored Louisa’s comment. Then she remarked in a mere observational tone, “I comported myself in a perfectly appropriate fashion.”
Louisa nodded, unable to keep a grin from stealing onto her face. “Yes, you did, and you looked awfully uncomfortable the entire time.”
Leonora sighed and then looked past Louisa at their cousin. “Do not look at all those you do not know,” she advised. “Seek out those you are acquainted with and remind yourself that you’re not alone.” She moved to Anne’s other side and took ahold of her hand. “We are here.”
For a moment, Anne closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. Then she nodded, a hesitant smile coming to her lips as she looked at her two cousins affectionately. “Thank you for being here for me.”
“What are cousins for?” Leonora smiled warmly.
“To tease each other mercilessly?” Louisa asked mockingly as she gently patted Anne’s hand.
“Not today!” Leonora stated, a warning tone in her voice and a rather authoritative look in her blue eyes.
Louisa nodded. “Very well.” She let her gaze sweep the crowded ballroom. “On the lookout for acquaintan—” Louisa flinched when Tobias Hawke all but materialized out of nowhere in front of them, his chocolate-brown eyes fixed on Anne as he held out his hand to her. “Care for a dance?”
Sighing, Anne seemed to relax on the spot, and her hand slipped into his without thought.
When Anne’s childhood friend pulled her onto the dance floor, a few whispered words left his lips and that endearing half-smile of his once more curled up the corners of his mouth.
Louisa moved closer to her sister, both watching the two of them stand up for the next dance. “There’s a couple in the making,” she remarked with absolute certainty. “Mark my words; this is Anne’s first and last Season.”
“You cannot know that,” Leonora objected, a slight frown upon her face as she regarded the young couple. “They’ve been friends for years and—”
“That is precisely what I mean,” Louisa interrupted her sister, wondering how to explain to Leonora the magic that could exist between two people; not that Louisa herself had ever felt it. Since her own debut two years ago, she had frequented balls and picnics, concerts and plays, hoping to find the one man who would melt her heart.
All she had found had been disappointed hopes.
At least so far.
Still, Louisa understood well the smile she often saw on their parents’ faces when they caught each other’s eye across a crowded room. After over thirty years of marriage and six children born to them, Lord and Lady Whickerton were still as smitten with each other as on the day they had first met, at least according to Grandma Edie. Of course, Louisa and her siblings had not been born at the time so could not speak from experience.
But they all believed Grandma Edie; the woman had never been known to be wrong.
Ever.
Younger than Louisa by no more than a year, Leonora, however, had never been able to grasp the effect love could have upon one’s life. She had a very rational way of looking at the world, even when it came to emotions. She was not cold or unfeeling, not at all; she possessed a truly watchful eye—not unlike Grandma Edie’s—and knew how to spot the first sparks of love or the pangs of heartbreak. Still, for Leo, it was hard to calculate with something as unreliable as emotions. Yet, she was fascinated by them, perhaps even more so because they could not be added up like two and two.
Louisa, though, was the opposite in every way.
Like fire and water, day and night, the two sisters could not be more different. Where Leonora was rational and calculated, Louisa was passionate and spontaneous. She followed her heart, loved to feel the sun upon her skin and the sensation of twirling in the open air until her head spun. Balls meant delightful company, dancing until dawn and people she cared for sharing in her joy. They also allowed her to mingle with eligible gentlemen, whispering of a match not unlike her parents’.
That had been Louisa’s dream ever since...
...ever since she could remember.