Page 71 of How to Reject a Marquess

Anna clasped a hand to her chest, also somewhat merry, as she swayed to the rhythm of the music that the orchestra were playing. “Do you think we shall all find love and be as offensively happy as Olivia and Evan?” she sighed, as if talking to herself.

“You might, darling Anna,” Leah replied stiffly, “and the rest of you could if you desired it, but it shall never be me, considering my reputation. Even if I am the last one standing in the Spinsters Club, I shall uphold the proud title until I take my last breath.”

Anna tutted. “Leah, must you always be so dismal about romance? Itispossible for you, just as it is for all of us. Olivia is proof of that.”

“We shall have to agree to disagree,” Leah replied with a smile, taking Anna’s cup from her. “And you ought to take a pause in your imbibing, for without a husband of your own, it will have to be one of us who carries you to your chambers and puts you to bed. Last time you were merry like this, you fought me like a tomcat when I said you had to retire and kicked all the way to the carriage.”

Matilda stifled a snort. “We all had to carry you, in the end, as if you were a captured hog.”

“You are all being very unkind,” Anna pouted. “I am neither a tomcat nor a hog, thank you very much. But… I do feel rather unwell. Perhaps, some fresh air is required.”

At that moment, a yelp cut through the air, drawing the attention of half the Westyork ballroom. Olivia recognized the voice and searched the crowd for Phoebe’s face, finding her a short distance away, huffing and puffing in a fury at another familiar face. Daniel stared at her, dumbfounded, as Caroline hurried to swipe a tablecloth from one of the nearest tables. It all happened in a blur, but it seemed that Caroline was trying to wrap the tablecloth around Phoebe’s waist.

“Do you have such giant feet that you cannot take a step without treading upon a poor lady’s dress?” Phoebe snapped, her cheeks blazing red.

Daniel put up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I did not see you there.”

“Then, perhaps you ought to invest in some spectacles,” Phoebe shot back, turning on her heel and marching toward her friends. “That… that oaf has ripped my dress!”

Caroline hurried to join the ladies. “Oh, dear Phoebe, I am so very sorry for my brother’s clumsiness. He will pay for any repairs that must be made; I promise. Just, do not be angry with him. Hedoeshave giant feet and is so very ungainly—you ought to see him dance. It is a perilous thing.”

“I am not angry with your brother,” Phoebe replied, taking several deep breaths. “I am angry that I shall have to spend the rest of the evening with a tablecloth around my waist, to avoid anyone gawping at my petticoats. Oh… this was my only good gown.”

Olivia smiled and swooped in to take Phoebe’s arm. “I have gowns. Caroline has gowns. We shall find you something and you can enter the ball again as a new woman, unfettered by tablecloths.”

“I havejustthe gown!” Caroline cried, clapping her hands together. “It would become you so well, and I do believe we are not dissimilar in size.”

Olivia hugged Phoebe’s arm to her. “There, you see. All is well. As long as you have us, you shall never have to worry.”

In the three months that had passed since the renewed engagement, Caroline had become as much a part of the Spinsters Club as the rest of them. And while the wedding had confirmed it, Olivia had begun to think of Caroline as a sister, the two women spending every day in one another’s company, becoming so close they were almost inseparable. Indeed, Evan had even complained a time or two when Olivia had chosen an excursion with Caroline over an impromptu excursion with him.

“Thank you,” Phoebe said with a sigh. “Had it been any other day, I would not have responded so furiously, but the girls were in one of their most mischievous moods before I left this morning, and I am still finding the results of their naughtiness. They put a frog in my luggage. A frog!”

Olivia cringed. “And where is that frog now?”

“I let it loose in the pond,” Phoebe replied. “Perhaps, I should gather up a horde of them and set them loose in the girls’ beds.”

Olivia chuckled. “That would merely begin a frog war, and you would never rest easy again, fearing where the next one might spring from.” She began to tug Phoebe away, heading for the safety of the upstairs. “Come, let us find you that gown.”

The rest of the Spinsters Club followed, for though Olivia might have been a married woman now, wherever there was a ball, they would always stick together.

“Leaving so soon?” a soothing voice halted Olivia, just as she was about to lead her friends up the stairs to Caroline’s chambers.

She turned, and as the ladies continued on to the upper floor, she lingered for a moment, smiling up at the face of her beloved. “There has been a mishap. Daniel stepped on Phoebe’s skirts and I believe the tear is considerable. We are making her decent, and then we shall return.”

“As long as you have not tired of our celebrations already,” Evan said softly, slipping his arms around her waist. With most of the guests in the ballroom or out on the terrace, there was no one to witness their secret moment of affection.

She shook her head, pressing her palms to his chest. “Never, my love. Every day with you shall be a celebration.”

“Even when I am sick and look wretched?”

“Even then.” She grinned and, lifting on tiptoe, crushed her lips against his.

He held her close, tasting of sour lemon and sweet sugar. And as they kissed, they swayed as if they were dancing, moving to the music that drifted out from the ballroom, like they were making a promise to meet back in the ballroom to dance the night away together.

“I must go,” she whispered, pulling back. “I cannot have my friends thinking I have abandoned them for you.”

He pretended to pout. “Very well. I shall wait with the most forlorn expression I can muster.”

“And I shall ensure that you smile again,” she replied, stealing one last kiss before she raced up the stairs to join her friends.

Indeed, for as long as they both lived, Olivia hoped that she and Evan would always find a reason to smile, through the best of times and the worst, so that when they were gray and old and knew everything there was to know about each other, they might be just as happy as they had been when they were young and fair and in love for the very first time.

With any luck, even more so.

The End?