Page 30 of A Sham Engagement

She switched her attention to the two people in the room. Jack, who’d been standing in front of the fire, and the woman sitting bolt upright on the chaise longue near him. His mother.

Jack strode across the room. “Lady Dandridge, I hadn’t expected to see you, but the surprise is delightful.” He bowed and kissed her hand, then turned to Elenora. Something about him felt different today, but she couldn’t make out what. “Miss Wetherby, Elenora, you look charming.”

This was true, as Aunt Penelope had insisted she wear one of her lovely new day gowns, made for her by Miss Collins in Lower Grosvenor Street. Her aunt had persuaded her to admire herself in the mirror before she’d left, and she had to admit that the effect was pleasing. Although she’d done it for herself, not for Jack.

“I do, rather,” she said, then wished she hadn’t, as her aunt shot her a sharp stare and Jack’s mother who had remained seated, arched a single eyebrow at her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.”

As this elicited a further similar reaction from the two ladies, it, too, couldn’t have been the right thing to say. Too late, she remembered her vow to only answer with a yes or no. Better stick to it from now on.

“Penelope, my dear,” Lady Amberley said, getting up now and taking Aunt Penelope’s hands in hers. “So delightful to see you.” She nodded to Elenora. “And I had no idea you had such a beautiful niece.”

Elenora curtsied, keeping her eyes on the floor.

Lady Amberley lowered herself to her seat again. “Come, sit beside me, Miss Wetherby, and tell me about yourself.”

Oh no. She was to be interrogated. No escape though. In trepidation, Elenora sat beside Jack’s mother, very much on the edge of her seat, as Aunt Penelope took a sumptuously upholstered chair nearby, a slightly worried frown on her face. Did she think Elenora about to show herself up?

A quick glance showed Elenora Lady Amberley’s cold dark eyes boring into her. “Your father is a baronet, I hear?” Such a frosty tone.

Elenora nodded. “Yes, Lady Amberley.”

“Hampshire, I believe?”

“Yes, Lady Amberley.” She’d clasped her hands in her lap and now kept her eyes fixed on them, firmly adhering to her resolution.

“You come from a large family, I hear?”

More than a yes or no answer required here. “Two brothers and five sisters, Lady Amberley.”

“Do you play the pianoforté?”

“No, Lady Amberley.”

Her ladyship harrumphed. “Do you paint?”

“No, Lady Amberley.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Elenora could see Aunt Penelope who was looking more and more discomforted.

“What do you do, then?”

Oh no. But she couldn’t lie. “I like to read, Lady Amberley.”

Lady Amberley harrumphed again. “No need to ‘Lady Amberley’ me each time you reply.”

“Yes, Lady—” Elenora stopped herself in time.

“So you are fond of romantic novels?”

Elenora shook her head. “Oh no, I never read novels. I prefer history books.”

“History books?”

“Yes, history books. And I like to read some of the classics as well. Homer. Some of the Roman poets.”

An indrawn breath. “You like to read them in translation?”

“Oh no. I taught myself to read in both Greek and Latin.” She could feel herself scrunching up inside with embarrassment, but she’d been asked, and she couldn’t lie. Her words were running away from her now, despite her resolution. Why wouldn’t her mouth stop taking control of her brain?