Page 70 of A Very Bellamy Christmas

They both turned to where Lord Shelton and Viscount Needham were standing in front of a booth selling cheeses. The men were laughing, as were the farmer and his wife.

Actually, Stacia amended, the farmer was laughing, but the wife—a woman who was at least in her sixth decade—was gazing at Shelton with a poleaxed expression on her weathered face.

The same look that Stacia must have been wearing lately if Lady Kathryn’s accusation was anything to go by.

Stacia wanted to curl up and die. How many other people had noticed her infatuation?

“So what if he is attractive?” Lady Kathryn asked, apparently the only female between seventeen and seventy immune to the gorgeous lord. “Just because he is handsome does not mean he cannot be attracted to you.”

Stacia considered confessing to the other woman that she had overheard Lord Shelton’s description of her. But that was simply too painful to admit. Instead, she said, “Handsome? He is perfect.”

“Perfect?” Kathryn laughed. “I’ve lived in the same house with Shelton for months and I assure you that he is not perfect. He is a man with flaws, just like any other.” Something bitter flickered in her gaze but was quickly gone. “What do you think of my sister Selina?”

Stacia blinked at the odd change of subject. “Er—”

“She is beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Very.” Indeed, Stacia had never seen a more beautiful woman.

“In fact, one might call her perfect.”

Stacia had to agree. Lady Shaftsbury was so lovely that it was hard to take one’s eyes off her whenever she was near.

“I would agree that she looks perfect,” Stacia said, unclear as to where the other woman was going with this.

“And her husband—what about him?”

“Erm, Lord Shaftsbury is a very handsome—”

“I am not asking about his appearance. My sister married a blind man, Miss Martin.”

“Yes. But what—”

“Doesn’t it strike you as ironic that one of the most beautiful women in England married a man who neither knows, nor cares, what his wife looks like?”

Well, when she put it like that.

“That is interesting,” Stacia conceded. “But I’m not sure I take your point. They are obviously in love, so it doesn’t matter that he cannot see her and doesn’t—”

“He loves her. And he has never seen her.”

Stacia considered the other woman’s words before answering. “You’re saying that he loves her despite her beauty.”

Lady Kathryn nodded. “He loves her. Not her face—her eyes, her nose. But her.” She gave Stacia a speaking look. “Selina told me that the only reason she became friends with Shelton last Season was because he understood what it meant to be so attractive that people only ever noticed her appearance.”

Stacia tried to feel sorry for the beautiful marchioness, but—

“You don’t think somebody that lovely should have the right to expect more than adulation,” Lady Kathryn said, guessing her thoughts with disturbing accuracy.

Stacia looked away from Shelton to the woman in front of her. Lady Kathryn Bellamy might not be the vision of golden perfection her sister was, but she was an extremely beautiful woman. Was she speaking from personal experience?

“I will admit that I find it difficult to empathize,” Stacia said.

Humor glinted in Lady Kathryn’s stunning green eyes. “At least you are honest. But back to Shelton. I’ve watched him for months. Not because I am attracted to him, but because I find him interesting. Despite his reputation as an inveterate rake, I can tell you that he has looked nothing but bored—albeit skillfully hidden by a mask of charm—in the company of every woman I’ve seen him around. The only times I’ve seen him exhibit even a spark of interest have been the few times I’ve seen him talking to you. Like yesterday, when we were skating. I don’t know what the two of you were discussing—and I’m not asking,” she hastily assured Stacia, “but whatever it was made him come alive.”

Stacia stared at her for a long moment. “Why are you saying all this to me?”

“Because I know you have been…interested in Lord Shelton for a long time.”