Page 13 of A Duke in Autumn

Eugenia did not wish to tell Lady Annet the truth of it, but she struggled to find an answer which would suffice without doing so.

Perhaps half of the truth?

Even as she thought that, she realised that it was something she would never have considered before – it was tantamount to lying! Led astray indeed! How on earth had she come to this?

“He was referring to a remark he made to me, quite some time ago. He had the impertinence to imply that the high quality of my manners and behaviour would make me dull, and that I needed more adventure in my life.”

She would not go further than that – Lady Annet did not need to know the exact words, or the situation. Lady Annet gave a little laugh, shaking her head.

“That is, as you say, most impertinent of him – but… is he not, to some extent, correct? Are you not having fun today, even though what we are doing is not precisely ‘good behaviour’?”

Eugenia felt a blush rise in her cheeks.

This was impossible!

Yet the small voice in her mind whispered to her – you are not exactly having fun, but it is oddly thrilling, to do something you shouldn’t, isn’t it? And to know that a modiste thinks your designs worth making…

She sternly pushed those thoughts away, and chose not to answer – a choice made easier by the fact that they had reached a shop with a sign which read ‘Hartswick Booksellers’.

“Is this the bookshop you meant? Shall we go in?”

In truth Eugenia wanted to get off the street before they risked being seen, sans chaperone, by anyone else.

“Yes, this is it.”

Lady Annet gave her a slightly odd look at her evasion, and Eugenia had the feeling that she would be questioned further, later, when they were in a more suitable location. They went in, and Eugenia breathed deeply of the scent of leather and paper, which somehow combined into ‘essence of book’. They looked around, and Lady Annet hurried to the back of the shop, where, in front of the shelves where novels were kept, Ellie stood, a book open in her hands. As Lady Annet reached her, she started, and looked up guiltily.

“My Lady! I thought you’d be much longer with the modiste! I am so sorry…”

Lady Annet shook her head, but her expression was not truly stern.

“Ellie, I don’t think it would have mattered how long we were – once you’ve a book in your hand, you forget the time. But what are you reading – show me?” Lady Annet plucked the book from her maid’s hands, and turned to the title page. “Ooh – I haven’t read this one either – how clever of you to find it. Let me buy it, so that we can both read it.”

That said, she whisked it away to the counter to buy it, leaving Ellie standing, shamefaced, with Eugenia. It seemed that Lady Annet was incurably prone to encouraging others to step outside the bounds of approved behaviour. A few minutes later, they stepped back onto the street.

“Let us return home, as soon as possible. I do not think that I could cope if we met anyone else that we know.”

Lady Annet shook her head again, with a broad smile. “If you want to, Eugenia – I really don’t know how you manage to be so good, all the time – I could so easily wander for hours, looking in the shops.”

“Wouldn’t your mother be angry, if you stayed out too long?”

The street was blessedly empty as they walked along.

“Mother has all but given up on attempting to repress me. So long as I take Ellie with me, and do not go anywhere too scandalous, she allows it. If we were in London, it would be another matter entirely, but here… here is different.”

“I do not quite see how it is different. But are you not concerned for your own reputation?”

“Not really. I’ve no intention of doing anything truly beyond the pale. And I’ve yet to meet a gentleman who I care for enough to be really tempted by. Perhaps it would be different if I had.”

Eugenia shook her head, unable to imagine approaching life in such a way, and yet, perversely, envying Lady Annet her ability to do so.

~~~~~

Morris suppressed the urge to chuckle as he stepped past the ladies and continued on his way down the street. His last words had brought a blush to Lady Eugenia’s cheeks, and a spark of annoyance to her blue eyes. She did look rather thoroughly beautiful when annoyed.

Lady Annet had simply looked confused – and he suspected that, at the first opportunity, she would be enquiring of Lady Eugenia for the meaning of his remark.

Would she explain to her friend, he wondered?