Page 8 of The Replacement Duchess

“What are you running from?” he asked.

“For a start.” She laughed. “Attendees here that are sourer than the lemonade.”

“I could not agree more. Horrible things, aren’t they?”

“Aren’t we,” she sighed. “Normally, I can ignore the fact that I am supposedly one of them, but when I have to stand here among them, it is impossible.”

“So, you are…?”

“None of your concern.”

“Well, since you shall be dancing tonight, allegedly, one can assume you are unmarried, so that is a start.”

“And as you are so determined to speak with an unmarried lady, even offering to dance with her, one can assume the same of you.”

“A right assumption to make.”

“So what is it that you want from me?”

“A conversation, is that a crime?”

When the conversation pertained to the life of a spinster, Diana thought that it quite well ought to be. She did not want to answer his unending questions, or make small talk and smile politely until she was blue in the face. She wanted her sister to finish her conversation so that they could return home, but that did not appear to be happening any time soon.

She realized this as she saw her sister hand an empty glass to a gentleman, who exchanged it for another. She always was a charmer.

“Alright,” she huffed, “I do not mean to sound condescending, or unkind, or any other such thing, but I am not happy to be here, and I am only forcing myself to be in order to make my sister happy. I am not a lady that cavorts around making conversation.”

“I could tell. That is why I thought you might.”

“Do not think of me at all!” she snapped. “I understand that you seem to enjoy trying to act the fool and play the charmer, but it is not an act I wish to be involved with. I simply wish to get through this evening and go home.”

“You are wrong.”

“About my feelings? Who are you to dictate them?”

“I am talking about your opinion of me.” He smirked. “I am not a fool. I understand you rather well, at least. Now, if you wish to be miserable all of your life, then you are welcome to do so, but I think you would be far prettier if you put on a smile like the other ladies here. Maybe then you would not be a spinster.”

“Excuse me?”

“I told you I understood you. A bitter spinster, that is right, isn’t it?”

“You do not know anything about me.”

“Then why are you scarlet?”

“Because…” she stammered. “Because you are speaking to me, and I wish that you would stop. Is that too much to ask?”

“It is when you are such excellent conversation.”

“I am not. You certainly are not, in any case, and I wish to be alone.”

“Then be my guest, but your sister is clearly enjoying herself, and so you might have that loneliness that you so crave for a good long while.”

“That is all the better,” she snapped, turning to leave.

She wished that she had followed her sister, even if it would have meant standing on the outskirts of their conversation and not truly being a part of it. At least then she might have been saved from this gentleman who had no reason to be as close to her as he was.

Not that she had noticed such a thing, of course.

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