Page 41 of The Beauty and the Boxer
“It’s quite all right. I understand. And asto my investment with Mr. Archer, well, I was just hoping to earn alittle extra income so that if I wanted something, I could provideit.”
“Oh, but you know Simon and I—”
“Yes, yes, I do know that and I appreciateit, but you could hardly expect my pride to be intact if I ask youfor everything I wanted. Investing my own earned income was a wayaround that.”
“I suppose,” Sarah said, yet she didn’tsound convinced.
“If you were in my position, Sarah, youwould undoubtedly feel the same.”
Sarah was hesitant to agree, but shenodded.
“Yes, of course you are right,” she sighed.“Still, I hope you aren’t displeased with me for dragging you here.I honestly only wanted to help and I thought a ball might bepleasant. You used to love to dance.”
It was true. Meredith’s aversion to crowdshad only developed in the last few years and she knew why. She wasterrified of running into a member of the Peterson family, or Clydehimself. Her anxiety had grown unchecked for years and by the timeshe was aware of it, it had seemingly grown out of control.
And was she truly happy to be living herquiet, solitary life? She didn’t know, not anymore.
“Mountebank doesn’t know, does he?” Meredithasked once she and Sarah were alone in her room. “You didn’t tellhim?”
“No,” Sarah said. “Simon is aware, ofcourse, but only out of necessity. I wouldn’t want to cross pathswith the Petersons either. Which is why I asked to see the guestlist before we accepted to come here.” Sarah smiled. “We’ll protectyou, Meredith. Always. But I wish you would let yourself believeme.”
“I do,” she said earnestly. “I just wish youdidn’t have to worry about me.”
“Well, you do worry enough for the both ofus,” Sarah said, putting her arm around her sister as she squeezed.“Be at ease. No one here knows anything.”
Sarah left to go to her own room to freshenup and as the door closed behind her, Meredith wondered if that wasonly half the issue. Even if no one here knew about her marriage toClyde, the possibility of her finding some kind of romantic partnerwas moot. She was still married and even if Clyde wrote to her thisvery moment promising to never to show up again, she was withouther virtue and that alone would be hurdle enough to overcome.
Deciding to ready herself for dinner,Meredith tried to think of something pleasant while she dressed,only to find that her thoughts kept drifting to Jack. Oh, how shewished he were here. If Jack was waiting for her at the bottom ofthose curved steps, she knew she would feel a different kind ofjittery nervousness. But she would also feel the unwaveringstrength of him and she knew it would give her strength aswell.
Sighing and trying to push off feelings ofself-pity, Meredith picked out a cream and navy blue gown withshort, double puffed sleeves and a flouncy tiered skirt. Soon afterringing for a maid, two young women knocked at her door andentered, helping her with her hair as well as lacing the back ofher gown. Soon, she was snuggly fitted, with her hair perfectlypinned up, while wearing a delicate gold chain Sarah had loaned toher.
Dinner was a surprisingly busy affair.Meredith had waited for Sarah and Simon to be ready before headingdown to the parlor, where the guests were served refreshments asthey waited for dinner to be announced. There were twenty othercouples that were staying at Dragmoor, including two unattachedladies and four unattached gentlemen, for a grand total of fiftyguests as well as the duke.
Notably absent from the parlor, however, wasthe duchess. The duke made the excuse that she wasn’t feeling well,but Meredith could see the tension he held in his body. It seemedthat there was something going on between the duke and his newwife, but no one was able to gather what exactly.
Meredith couldn’t help but drift towards theduke, feeling somewhat curious about him. He was technically Jack’sstepbrother, but the two hardly ever spoke. Still, as Sarahintroduced her to a number of the guests that her sister had knownduring her time in London, Meredith felt sorry for the duke. Itmustn’t have been easy to host alone.
As Sarah made her introductions, Meredithcould barely remember every name, although her sister wasparticular to introduce her to two gentlemen. The first was thesecond son of the Earl of Anmore, the honorable Alistair Blake. Hewas a very tall, thin man with thick hair, kind eyes and anattentive manner about him. The second man was Sir Rodger Kent, amature, stoic gentleman who had been a colonel during theAnglo-Burmese War five years earlier. He had been knighted for hissuccess on the battlefield and while he had come from a perfectlymiddleclass family, his star had rose in London and was a verysought-after guest.
Of course, Meredith had read about Sir Kentin the paper, but had never thought to actually meet him. He wasshorter than Mr. Blake, but more proportional and while he didn’tsmile at her, she believed that he possessed a kinddisposition.
A young lady with bright red hair and awide, friendly smile had been trying desperately to introduceherself to Meredith just as a footman appeared and announced thatdinner was served. While everyone was paired up and escorted out ofthe parlor, Meredith was surprised to see that the same eager,redheaded woman was sat across from her at the dinner table. Shewore a pale yellow gown and a pair of pearl earbobs that shookevery time she moved her head. Which she did often. She seemedrather excited, like a kitten playing with a string. Meredithsmiled at her when their eyes met. That seemed to be all the reasonshe needed to lean forward and introduce herself.
“Hello,” she said as the gentleman next toher turned to discuss something with the lady on his right.
They were sat at the far end of the table,being neither titled nor positioned. Still, Meredith was gratefulto be so far removed from the head of the table, where mostpeople’s attention gathered.
“Hello,” Meredith said.
“You’re Miss Meredith Taylor, aren’t you?”she asked.
“Yes,” Meredith said. “And you are?”
“Miss Dawn Trowbridge. My mama is friendswith your sister,” she said, nodding down the table.
Meredith saw that a redheaded woman wasspeaking adamantly with a smiling Sarah.
“It seems so,” Meredith said. “Sarah has avast number of friends.”
