Page 52 of Tutoring a Lady into Sin
“Oh,” Christianna cried in anguish. “This is abominably unjust. I danced but once with Percival, and now the rest of my life is to be dictated by that brief infatuation.”
“Perhaps you should speak to—”
“I will,” Christianna said determinedly.
“Will what?” Miss Fitzroy replied. “I did not finish my thought, my lady.”
“You are right, Miss Fitzroy. If I want to overcome the impossible, if I wish to seize my own destiny, I cannot sit around and wait for a man to speak on my behalf. I will seek out the duke myself and tell him all. He must know everything. I will not marry him. I will forge my own pathway.”
Brimming with willpower and fortitude, Christianna lifted her skirts and stomped back toward the house. “I thank you for your sage advice, my friend,” she said as she glided right past Miss Fitzroy.
“But I did not tell you to do this,” the lady’s maid insisted as she once more gave chase, trying to catch up with the charging Christianna. “I do not think it wise to—”
Christianna spun, and as she did, Miss Fitzroy nearly barrelled right into her. She waited for her lady’s maid to right herself, then, with a hint of enthusiasm lifting her words, she whispered, “Think on it, Miss Fitzroy. If I can speak for myself, this time tomorrow, I shall be liberated. Phineas and I will be free to pursue the life of our choosing and…”
“Do not do this, my lady,” Miss Fitzroy begged. “Think it over. At least take a minute and talk it through with me further. You cannot just approach the duke and cancel your betrothal.”
“Why not?” Christianna asked as her voice became a notch higher and a tad more forceful. “If I wish to marry the person I love rather than someone I do not know at all, what or who can possibly stand in my way?”
Chapter 22
“Christianna,” Phineas said softly as he knocked on the door to her boudoir. After leaving his mother in Felton’s bedchambers, he had hustled downstairs to see if Christianna was among those guests in the ballroom. She was not dancing with the others, nor was she seated in the corner of the room, having a quiet conversation.
He had sprinted up to her bedchambers, praying that he might just catch her while she was refreshing her hairstyle or perhaps slipping into a different pair of dancing shoes. He knew finding her here would mean her lady’s maid would also be in attendance, but Phineas no longer cared.
I must speak with her. I must tell her the full truth about my situation.
“Christianna,” he whispered as he opened the door just a crack. He did not wish to intrude upon her privacy, and it would be scandalous if he were to simply barge in uninvited, especially if she was changing her dress, but Phineas was willing to take the risk. “Are you here?”
There were no candles glowing in the room, and only the dreary moonlight was left to guide him about the place. As he opened the door more, he scented Christianna’s perfume, a soft lavender smell. His eyes fell on the night dress, which her lady’s maid had already placed on the foot of the bed, so she might slip into it quickly at the end of the evening. Phineas strode forward and ran his fingertips over the fine material.
So beautiful…so fragile.
He thought of how this gown, or perhaps it was another just like it, had skimmed Christianna’s lovely curves. And he could not forget then what happened when the garment was discarded, and she stood utterly naked in front of him.
“My darling,” he hissed into the darkness. “Are you here?”
But Christianna did not answer him, nor did she step forward to greet him either.
Where might she be?It occurred to Phineas then that in his haste to find her, he had neglected to look in the most obvious place.
The library, but of course.
He left Christianna’s bedchambers at once and fairly galloped down the stairs heading toward the library. He thought of all the long hours they had spent there together these last few weeks and knew that finding her in there now was the only sensible conclusion.
Just as our comfortable acquaintance began and then grew in the cosy confines of that library, so shall we endure our greatest challenge yet within those walls.
For Phineas had not yet determined precisely what to do with the information Felton had shared with him. He wished to talk through the matter with Christianna, for he valued her opinion more than anyone else in this wide world.
“But do not say such things.” Phineas was just outside the library when he heard Percival putting up an earnest protest. “You cannot speak these words, which we both know you do not mean.”
Phineas knew he ought to afford his brother a modicum of privacy, but he just could not bring himself to back away from the library door, which had been left slightly ajar.
It is Christianna. She has gone to Percival herself. She is telling him about our affair.
His heart soared as he was astounded by her courage.
She has done what no other lady would have ever dared to do.
