Page 38 of The Bachelor
When he came downstairs, Beatrice and Greycourt had arrived. Greycourt looked much like Thornstock, but Beatrice—
“If you laugh,” Beatrice warned Joshua, “I swear I will hit you over the head with my fan.”
“You have me shaking in my boots,” Joshua teased. “Especially if your fan is as big as that gown and those feathers.”
Greycourt chuckled. Beatrice glared at him, and he instantly sobered. “You look like an angel, my love,” he said soothingly.
“If an angel’s wings were purple and stuck out of the top of her hair,” Joshua added, and Thornstock erupted into laughter.
“Well,youlook like . . . like . . .” Beatrice huffed out a breath. “Blast it, you look quite handsome in your uniform.”
“Thank you, ducky. Although to be fair, Thornstock says all ladies find officers in uniform appealing.”
“I did not sayallladies,” Thornstock remarked. “And certainly not all officers appear well in uniform. Prinny, for example, looks like a sausage.”
“Because he’s not an officer,” Joshua said. “More like a royal patron.”
“And you lot aren’t gentlemen,” Aunt Lydia snapped from the staircase. “Shame on you, Joshua. You should be supporting your sister on her big day.”
“You’re right, of course, Aunt.” Joshua turned to Beatrice. “I’m sorry, ducky. You look beautiful. It’s just that . . . well . . . you look even more beautiful when you’re not wearing a giant purple sugar puff.”
Thornstock and Greycourt howled with laughter, which made Aunt Lydia roll her eyes. Still, it was impossible not to laugh at a dress that had enormous hoop petticoats but the latest high-waisted fashion, so that a woman looked as if she were being devoured from the bottom up by a ball of fabric.
“Ignore him, Beatrice.” Gwyn’s lilting voice came from the stairs. “We’ll be giant sugar puffs together.”
“Gwyn!” Beatrice cried as she approached the staircase. “ItoldGrey you would manage to look lovely in spite of everything.”
Lovely? She looked magnificent, even with five white ostrich feathers extending into the heavens from her hair. Not to mention a white gown that began under her bosom and ballooned out, hiding what he knew to be the perfect female figure.
She paused on the stairs to stare Joshua down. “Well? Go ahead, Major. Say what you wish so my brothers can laugh at me as well. I know I look ridiculous.”
Every eye turned to him, and he scrambled for some compliment he could give her that wouldn’t reveal his fervent wish to slip under her skirts and kiss all the bare skin presently hidden from view by her many petticoats. “You look like Luna, goddess of the moon and queen of the stars.”
Damn.Thatcertainly gave away a bit too much of the effect she had on him.
She flashed him an arch smile. “In other words, I’m big and white and round.”
“And you shine at night,” Lady Hornsby said as she descended the staircase behind Gwyn, dressed in a similar gown in light green and pink with matching feathers of the same hues. “Both of you do. Or you will, once you change into your much more flattering ball gowns this evening.”
“Remember,” his aunt put in, “all the other ladies at the palace will be dressed in the same fashion, so it’s not as if anyone there will be laughing at you. Besides, you will put them all to shame. You both look quite fetching, my dears.”
“She’s right, Beatrice,” Gwyn said stoutly as she reached her. “To hell with my brothers. And yours.”
“Lady Gwyn,” Lady Hornsby protested, “please do not say the word ‘hell’ at the palace.”
“I have warned her to watch her language twenty times if I’ve warned her once,” his aunt said, “but she doesn’t listen.”
“Mama,” Gwyn replied, “you know I would never curse in public.”
“Thisispublic,” Lady Hornsby said in obvious exasperation. “And normally I would not mind a bit of saucy language, but this is a debut—you mustattemptto act like a fresh-faced young woman at the start of her social career.”
“Even though I’m closer to the end than the start?” Gwyn said. “Never mind. I understand what you’re saying, and I shall heed your advice.” She grinned. “At least until I’m married.”
Aunt Lydia released a loud sigh, but Lady Hornsby patted Gwyn’s arm and said, “That’s the spirit. Just hold it in until you marry, and then you can let it all out on your husband.”
“Sothat’swhat Beatrice has been doing,” Greycourt said. “All this time I just assumed I was a bad influence.”
“Youare,” Beatrice said affectionately. “That’s precisely why I love you. We can be bad together.”
