Page 5 of Her Duke in Shining Armor
The ivory gown she wore was simple but stunning. With a square neck and nipped-in waist, the skirt of pale ivory flared subtly at her hips. The white gloves she wore accented the paleness of her dress and so did the white ribbons that caught up the hem of her skirt in regular intervals. Her dark red hair, deep enough to be termed auburn, was in a graceful chignon with a line of seed pearls threaded through the coiffure.
“Well, it is wonderful to see you,” Eleanor’s tone denoted the end of their forced pleasantries. She’d rather be pulling her teeth out without laudanum than be speaking to these hypocrites.
She knew they did not like her, what mother would after her brutal rejection of their son, but it was foolhardy to disrespect the child of a Duke. “But we are holding up the line. Please, excuse us.”
“Of course, dear.”
Walking off, Miss Malcolm murmured in her ear, “That was uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable is an understatement,” Eleanor said through her smile while she nodded to Lord and Lady Northvale. Near the refreshment table, she spotted two women who she had met at prior balls. Miss Billings and Lady Sutherland, were dressed in equally hideous shades of pale mauve taffeta and garish watery lilac respectively.
Eleanor flicked up her fan and rolled her eyes when both of them cut their eyes at her.
Just as haughty as I expected.
* * *
The moment Lady Eleanor had stepped into the ballroom, Aaron’s green eyes had been drawn to her. Her pale ivory dress was like a beacon of steadiness in a room where the riotous mix of bright and brilliantly patterned colors was wreaking havoc on his eyes. It was the first time he had allowed himself to deliberately see her in over four years and she had blossomed into a beautiful young woman, he grudgingly noticed.
“Ah, Lady Eleanor of Brisdane has arrived, or should I say Lady ofDisdain.” Marquise Norwood sneered. “I’d give a hundred pounds to the man who breaks her in.”
Contempt soured Aaron’s chest as he saw the level of scorn the Marquise aimed at the lady. His contempt grew to anger when he saw the mirroring looks from the other gentlemen and his lips thinned to a hyphen, “She is not a stubborn filly, Norwood.”
“In case you don’t know, she has a reputation, Oberton,” the man snorted. “Any man that nears her is treated to a glare, a thinly-veiled insult and then a curt dismissal. She is already a termagant at such a young age. Even men with the pockets of Croesus cannot break her shell.”
Aaron looked back over to Eleanor and watched her go through the room he keenly observed how she angled away from people who neared her. It was as if she was subtly telling them to stay away.
Perhaps the rumors of her snobbishness are true.
“See that?” the Marquise prodded. “Look at how she treats Lord Hendrickson.”
He continued to watch her, and her lips thinned while the lord in question was talking. Lady Eleanor, Aaron knew was not a lady who suffered fools and was educated enough to not fall for the pretense of intellect.
“The other day, I heard that Lord Vale had begun a conversation with her about the Roman conquests in theBattle of the Medway and she corrected him with every word,” a new voice joined, this came from Earl Camden, a young Earl only a year Aaron’s senior.
“Mayhap for good reason. You must know that the fluff they teach women these days is not enough to fill a teacup. She has chosen the path of brilliance,” Aaron said while snagging a flute of champagne from a passing footman. “Or is that a crime I have not realized is now punishable by derision?”
“It is if you cannot get one word in,” said Marquise Norwood. “What man actually likes airs like that?”
“Do you gents possibly think that it is the men who approach her that are the problem and not her?” Aaron inquired. “Can you really blame the lady for having standards?”
The three lords gaped at him in shocked silence before Camdyn broke it, “Are you her champion, Oberton?”
“Not in the slightest but our families are acquainted,” Aaron replied.
“Then it should be you,” Norwood declared.
Aaron coughed slightly, “Beg your pardon?”
“You,” Norwood smirked evilly. “If anyone can get her to heel it would be you.”
Aaron wondered how on earth he had gotten to this point. Yes, he had come to get on Lady Eleanor’s good side, but this approach was far from the one he had planned.
His green eyes shifted from one man to the other, “Are you gents mad?”
“Remember when I said I’d give a hundred pounds to the man that reins her it?” Norwood added. “Good sir, I would give you a thousand pounds to do it.”
Aaron scoffed, “I do not want your money.”
