Page 28 of If I Loved You
“Lord Kingsley, may I present Miss Emma Ainsley,” said the earl.
The elderly man arched a thick and untamed brow, throwing the earl a look of quickly tamped down displeasure before he flashed a thin smile to Emma. Taking his slowly proffered hand, she sank into a respectable curtsy.
Next to her squat husband, Lady Kingsley appeared quite long, though was stuffed so harshly into her silk gown of tangerine, Emma feared any sharp exhale might send buttons or flounces or trim scattering away from the ensemble. Likely, the gown had fit the lady perfectly a decade ago, but tonight it appeared its purpose was not so very different than that of the butcher’s sausage casing. She looked about as pleased as her husband with Emma’s introduction, casting a narrowed glance all over Emma’s fine gown.
The lady recovered quickly, however, and accepted Emma’s greeting and curtsy with a pinched and painted-lip smile. Inclining her head, she said to the earl, “I was pleased to be able to accommodate Lady Marston’s request for the addition of one guest to my table.” Her next words, and the lofty tone in which they were delivered, shriveled Emma’s excitement fairly quickly. “Even as it befuddled my numbers, as it would have any hostess with such short notice.” She tittered then, as if that additional sound would have eased the severity of her statement.
The earl responded smoothly, “Lady Marston did not misspeak about you, Lady Kingsley, having assured me of your generous charm and hospitable spirit.”
Emma glanced sharply up at the earl, never having heard such a pretentious and servile voice from him. However, this seemed to effectively mollify the woman, if only for the time being. Emma began to imagine that Lord Kingsley and his daughter, the Hindrance, were not the only ones eager to entice the earl into their family.
They were directed to the upstairs drawing room, where other guests gathered and milled about, awaiting dinner. This room had not the tall ceilings or classic design of the immense foyer but was charming, nonetheless, with its pretty Queen Anne furniture and soft hues of blue and ivory.
Emma thought she detected a slight and brief hush to the room as the earl, with his hand at the small of her back, guided her within. There were perhaps a dozen people already assembled. Several heads turned their way, several gazes abandoned the newly arrived couple when Emma moved her eyes over these persons.
A lively, nervous laugh reached her, and a young woman stepped before her.
“You look as if you were made—or dressed—specifically for this room,” said the young lady. She indicated Emma’s blue and gold dress and then the room in general, showing similar shades, before pointing specifically to a settee of a gold striped pattern, enlivened with soft bluefleur de lis.
Emma laughed at this happenstance, meeting the pretty green eyes of the young woman.
“I am Lady Margaret,” said the girl, her smile seeming both genuine and friendly.
“Emma Ainsley,” she introduced herself, as a young man had pounced upon the earl and had his ear to her right.
“And that’s Lindsey?” Asked Lady Margaret, whom Emma decided might be several years younger than herself.
Emma lowered her voice as Lady Margaret had, ducking toward her a bit. “It is.”
“My sister will be happy for his coming,” she said. “Good heavens, but that’s all she’s talked about today. Oh my, and apologies to you, but she will not appreciate the challenge you represent.”
“Challenge?” Emma wondered.
Lady Margaret took Emma’s hand and pulled her away from the earl, still engaged by the other man. “Challenge for the earl’s affections. Are you in love with him as well?”
Startled, and slightly unprepared for having to respond to questions about her relationship with the earl so soon into the evening, Emma gulped and said, “Well, he and I are—”
Lady Margaret giggled and interrupted. “Oh, it will be so much fun to see Prudence thwarted. Ever has she talked as if heloved her already when anyone with even half a brain inside their head might tell you that he has yet to notice her existence.”
“I’m sure that the earl—”
“Prudence makes excuses for all the opportunities he has had to call upon her, or make a date with her, failing to embrace the truth that he is not interested.” Lady Margaret snickered again. “Tonight is going to be very entertaining after all!” Still holding Emma’s hand, she pulled her along, moving further into the room. “Come, I’ll introduce you to the people who matter.”
As she was led away, Emma threw a glance back at the earl, not quite sure if she wanted to be separated from him so soon. Now surrounded by two gentlemen, he watched her yet, inclining his head just enough to let Emma know he would offer no objection to her being so hastily whisked away and paraded around by the Lady Margaret.
Lady Margaret proved to be her own little whirlwind, interrupting her introduction of Emma to a statuesque woman named Lady Stanhope with the query, “Is it your own maid who so cleverly arranged your hair, Miss Ainsley?” And when Emma was presented to an oily middle-aged man titled Lord Shirley, Lady Margaret followed the introduction with, “You should limit your conversation to only the hello, my lord, as she has come on the arm of Lindsey.”
Emma was sure she had never met anyone quite like Lady Margaret. And when ten minutes had passed, and Emma had thankfully been saved from having to answer any questions about herself, or her arrival with the earl—Margaret having answered many queries herself—she stood in front ofthe Hindrance, Lady Prudence, Margaret’s older sister, and the reason Emma had been brought to London.
Lady Prudence was taller than Emma, with shiny blonde hair and a rosebud mouth. Emma’s initial impression was,very handsome even as she wished she were beautiful; deliberate; outwardly confident.
And then she opened her mouth.
In a tone laced with reprimand, she first chastised her sister to kindly use her polite indoor voice, and then turned an inhospitable smirk onto Emma when her sister introduced her.
“Was it your aim, then, Miss Ainsley, to upstage your hostess with your choice of dress, or was it your intent to remain unnoticed?”
Emma recalculated.Angry, insecure, and similar to Alice, in the sense that she’d likely put a person down if she thought it would increase her own significance.But Emma had dealt with enough of her type over the years at the inn, Alice included, that she needed only a moment to collect herself and reply with, “I do rather blend in, do I not?” And then, pointedly, “I shall take Lindsey to task for the frightful fact that I might well be mistaken as only the draperies.”
