Page 47 of The Duchess' Ultimatum
She was quick to hurry away after that. Guilt crushed her, but the need to avoid her husband was enough to see her commit to the cause. Besides, she was sure that Evelina would take good care of her.
As she went, Penelope looked over her shoulder just in time to see Dorian making the introductions. Her heart broke to see Barbara, how darn awkward and terrified she was…
It was a terrible do, leaving her like that, but she felt she had no choice. Worse that this party was only two hours in and there was a whole weekend to get through. Could she avoid Dorian for the rest of it? Should she approach him and talk about whathappened? And what was in store for them once the weekend ended?
Or rather… what did she even want anymore?
All good questions, none of which Penelope had an answer for. And even if she had done, she wasn’t so certain she would have liked whatever answer she found.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“You are a hard woman to get a hold of.” Albina stepped from around a hedge, appearing before Penelope as if by magic.
Penelope, her attention firmly focused ahead of her, jumped in fright. “Oh!” She spun about to find her cousin laughing gaily. “Albina! Was that on purpose?”
“Scaring the dress off you, you mean?” Albina grinned. “Maybe…”
Penelope rolled her eyes. “What are you doing, Albina? I thought you’d be… I don’t know. Socializing.” She waved her hand dismissively toward the garden party.
“I would have thought you’d be doing the same thing.”
“I am,” Penelope defended. “But as the host, I am not afforded the luxury of lingering and distraction. I need to work the guests,keep an eye on everything, make sure that nothing goes awry as these things tend to do.”
“Oh, is that what you are doing? Tucked away here in the corner…” She scoffed derisively. “To the laymen, it looked as if you were hiding.”
“I was most certainly not hiding.”
“As you need to tell yourself.”
Penelope glared at her cousin, while not willing to push the argument because she knew that she did not have a leg to stand on.I am indeed hiding… even if I am loathe to admit such a thing.
The garden party had been going now for several hours, and with the sun slowly starting to set so the sky was colored in dark shades of purple and red, soon it would be called to an end so the guests would have time to bathe and change for the evening ball. Another hour or two and the first leg of this weekend would finally be over… not that it was anywhere near being finished.
Penelope hated that she had been resigned to hiding in the back corners, doing everything she could to avoid being seen. And even if she was able to speak with the other guests and avoid Dorian, she did not take the risk because she worried that he would see her and then try and engage.
But that didn’t make nearly as much sense as she might have liked.
She could not avoid Dorian forever. And in truth, she did not want to. Despite her current feelings toward her husband, there was still that part of her which wanted to speak to him because Penelope could not fully reconcile herself with what had happened last night. She did not want to.
Deep inside of her, that gaping hole of emptiness still existed. That need to find a purpose, something to fill it with. It had been with her for months, the only time she felt it lessen was when she and Dorian had kissed…
Surely, that meant something. And she couldn’t just throw that away and pretend otherwise.
“At least Barbara is enjoying herself,” Penelope said to her cousin, smiling when she found Barbara across the garden.
“Thanks to your sisters,” Albina laughed. “They have certainly taken to her, haven’t they.”
“I asked that they keep an eye on her,” Penelope explained. “I just had no idea they would take the request so seriously.”
As of the moment, Barbara was surrounded by Alexandra, Margaret, and Evelina. The three women clung to Barbara’s side as if they were her guards, and even when the odd lord approached to introduce himself, they refused to leave her.
It brought Penelope much relief, because she saw too that Dorian was watching his sister closely, and she did not relish the idea of being with Barbara so that he could keep an eye on her.If he even cares to.
“Oh no…” Penelope groaned when she saw Alexandra forcing a glass of wine onto Barbara.
“What?”
She grimaced. “I promised Dorian that Barbara would not drink today. I probably should have told my sisters.”
