Page 20 of Seducing a Frigid Lady
Ordinarily, though not very often, Priscilla enjoyed her shopping trips with the Lyttletons. But after the ball the night before, she was still feeling more than a little off. It had to have been the late night and her poor sleep because she would never allow herself to admit that it was anything more than that.
“What do you think of this one?”
Priscilla barely heard Sophie, who was holding out a shiny pink strip of ribbon that was decorated with embroidered daisies. She was still quite caught up in thoughts of the night before and the wager she had so scandalously made with Lord Sinclair. It had been plaguing her ever since they parted ways on the dancefloor.
Why would a nobleman practically declare that he was going to seduce me and then stay away from me for the entire evening?She thought.
“Cilla?” Sophie said, her voice edged with concern. “Hello, earth to Cilla?”
It was only when Sophie’s mother stepped up behind the two girls, clearing her throat, that Priscilla finally realised her friend had been talking to her.
“Are the two of you alright?” Lady Lyttleton asked, glancing between the two of them before seeing the ribbon in her daughter’s hand. “That one is lovely.”
Glancing down at the ribbon that Sophie was still holding up for her to inspect, Priscilla said, “I think the purple with the same design would suit you better.”
She smiled, hoping her friend would take it as an apology for her lack of listening. Sophie did not appear overly upset by the fact and she merely shrugged before dropping the ribbon she had been holding and picking up the purple one instead.
“Do you know, I think you’re right, Cilla,” she said, turning in order to look in the nearby mirror with the ribbon held up close to her head.
“What about the blue?” Lady Lyttleton suggested, “The pale one.”
Priscilla and Sophie looked at each other, rolling their eyes just out of sight of Sophie’s mother. The lady so often tried to get her daughter to wear pale blue or pink, the palest of each, in order to make her appear ‘innocent’ and ‘virtuous’ without wearing pure white.
“I think a little change in colour is just what is needed this Season, mama, don’t you?” Sophie said, offering her mother a smile in the mirror. “Besides, a new ribbon in purple might be the perfect opportunity to find a new gown for the next ball.”
Spinning before her mother could make any kind of response, Sophie looked to Priscilla and asked, “What do you think? Shall we head to the modiste next?”
Priscilla smiled and nodded. Anything to keep her from thinking of the ball the night before.
“I imagine, Sophie, that we were always destined to end up at the modiste,” Lady Lyttleton pointed out with an amused yet curt smile upon her face. It was clear from the look that the lady knew her daughter well. Sophie had always been one for loving her fashion, even though her mother always so desperately tried to talk her out of the purchases that seemed even a little too lavish for a viscount’s daughter.
“But mama, we came into town to have your hat mended,” Sophie pointed out with a most innocent fluttering of her eyelashes.
“Yes, though we both know why the two of you really came along,” Lady Lyttleton said, scowling at her daughter. Priscilla tried her hardest not to get involved, knowing that by ‘the two of them’, what she really meant to say was Sophie.
Priscilla would just as happily go to the cobbler’s or even the bookstore if it meant getting out of the house for a little while when her father was in one of his hair-brained-scheming moods.
“I do not have a clue as to what you are implying, mama,” Sophie chuckled, grabbing hold of the pink daisy ribbon as well as the purple, clearly having decided to get both. “I am certain that I already have a couple of dresses these would look lovely with.”
“I am certain that you do too,” Priscilla scoffed, knowing full well that Sophie’s wardrobe could likely rival that of a princess. “I think we ought to get you to purchase those ribbons before they begin to multiply.”
Sophie huffed in frustration, offering Priscilla a disgruntled yet affectionate expression before she finally nodded and gripped hold of her reticule to remove payment.
“Priscilla, will you be a dear and see that she makes it to the counter?” Lady Lyttleton asked even as the sound of the doorbell dinging above the door alerted them to the fact that another customer was entering the hatmaker’s shop. It was clear from the look on the lady’s face that she was intrigued to speak with whoever was entering.
“I would be happy to, Lady Lyttleton.”
Priscilla half-turned to follow Sophie towards the counter where her friend was headed to purchase the ribbons she had picked. She paused only a moment to glance over her shoulder and see who had actually entered the shop.
With relief, she was glad to see that it was Lady Montgomery and her daughter, Lady Caroline, and not some other less savoury ladies of thetonwho would likely wish to know all the gossip that was to be told about the night before.
With a gritting of her teeth and a clenching of her jaw, she remembered all too well Miss Kendall’s words and how she had been so easily amused by her sharing in Viscount Sinclair’s company.
The way that Lady Lyttleton moved to greet the Montgomerys and the way she gestured Lady Caroline over towards Priscilla and Sophie said that the lady was inclined to gossip with Lady Montgomery alone.
We might be stuck here for a little while,Priscilla thought, a little disappointed though she could at least be relieved that it was Lady Caroline, one of the few ladies of thetonthat she actually liked and even sometimes admired.
"Good morning, Lady Caroline," Priscilla greeted her with a small curtsey and a half-smile while Sophie was busy paying for her ribbons.
