The Ugly Duckling Debutante (House of Renwick #1)(6)

“To dance?” Sara squeaked.

“How else are we to find you a suitable husband?” Her aunt snorted. “Obviously, they won’t be falling at your beautiful feet because of your face—surely you know the truth by now. But if I teach you grace and poise, and put you in a somewhat compromising situation, well …you’ll be perfect.”

Her aunt smiled wickedly, revealing teeth like a predator. “Get dressed!” She commanded as she excused herself from Sara’s chambers.

Sara didn’t like the sound of a ‘compromising situation’ and feared she would not escape the season without a black mark on her reputation. Perhaps she would even be ruined—not that her mother would care, as long as she married well.

Turning to the task at hand, she put on the beautiful clothes and looked in the mirror once again. What was so ugly about her? What made people despise her so? Her own family couldn’t look at her; her sisters mocked her behind her back; and her own father thought her worthless. Nothing could be done about that now. Resolutely, she put on a brave face and walked gracefully out of her room and down the stairs to take tea and explore the house. After all, this was supposed to be an adventure—that mindset would be the only way she could live through what she had to do tonight. Attend her very first ball.



***



The cool spring breeze stung Sara’s nose as the footman helped her out of the carriage. The mansion in front of her was like nothing she had seen before. Laughing couples entered through the main doors toward the bewitching music inside.

The people of the ton were going to eat her alive.

“Wipe that outrageous look off your face! You have a mask!” Lady Fenton elbowed her hard in the ribs then handed her a black domino. Sara donned the mask and followed her aunt into the hall.

“Whom may I announce?” the man at the door asked.

Lady Fenton leaned in and whispered something to the man. With a quick glance at Sara then back at Lady Fenton, he gave a curt nod and announced them.

“Lady Fenton and her niece Lady Sai Ames.”

The unexpected announcement of the position coupled with the surprising new name caused Sara to inhale sharply. Her aunt, sensing Sara’s tension, tilted her head toward Sara and whispered. “It makes you seem more foreign. Trust me on this. And you are every inch the lady. You have only to act like one, and they will believe it. You never know, perhaps you have some distant aristocratic blood of which you are unaware.”

Sara doubted that, but she followed her aunt pressing on through the crowd. The people around her seemed only mildly curious. For that she was thankful.



***



Nicholas felt like getting absolutely foxed. Three women had tried to seduce him in the past hour. Three!

Gone were the days of men leading unsuspecting women into the courtyards or gardens to look at the stars. These were the days in which women, seeing exactly what they wanted, brazenly manipulated and lied in order to elicit a marriage proposal.

The sweat on his brow was proof that one of the three almost succeeded, when he led her back into the ballroom after a tumble down the stairs. She had been whispering incentives into his ear as her breasts purposefully brushed up against his arm.

Women.

Now he was hiding in the hallway like some criminal waiting for the opportune moment to leave without causing a scandal. Apparently, the bet was going to be harder than he had imagined.

He waited ten minutes, then slowly came out of the shadows, taking every precaution to glance behind him for another lady lying in wait.

His arm bumped something irritatingly soft. Abruptly he turned and came face to face with the greenest eyes he had ever seen. Two perfectly cut emeralds stared right back at him. He began mentally preparing his rejection speech when the girl, hands trembling, stuttered an apology and tried to run away. From him.

Not the other way around.

Odd, that he would miss being stalked. He stepped in front of her before she could make her hasty retreat. “It’s quite alright, Miss. May I assist you with something?” His words sounded almost believable, yet his eyes were too accustomed to his rakish habits and appreciatively scanned her delectable form from head to toe.

She paused then and smiled, nearly knocking the wind out of him. It was criminal for a girl to have such straight white teeth. “I just. . .” she began, then put her hands on her hips, drawing his attention back to the line of her body. “I just wanted to get away …You see, I’m new to all of this, and I felt. . .”

“Overwhelmed? Objectified? Bored? Judged? Really take your pick of any of the above. I assure you, one of those words has to match what you’re feeling just about now.” The girl offered another blinding smile and leaned closer.

If she leaned any closer, he was going to have to do something about it. Old habits died hard.

“Thank you,” she said, eyelashes fluttering.

“Of course. Is there anywhere I may escort you?”

The bedroom perhaps? He shook his head to get rid of the sinful thought.

She looked nervously down at her feet, and then shrugged. “I don’t really know if that is the best idea. I’ve been told I should be careful with whom I associate.”

“Ah yes, the ruined reputation rumors rear their ugly heads.” He knew it was a valid concern for any young debutante, but surely this woman wasn’t launching into society. She had to be somebody’s mistress. Yes, that was it. He took another look at her hair and dress. Confound it! How had he not seen it before? Of course she was someone’s mistress. She was foreign! Nobody in the ton had a complexion that dark.