Read Online The Lady and the Earl (Seabrook Family Saga) by Christine Donovan - Free Book Online

countess delicately waved her hand, shooing them away. “Now
go on. Enjoy yourselves while you are young, and leave an old woman in peace.”
    Amelia rested her hand on William’s arm as they strolled over to meet
more of his family. Oh, dear, could she handle more introductions?
    “Relax, they won’t bite either,” William said as though he could read
her mind, again.
    “If you say so,” Amelia said as her body trembled, her imagination
getting the better of her. Had she heard someone just whisper something about
her and a child? Now she wanted to flee, her mind spinning in wild directions. It’s
Lady Amelia, back from America. Does her waist look thicker? What do you
suppose they did with the baby? How sad and tragic, the death of her captain
only weeks before their nuptials. Do you suppose the baby was stillborn?
    “Lady Amelia?” William’s voice snapped her out of her imaginings. “May
I present my cousin, Mr. Stuart Spencer. Spencer, Lady Amelia Seabrook.”
    Mr. Spencer grinned and winked at her as he bowed over her hand. “Lady
Amelia. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, although I must ask why you
are with my cousin, when there are so many gentlemen in attendance here this
evening just waiting for him to leave your side.”
    She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again.
    “Spencer, how could you say such a thing?” scolded one of the young
women.
    Both men burst out laughing, once again causing people to glance their
way.
    “Easy, little sister, easy.” Spencer cleared his throat. “Lady Amelia,
may I introduce you to my sisters, Mary and Elizabeth Spencer?”
    Once the introductions were over, Amelia found herself being escorted
to the dance floor by Mr. Spencer.
    “I hope it’s a waltz so we may talk,” Spencer said as the musicians
began the next piece. “Just my luck, a minuet. What a shame. I’ll be too busy
concentrating on my steps to speak.”
    “We may sit this one out if you prefer.” Amelia hoped he would consent.
She hadn’t danced a minuet in years. She worried about embarrassing both of
them with a misstep during the slow, complicated dance.
    “And miss all the fun? I would not dream of it.” Mr. Spencer bowed and
she responded by curtsying, taking his arm, and beginning the first of many
three-quarter turns around the room.
    When the music finally struck its last chord, Amelia sighed with
relief. “That went well. I only stepped on your foot twice and turned the wrong
way once.”
    Mr. Spencer laughed. “And I turned the wrong way twice and stepped on
your foot three times. I’m dreadfully sorry. My dancing master said I was
hopeless dancing anything but a waltz. I’m afraid he was right.”
    “Don’t be sorry. I enjoyed myself immensely. I’m afraid several of the
couples near us cannot say the same. Did you see the Marquess and Marchioness
of Roxbury look down their noses at us when we accidentally bumped into them?”
    Spencer leaned close to her ear. “Yes, and I had a hard time
apologizing when I really wanted to say, ‘Stay on your own side of the
ballroom.’”
    Covering her mouth with her hand, Amelia smothered a giggle. “Oh, dear,
my mother is looking none too happy with me.” She curtsied. “I must see to her.
Thank you for the dance.”
    As she settled into the vacant seat beside her mother, Amelia sighed
and tried to catch her breath after all the dancing. The night had not turned
out so badly after all. “I’m sorry, Mama. I could not concentrate on the dance
with Mr. Spencer making jokes the whole time.”
    Her mother patted her hand. “That’s not why I frowned at you. I had
just heard such vile things being said about Lord Bridgeton by that dreadful
gossip, Mrs. Henderson. The gall of her when her own brood of sons goes about
carousing, gambling, and spending nights with loose women. She should mind her
tongue lest it come back on her.”
    “Mother,” Amelia warned, “please keep your voice down. Someone might
hear