Read Online Winning Miss Wakefield: The Wallflower Wedding Series by Vivienne Lorret - Free Book Online

hoping to create another scandal by luring him to a shop we’re known to frequent.”
    “Surprisingly enough, she was not in attendance at Lady Amherst’s last night. A fact for which I am ever grateful,” Merribeth murmured. They’d ceased their acquaintance with Miss Mallory earlier in the Season when she’d tried to embroil Emma and Lord Rathburn in a scandal by spreading vicious gossip.
    Her statement earned Delaney’s interest. “Why, exactly, are you grateful Elena wasn’t there? Strike that—the list is too endless. It’s obvious why you wouldn’t want her there. Both she and Lady Amherst are founding members of the Scandalmonger Society , I’m sure. Unless . . .” She drew in an excited breath. “You’re telling me there was a reason she wasn’t there. Or perhaps that something newsworthy happened, and you’ve yet to tell me? If it’s the latter, I will forgive you only if you tell all this instant.”
    “Tell all of . . . what?” Emma asked as she rejoined them, holding the strings of her purchase.
    Penelope flanked her other side and leaned in to whisper. “Did something happen at Lady Amherst’s?”
    Emma tsked. “That woman is notoriously cruel. I knew you shouldn’t have gone. If she said anything to you, I’ll . . .” She stopped and pulled on the corner of her mouth as if she were thinking. “I’ll have the dowager give her the cut direct.”
    “If it was something truly dreadful, you don’t have to speak of it,” Penelope added, already acting like the perfect mother hen, even though the birth of her first child was still four months away. “You have our full support.”
    Delaney gasped. “Dreadful or not, she still has to tell us. After all, how can we support her fully without having the details?”
    In unison, they turned their gazes on Delaney, who lowered her lashes in a pretense of shame. No one was fooled.
    Merribeth lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose the way Aunt Sophie did. Drat! How did she get herself into these conundrums? Her vow of not thinking, let alone speaking, of last night was pointless now. “Not here.”
    At least that was something upon which they could all agree. In the next few moments, they made their way through the door and to Penelope’s carriage, which waited beside the pavement.
    As the carriage drove them back to Danbury Lane, Merribeth took a deep breath, and focused on the bright side. The truth was, she didn’t have to tell her friends, or anyone for that matter, everything that had happened last night. That stolen moment would forever be hers and hers alone. After all, she highly doubted someone like the infamous Lord Knightswold would remember her from amongst the hordes of other women he’d kissed.
    As if summoned by her thoughts, a coal-black top hat caught the corner of her eye as they passed a gentleman on the pavement. The rumble of horses’ hooves, plodding on the dusty streets, nearly sent her heart over the edge.
    Unbidden, a memory swept over her. You have brandy-sipping lips. Supple, with the slightest pout where their color changes from dusky pink to a deeper shade.
    Her cheeks grew warm.
    At her very core, Merribeth was a romantic. However, losing Mr. Clairmore and her expectations of a future forced her to see things in a different light.
    Merribeth decided that perhaps a different viewpoint was just the thing she needed to get through this crisis. From this point forward, she would adopt a bit of practicality and cynicism in order to keep her romantic notions in check.
    “Now, tell us of Lady Amherst’s.”
    Instantly, her mind returned to the darkened study, the sound of his voice, the feel of his fingers nudging hers apart. No doubt, you even prefer coffee over tea.
    “You see . . .” Merribeth cleared her throat, wishing her mind would clear as well. “The thing is . . . I didn’t exactly see the play.” She was about to say that she wished she’d stayed home entirely but found the words