A Heart Revealed by Josi S. Kilpack Read Free Book Online

time.”
    The table laughed. Thomas smiled but once they’d exited into the hall on their way to the study, he punched Fenton lightly on the shoulder. “Must you embarrass me in front of everyone?” Thomas said quietly. “It was hard enough to keep my confidence amid new introductions without being thrown to the wolves.”
    “Oh, don’t think of it,” Fenton said, waving the glass in his hand and nearly spilling his drink in the process. “I can only get away with such shameless behavior if I embarrass everyone equally, and I only invite people of the best humor to my parties. You should have heard what I said about Miss Sterlington’s hair upon her arrival. I daresay I may have taken that one too far.” He laughed at the recollection even as Thomas came to a stop and took hold of Fenton’s arm. He pulled Fenton past the yellow and blue drawing room to the small parlor at the front of the house which was lit but unoccupied.
    “Amber Sterlington is here?” Thomas asked, glad the alarm didn’t show in his voice, though he feared his actions communicated the intensity of his feelings without him having to display it in the tone of his words.
    “Most certainly,” Fenton said with a wide grin. “I find her vastly enjoyable to look upon, and if you can ignore the headdress she chose for reasons only the angels of heaven can know, she is quite fetching tonight. Green will always be her color, but pink does wonders for her complexion.”
    Thomas kept his expression stolid, at least he hoped he did, as he took a breath. “Fenton, I have no desire to be acquainted with her. Will you mind ever so much if I leave?”
    Fenton’s eyebrows leaped up his forehead. “The devil you say! I thought Miss Sterlington was vastly enjoyable for you to look upon as well?”
    Thomas had not told Fenton what happened at Almack’s but expected his friend to know about it all the same. It had been such an embarrassment that he had assumed it was interesting enough on-dit that those in view of the situation had spread the tale far and wide. But perhaps the younger son of a Baron being set down by the Darling of the Season was not impressive enough to be whispered about. Thomas hated that he was a bit disappointed by the realization, but then relayed what had happened. Fenton’s face showed sincere regret as Thomas concluded his report.
    “I surely would not have invited both of you if I had known,” Fenton said in the sincere voice Thomas preferred to the dandy tones. “I have no desire to put you in an awkward position, but I’m sure you see that I have managed to put myself in the suds due to my ignorance. I had hoped you would like Miss Ranbury who, though I know she is no great beauty, is a very personable young woman and someone I felt might be just the match for you. Her family does not have airs and are well accepted here in town. For you to leave just after having made her acquaintance would be very bad ton for the both of us.”
    What a muck-pen , Thomas thought to himself. He considered the truth of Fenton’s statement and searched his mind for a remedy. “Perhaps you could spare me the introduction to the second room then, and I shall simply give Miss Sterlington distance on my own as best I can.”
    Fenton frowned. “I’m afraid my home will not provide the kind of distance you would prefer. I am sincerely sorry. Perhaps another introduction could repair it. There are so many people at Almack’s and—”
    “I want no further introduction,” Thomas said with an adamant shake of his head. “And I am quite happy to take responsibility to avoid her if I can but have your blessing to forgo the convention of your introduction to the other guests in the study.”
    “Of course,” Fenton said. He raised one eyebrow while shaking his head, marking for Thomas the transformation back into the façade he employed amid society. Fenton downed the last of the drink in his hand and smacked his lips, eyeing the now empty