Almost A Spinster by Jenna Petersen Read Free Book Online Page A

world.”
    Jane stared at Felicity, her heart roaring in her ears. Wesley, besotted with her? No… no that couldn’t be true. He cared for her as a friend, he had his own reasons for their deception, but they did not include some deeper, hidden feelings for her.
    Except she had felt something there tonight… something in the way he kissed her. Something that made her hands shake and her heart soar despite herself.
    “It isn’t real,” she choked out.
    Felicity started. “I beg your pardon?”
    “What you saw… none of it is real,” Jane admitted on a broken breath. “Everything between Wesley and I is a lie, meant to trick David and the ton into thinking me desirable.”
    Felicity’s eyes went wide and her mouth formed a little ‘o’ as she dropped Jane’s hand. Then she said, “You had better tell me everything, Jane. From the beginning.”
    #
    It was an hour later that Jane and Felicity sat in the shabby sitting room at Jane’s family home. Somehow Felicity had convinced her mother to let them leave the party early, though Jane could hardly remember how her friend had accomplished such a feat. In fact, she could remember little more about revealing everything that had happened between she and Wesley, but she had, starting from the night she came into the parlor at David’s home and asked Wesley for help.
    Felicity shook her head.
    “I cannot believe you would be so bold! To try to pull off such a scheme against the ton .”
    Jane rubbed her eyes. “I know. When I hear myself say it out loud, it sounds so foolish, but at the time it seemed to make perfect sense. Especially when Wesley was explaining it all to me.”
    Saying his name caused memories of their kiss to flood her mind, and not for the first time. Her eyes fluttered shut and she could still taste him on her lips, feel his hands doing such wicked, wicked things. She shivered. They were things she had wanted.
    Still wanted.
    “Well, it isn’t foolish, exactly,” Felicity said, putting a finger on her bottom lip as she considered it all. “Tonight you were the center of attention. Men were practically fighting to dance with the woman who has garnered the attention of the famously flirtatious Lord Wesley Stanton.”
    Jane shrugged one shoulder as she stared at the floor in misery. That didn’t exactly feel like a triumph.
    “Wait…” Felicity stared at her. “You-you don’t want this to be a charade, do you?”
    Jane darted her gaze to her friend’s face as the blood drained from her cheeks. “I don’t know what you mean.”
    Felicity let out an unladylike snort. “Oh, yes you do, you simply don’t like to admit it, even to yourself. You said everything I saw at the ball tonight was a lie. A fabrication meant to trick society. But on the terrace, there was no one around. You were kissing Wesley and he was definitely kissing you back. And that wasn’t for show. It wasn’t for David’s benefit. It was real.” Her friend slid across the settee so she could reach Jane’s hand and took it. Her gentle squeeze made Jane look at her again. “What are your feelings for Wesley?”
    Jane stared at Felicity, opening and shutting her mouth as she tried to find the right words to say. Unfortunately, she couldn’t. Because she didn’t know the answer.
    Or, at least, she didn’t want to face the answer. Because that would mean that all this time she hadn’t known her own heart. That she had wasted her affection and her reputation on one man… when all along her soul had reached out, ignored, to another.
    A man who did not love any one woman.
    A man who only saw her as a friend.
    A man who had probably kissed a hundred girls the very same way he kissed her tonight.
    She covered her face, but she wasn’t forced to make the answer she couldn’t formulate because the parlor door came open and the family butler stepped inside.
    “Excuse me, Lady Jane,” Jenkins said with a low bow. “But a message just arrived for you.”
    Jane’s heart