Damsel in Distress? by Kristina O’Grady Read Free Book Online Page B

paper in his hands and smiled. His sister had been visiting. He was glad Cressandra made the effort; she had been busy heading off the gossips all week. Especially since that fool woman had started writing about him in the paper. What rubbish! As if he was ever interested in the marriage mart.
    “Tonight I am going to my friend’s ball. Lady Bingham always puts on a wonderful affair and I was wondering if you felt well enough to attend?”
    Harriet looked at him in surprise, “Are you the certain elusive gentleman?”
    It was not the reaction he was looking for. “What?”

Chapter 13
    There was no cause to be nervous, Harriet kept telling herself as she looked in the mirror, but the butterflies in her stomach weren’t listening. An entire colony had taken up residence there.
    Rebecca, the maid Cressandra had assigned her, tucked the last jasmine flower into her hair and smiled at her handiwork. “You’ll be the loveliest lady there, miss, that is for sure. These flowers smell divine; you won’t need any perfume. Lord Eaglestone will be the envy of all the gents, you just wait and see.”
    Rebecca’s smile was infectious and despite feeling as though she could lose her lunch at any moment, Harriet smiled in return. Rebecca had managed to transform her into a princess.
    The maid dabbed a light blushing of rouge on Harriet’s cheeks and handed her the tube Mrs Johnson had found in her clothing the night she arrived. The label
lip gloss
gave Harriet a fair idea as to what was inside. She twisted off the lid and slowly pulled it away from its base. A long-handled brush slid out of the tube revealing shiny gloss on its tip.
    Both she and Rebecca looked at it for a moment before her maid could hold her tongue no longer. “Well, put it on. Oh miss, that looks lovely, like you’ve just been kissed!”
    “It tastes like strawberries,” Harriet laughed, smacking her lips together.
    They were still giggling when a knock sounded on her door and Cressandra poked her head in.
    Rebecca’s smile disappeared and she instantly became the maid again and started tidying away the leftover flowers.
    Harriet looked at her curiously but Cressandra swooped into the room. Her presence was not one you could ignore.
    “Stand up, Harriet, let me see you. Oh yes, Rebecca did a lovely job on your hair and I just knew that gown would look better on you that me. The colour is absolutely stunning next to your skin.” Cressandra leaned closer. “What is that on your lips?” she asked. “They look wet.”
    “Ummm, it’s umm, lip gloss,” Harriet stammered holding the tube up for Cressandra to see. She wasn’t sure why she felt guilty for wearing some gloss on her lips.
    “Are you certain you wish to wear it? It does make you appear as though you have just been kissed. It may give the men present tonight the wrong impression.”
    Harriet was sure she heard Rebecca say under her breath, “And it smells like strawberries.” Harriet had a hard time supressing a smile when she looked at Cressandra. She couldn’t, however, risk opening her mouth with the laughter lurking on the other side of her lips.
    “Well, if you are quite certain, I’m sure Philip won’t object. Come on then, the carriage will be waiting.” Cressandra breezed from the room, leaving Harriet little option but to hastily grab her wrap and rush out the door and follow her down the stairs.
    ***
    Philip didn’t think anything could steal his breath away like it did on the night Harriet was attacked in the park, but as he watched Harriet descend the stairs, his lungs stopped working. He didn’t care. If his last vision in this world was of an angel walking towards him with flowers in her hair and a smile lurking on her wet lips, he would die a happy man. The crystals on her silver gown caught the light of the chandelier above, sending prisms of colour dancing across the walls with each step she took. A faint smell of strawberries permeated the air and he longed to kiss