Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Donovan looked deeply into Portia’s eyes, his gaze intense. “What did she do then?” he asked, leaving an open-ended question hanging in the air between them.
Portia was silent for a moment. The parallels of the story were impossible to miss. Donovan had been telling not just a tale but their story. Somehow he knew about Nigel. Staring into his sapphire eyes, she found herself lost, torn between two men who couldn’t be more different and were yet equally alluring.
“Perhaps,” she said finally with a soft sigh, “she should let her heart decide.”
“Ah, but what if her heart is as confused as her mind?” Donovan countered, his gaze still locked on hers.
“Mayhap she needs to give it more time. Love doesn’t happen overnight,” Portia replied, trying to keep her voice steady despite the rapid fluttering of her heart.
“And what of the men waiting on her decision?” Donovan smirked. “What do they do while their hearts hang in the balance?”
Portia bit her lower lip, mulling over his question. She was, after all, at the center of this tale, and she knew the answer lay within her.
“Perhaps they should continue to show her their true selves,” she suggested, hoping it didn’t sound horribly selfish. “In time, one will surely stand out more than the other.”
Donovan’s smirk widened into a full smile. “And if both continue to capture her interest equally?”
“Then she’s left with a wonderful problem, isn’t she?” Portia retorted. “A decision between two men who adore her and whom she is fortunate to care for.”
Silence reigned as Donovan regarded her, his eyes reflecting the silver glow of the moon above. Then he chuckled, breaking the momentary tension. “Yes, my lady. A most wonderful problem indeed.”
The sound of his laughter echoed through the terrace, bringing a smile to Portia’s face despite her internal turmoil. Her heart was indeed confused, and time seemed to be the only solution right now. But as Donovan continued to gaze at her with an intensity that made her insides squirm, Portia knew that this dilemma was far from being resolved—and might not be for quite some time.
“But perhaps,” she said after a moment’s pause, her tone suddenly serious again, “she might have both of her heart’s desires. She might have both of the men. They might offer her a pleasure she’s never known.”
The Perils of Portia will continue…
4
One year later…
Tricia’s cheeks warmed as she put down the magazine. Sarah had somehow got her hands on the next several issues of The Ruby, and she’d only brought them over to Tricia a few weeks earlier when they met for their afternoon stroll.
Tricia had hidden them deep within her valise after her maid had packed for the trip to the Ashford Estate. Only now had she gotten the courage to look at them. Two men! Scandalous!
She placed the illicit magazine back in its hiding place.
She was too excited to read more. For she was at the Ashford Estate once again, where the first ball of the season, complete with a house party at the estate, would commence soon, before next month, April, when the events of the season would move to London.
It would be Tricia’s first ball.
Not only her first ball, but a ball hosted by the Earl of Ashford himself. The man of Tricia’s dreams—Thomas Jameson. Lord Ashford and his mother were hosting the ball to signify the end of their year of mourning.
The young earl would be looking for a wife.
And Tricia hoped beyond all her wildest dreams that it could be her.
So often, she reminisced about the kiss they’d shared next to his father’s gravesite. A bit macabre, to be certain, but the kiss had been anything but. It was a vivid sound in the symphony of her memories, a resonant note that echoed louder than all else. Amid the cold gray stones and an overcast sky, it had been a moment of color stolen from grief’s oppressive grip, a moment so warm and intimate it left an indelible mark on her soul.
The kiss had been unexpected—a spontaneous collision of lips that tasted bittersweet, tinged both with the chill of loss and the warmth of affection. It was as fleeting as it was intense, leaving her gasping for breath, her heart pounding.
But it only made the truth that much clearer. She was completely and utterly infatuated with Thomas Jameson. Consumed by desire. No other man could ever compare.
In the days that followed, she dared not speak of it. If Cameron ever found out…
Oh! It would be a disgrace, and he’d force Thomas to marry her.
Which wouldn’t be a horrid thing, but she wanted more than a marriage of obligation.
As she entered the lavish ballroom next to her mother, Tricia widened her eyes in awe at the spectacle before her. The room, a grand cathedral of wealth and refinement, buzzed with the excitement of the season’s inaugural ball. Crystal chandeliers cast a golden glow over the assembly of nobility gathered below. They caught the light and scattered it across the walls, which were adorned with silk draperies and masterful paintings depicting exquisite scenes from Greek mythology.