Free My Runaway Heart by Miriam Minger Page B

a happy day."
    Lindsay swallowed hard at her aunt's sincerity,
suddenly thinking herself a bit of a traitor to be feeling so ungrateful. "It
will be a lovely evening, Aunt Winnie. Truly, I can't wait."
    " Aye, and yer bath can't wait, either," Matilda announced
briskly from the doorway. "The water's nice and steaming, miss . Up with ye now, before it grows cool."
    "Yes, while I must write to Olympia at once."
Handing the evening gown to Matilda, Aunt Winifred cooed to her dogs. "Come
along, my sweet darlings. Oh, so much to do!"
    Lindsay collapsed back onto the pillows to stare numbly
at the frilly chintz canopy as soon as her aunt was gone, but that didn't
prevent her from stiffening when she heard Matilda clucking her tongue.
    "So that might make two letters posted today to
Cornwall," the old Scotswoman appeared to say more to herself than to
Lindsay, Matilda's slightly bowed back to the bed as she returned the gown to
the wardrobe. "One to Sir Randolph and one to his wife. Aye, mayhap this
whole tangle will unravel itself in a few days' time and not a week, and we'll
have a fine spring wedding to plan. If not, well, I suppose my mistress will be
writing another letter once she learns . . ."
    Lindsay found her heart beating wildly when Matilda
fell to clucking again and she lunged from the bed, not wanting to hear any
more.
    Nor would she consider for a moment that one week
wouldn't be enough time to convince Jared that she could be the bride of his
dreams. She threw her fringed shawl around her shoulders, her chin rising a notch. "Oh, no, my lord, I've finally found you
and I'm not going to lose you now."
    "I'm sorry, miss, did ye say something?"
    Lindsay didn't answer, her footsteps determined as she
flew down the hall thinking of pineapples and cherry brandy and a kiss that
made her heart want to leap from her breast.

     

     

 
    Chapter 8

     
    "Please, my lords, no, I simply can't dance
another step."
    Lindsay extricated herself as gracefully as possible
from a quintet of disappointed-looking gentlemen, the English country dance she'd
just endured barely ended before she and her winded partner, Lord Sotherby , had been surrounded. And Lord Sotherby had even wanted her to dance with him again, although the poor snowy-haired
fellow, nearly three times her age, had wheezed and puffed so wretchedly that
she had feared he might expire on the dance floor.
    "Oh, Lord."
    Lindsay veered sharply, ducking into the throng
surrounding the refreshment table as she spied Lord Ambrose Lamb heading her
way. No wonder she was beginning to feel as if she were caught in a maze! There
seemed to be no escape from the constant attention, Almack's proving as much a trial as she had imagined, and with no immediate relief in
sight.
    Grabbing a small glass of lemonade and retiring to the
shadows under the musician's gallery, Lindsay glanced across the huge assembly
room to where Aunt Winifred sat conversing merrily with Maria, Lady Sefton , the Patroness who had granted them a voucher,
Matilda sitting patiently behind them. Her beaming aunt was clearly in her
glory, the night as much a triumph for her as she had enthused during the
carriage ride to King Street that it would be for Lindsay.
    But it had become more a torture than anything else,
Lindsay thought with a sigh, feeling the same traitorous twinge that she found
it so difficult to enjoy herself even for Aunt Winifred's sake. Truly an almost
unbearable torture since her fears had been confirmed about Jared.
    Almack's had clearly turned
its back upon him; she had been looking for him all evening, but to no avail.
And within moments the clock would strike eleven; no one would be allowed to
join the assembly after that hour, which meant she had no hope of seeing him
tonight, no hope of thanking him for the night before and arranging another
rendezvous—
    "Ah, Lindsay, there you are!"
    As Lord Ambrose bore down upon her, she quickly emptied
the tiny goblet so she might press it into his