Free The Spinster Bride by Jane Goodger Page A

you. Alas, there have been woefully few times I have been able to express it.” She leaned a bit so that she could see her aunt and waggled her fingers. Her aunt smiled back at her and immediately turned away to speak to her dinner companion, an old friend of her late husband. This evening, the building’s narrow lobby had been turned into a dining room of sorts, with three long tables set up to accommodate the elite crowd. Aunt Gertrude had warned her not to expect much from the meal, as it was being prepared in a restaurant next door and brought over by an army of servants. Apparently, the famous soprano had requested “the least odiferous items” be prepared so that her olfactory sense would not suffer.
    â€œI have the list,” she said in a whisper. “I’m afraid, after seeing your requirements, it’s rather short.”
    â€œI didn’t know I was being so particular,” he said.
    â€œI assume you are looking for someone a bit older, and being a man, you probably would like her to be somewhat attractive. Here.” She reached beneath the wide lace ribbon at her waist and pulled out a small bit of paper. She laid her hand, palm up, upon her lap and indicated with a small nod that he should take it.
    She should have known better. Mr. Norris looked from her face, to her lap, where she held the paper, and back to her face, raising an eyebrow in such a suggestive way that she felt an awful heat envelop her. Awful, because she knew what that heat meant and she had absolutely no intention of ever feeling that sort of heat when she was with Mr. Norris.
    â€œYou are insufferable.”
    â€œI am a man. A man who has just been invited to lay his hand upon a lady’s lap.”
    â€œI did no such thing,” she said, trying to sound and appear angry but failing miserably. She made a fist, crumpling the bit of paper, and placed it unceremoniously on the table next to his dinner plate. But before she could snatch her hand away, he laid his palm upon hers, warm and large, for just a small moment before releasing her.
    Oh, goodness. What had just happened? A surge of something electric made her let out the tiniest gasp and her face flushed red. It was instantaneous. She prayed he interpreted that gasp and flush as anger, but was sorely disappointed when she looked at him through her lashes and saw the most irritatingly smug expression on his lovely mouth. Lovely mouth ?
    â€œI beg you to stop, Mr. Norris.”
    He raised his brows innocently. “Stop what, Lady Marjorie?”
    â€œTaunting me,” she said with a bit of exasperation after briefly searching for the correct word. “This is not a game to me.” She did try to sound angry, but, blast the man, his smile only broadened.
    â€œYou are enjoying yourself immensely.”
    Marjorie pressed her mouth together, desperately trying not to smile. “Perhaps,” she relented.
    â€œThere is no ‘perhaps’ about it. And, my darling girl, I find I am enjoying myself immensely as well. Who knew finding a bride would be so much fun?”
    Oh, yes. The bride. Marjorie felt herself deflate just a tad at the reminder of why they were sitting together.
    He brazenly opened up her note at the dinner table and scanned the list.
    â€œAre any of these ladies here this evening?” he asked after a moment.
    â€œTwo. Miss Elizabeth Vincent and Miss Petunia Peterson.”
    â€œI can’t marry someone named Petunia.”
    â€œShe’s very nice.”
    â€œI don’t like petunias.”
    Marjorie looked at him in disbelief. “Who wouldn’t like petunias? They are a lovely flower. Very colorful. And very much like their namesake. She’s the girl sitting next to Admiral Clarkson.”
    Marjorie watched with some consternation how his expression changed when he saw Petunia. She was a lovely girl, with a country-fresh look to her. Her dark blond hair gleamed in the gaslight, and her