Free The Unaccomplished Lady Eleanor by Wendy Burdess

believe y ou are right, Lady Eleanor.  How much do you want, Lovell? ’ he dug a hand into his breeches pocket.  ‘ Fifty enough? ’
    ‘ Couldn’t make it a hundred could you? ’ asked Lovell, continuing to glare at Eleanor. 
    James turned to look at his friend and shook his head in mock despair.  ‘ You don’t change do you, Lovell ? ’ he huffe d, drawing out a roll of bill s and handing one to the man.  ‘ Just make sure you have a bit more luck than last night, ’ he adde d, as Lovell snatched the note from him, muttered some words of thanks and left the room , his face dark with fury .
    ‘ If I’m not mistaken, I think you may have upset the man, Lady Eleanor, ’ chuckled James .
    ‘ Yes, ’ muse d Eleanor , as a sudden stab o f foreboding pierced her .  ‘ I do believe I have. ’
     
    As she moved the last chess piece of the fifth game, Eleanor was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open.  
    ‘ T hat is three games out of five, sir .  I have won your challenge which means you must now r etract your earlier derogatory statement. ’
    James regarded her with a strange look in his eyes - a look which even she , as perspicacious as she was , could not read .  ‘ Hmm, I’m not sure .’  
    ‘ But that was the agreement, ’ countered Eleanor indignantly.
    ‘ Actually, ’ said James, his twinkling eyes fixed on hers , ‘ I h ave no recollection of that being the agreement. ’
    Eleanor could no t believe the arrogance of the man.  H ow she could possibly have enjoyed playing chess with him for a single second , was now beyond her. 
    ‘ Forgive me then, ’ sh e snapped, thrusting to her feet.  ‘ I mistook you for a gentleman who keeps his word. ’
      A smile hovered around James’s lips as he continued to regard her strangely.  ‘ Or perhaps you j ust mistook me for a gentleman, ’ he remarked , as Eleanor stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. 
     
    Four days later the weather changed dramatically – the sky swapping its menacing grey for brilliant blue , broken only by the occasional wisp of a lonely cloud.  And the weather wasn’t the only thing that was showing an improvement.   Thanks in no small part to Milly’s secret tuition, Eleanor was now able to perform a passable waltz, much to M. Aminieux’s delight.
      He puffed out his rounded chest, clad in a frilled orange shirt.  ‘ Ah, I am not one to do the blowing of the trumpet, but see how she is coming along, ’ he boasted to the d owager .
      ‘ Indeed, M. Aminieux.   I must congratulate you on such a goo d job.  T h ere is a way to go yet , but I believe we will have her dancing around the ballrooms of London very soon . ’
      Milly had jumped up and down with excitement when Elea nor had informed her of the dancing master ’s praise.
     
    Not coming along quite so well were Eleanor’s musical accomp lishments.  Practising a mo urnful sonata on the pianoforte that evening, she started a s she became aware of a noise in a darkened corner of the room and an eerie feeling of being watched.
      ‘ Who’s there? ’ she snapped, swivelling around on her stool .
      ‘ I s that a hint of fear I detect, Lady Eleanor? ’ came the nasally reply.
      A seed of apprehension took root as Eleanor recogniz ed the voice.  She i nstantly brushed it away .  She refused to be bullied by the likes of Derek Lovell.  ‘ I am sorry to disappoint you, Mr Lovell , ’ she replied, turning back to the pianoforte, ‘ but there is very little of which I am afraid. ’
      ‘ Is that so? ’ e nquired Lovell, walking out of the shadows towards her . ‘ Not even being alone in a room with a man about whom you know very little ? ’
      ‘ I am more than capable of looking after myself, sir, ’ she replied stoutly, flicking over the pages of her music.
      Lovell reached the pianoforte and rested his elbows upon it so that his face was level with hers and much too close for Eleanor’s