Free A Hasty Betrothal by Jessica Nelson

covered in ruffles and lace and shrieking wealth.
    Her lady’s maid followed behind, eyes averted. Oh, yes, certainly a woman Elizabeth should know. A sense of failure threatened to take hold.
    â€œLady Elizabeth, how good to see you out. And with a suitor, no less.” The woman’s eyebrows twitched, and Elizabeth thought she saw a frown in her smile. She waited, presumably for Elizabeth to introduce them.
    Miles had stood in the lady’s presence. Elizabeth forced herself upward, racking her mind for the lady’s name. For something. Anything. But a name failed to form.
    â€œLady Englewood, is it not?” Miles offered her a crisp bow, to which the lady held out her hand for his perfunctory kiss upon her silken glove. He straightened, offering Elizabeth a twinkling smirk. “We met the other evening, I recall.”
    â€œAh, yes. Mr. Hawthorne. Lord Wrottesley mentioned you in passing, and I do believe you were a part of our little group at Lady Charleston’s. Such a fashionable woman.” The lady turned her sharp words to Elizabeth, who wavered beneath her peer’s scrutiny. “It is good to see you in the fair weather, my dear. Your parents have expressed concern for your health, citing it as the reason you’ve been in the country for so long. Though I do remember you coming out last year, did you not?”
    â€œI have been out for several years now,” Elizabeth said carefully. And now to play her parents’ plan to perfection. “Mr. Hawthorne has graciously extended me an offer of marriage, and so we are celebrating with ices. There will be invitations going out for a celebratory ball. An event you will not want to miss. It’s sure to be a crush of the most gigantic proportions.”
    Miles made a noise that sounded like a cough. She quickly patted him on his nicely muscled arm. “My affianced is quite excited to meet my parents’ circle of friends.”
    â€œIs that so?” Lady Englewood’s nose thrust upward and Elizabeth could almost imagine a quizzing glass stuck to her eyeball. “We shall most eagerly await the invitation.” She gave them one last look, her gaze lingering upon the right side of Elizabeth’s face, as though perhaps wondering how any man could possibly want such a marred human being.
    Miles was not any man though, as annoying as he could be. Suddenly Elizabeth felt happy to be out with him. They shared a conspiratorial smile as they returned to their seats and watched the loose-lipped lady spread the word that the heiress had found a gentleman.
    And for a moment, as Elizabeth tasted the tartness in her ice and inhaled the aroma of Miles’s cologne, she quite felt that all was right with the world, and that perhaps life would not be as horrible as she anticipated.

Chapter Six
    M iles had certainly wasted no time in making Elizabeth’s life miserable.
    She scowled at herself in the mirror.
    â€œBe calm, my lady.” Jenna came up behind her. She touched Elizabeth’s hair, which she’d put up earlier that morning. “You look lovely and shall enjoy yourself.”
    â€œNow that I’m betrothed, you won’t need to go with us everywhere.”
    â€œQuite fortuitous for me.” A shy smirk edged Jenna’s lips in the mirror’s reflection. “I have several duties to complete before I meet you at Windermar.” Jenna would be leaving the next morning for the estate. “Your pink chiffon is in need of an update. I was thinking roses and silk stitching.”
    Elizabeth waved a hand, her gaze straying to her birthmark. In the glare of morning, the rippled redness appeared remarkably noticeable. “I despise that dress. Destroy it.”
    Jenna laughed. “Nonsense. I know of several lower maids who are in want of a fancy dress. Why, Betsy is marrying in two months. She could use the material for something quite lovely.”
    A twinge pinged Elizabeth, but not