Free Double Deception by Patricia Oliver

threshold, as though awaiting just such a cue to make her entrance. Miss Viviana Rathbone quite literally took Athena's breath away.
    The young girl was a vision in palest pink muslin, gathered beneath the bosom in tiny pleats and festooned with dozens of silk rosebuds in a deeper shade of pink around the neckline, on the cuffs of the tiny puffed sleeves, and on the deep flounce around the hem. Her gloves, in the same shade of pink as the rosebuds, revealed an expanse of unblemished, softly rounded arms that might well be likened to a statue of Aphrodite, while the pink straw bonnet, adorned with a single pink rose amidst a nest of lace, framed a face so perfect that Athena simply could not drag her eyes away.
    "Come and make your curtsy to Lady Sarah Steele, my love," Mrs. Rathbone urged, and the vision floated—or so it appeared to Athena's stunned senses—across the Saloon and sank into as graceful a curtsy as Athena had ever witnessed.
    "Dearest Sarah," Mrs. Rathbone gushed in richly toned accents, "this is my darling granddaughter, Viviana, who has been dying to make your acquaintance, dear. She has heard me speak of you many times, of course, and is quite in alt at your invitation to accompany me to St. Aubyn Castle, are you not, love?" 
    "Yes, Grandmama," the vision responded in a tinkling, chime-like voice that made Athena think of Christmas sleigh bells on clear winter evenings.
    "Well," Mrs. Rathbone said with evident pleasure. "A beautiful creature, my granddaughter, would you not agree, Sarah? Quite lovely enough to turn any man's head, I warrant you."
    This seemed an odd thing to say, but Athena had little time to ponder on it, for at that moment Lady Sarah appeared to remember her presence and changed the subject abruptly.
    "Gussie, meet Mrs. Athena Standish, who is staying at the Castle for a few weeks."
    Mrs. Rathbone turned her gaze upon Athena, who experienced the uncomfortable sensation of being dissected piece by piece by that lady's shrewd gray eyes.
    "Athena? Your parents must surely have been addicted to the classics, my dear," Mrs. Rathbone remarked in her splendid voice. "I never could abide them myself, of course. Perhaps that would explain my aversion for such pretentious monikers as Achilles, Hector, Ajax, Cassandra; even Helen smacks of false grandeur. Although one could hardly accuse you of that, Mrs. Standish," she added with a brilliant smile that did nothing to diminish the implied snub.
    Quite unprepared for such rudeness, Athena held her tongue and turned to the young lady in pink.
    "Viviana, my love," Mrs. Rathbone continued, gesturing towards the younger woman with a glittering smile. "My dearest, dearest granddaughter," she repeated, as though savoring the sound of the words on her silver tongue. "I trust you will be patient with her, Mrs. Standish. Young girls can be so astonishingly shy in company. Perhaps with you as her friend, my darling will acquire more confidence in herself."
    Startled at the notion of playing mentor to such a divine-looking creature, Athena smiled faintly. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Rathbone," she said, watching enviously the perfect curtsy the lady in pink executed for her benefit. "Would you care to sit here beside me and let me serve you a cup of tea?"
    "Yes, darling!" Mrs. Rathbone exclaimed before the Beauty had a chance to respond. "What a delightful suggestion! Do accept Mrs. Standish's kind invitation, my dear. You cannot go wrong if you take her lead in such things."
    At her grandmother's words, a slight frown seemed to mar the perfection of Miss Rathbone's porcelain countenance, and Athena imagined she detected a faint pout on the rosebud lips. But it was the Beauty's large pansy-blue eyes that confirmed her fleeting impression that the lady in pink was not entirely at ease in the sumptuous drawing room. As she rose from the curtsy, Miss Rathbone's gaze flicked over Athena, surprising her with the animosity reflected there.
    Was