Lady Kaiden's 24-Hour Bookshop

chapter ten

Gasps and whispers are exactly what you want to hear when you walk into a room. That rippling sense of someone catching you worrying about them is an absolutely keen feeling. It is like, suddenly I was brought back ages, the kid who all the other little girls thought was a proud, prudent prig, a keen feeling indeed.

My mother, though to my betterment, reluctantly left to her wonted corner with a flute of some kind of alcohol, although she was peculiarly distant from her habitual group of mothers. Another incongruity was the men around me...or more lack thereof. Now, I do not believe I am a conceited woman, but I felt quite odd when the lads of the ball were not rushing me trying to whisk me off my feet. Respectively, the thought of my precipitous appearance may have struck them the wrong way. That, and I being freshly lone at nine-and-twenty and dropping my arse at one of the largest balls of the year may have come off as... subfuscous per say.

And of course, with my rebellious, wandering eyes I spotted a rather brusque gentleman and a comely lady right in the midst of the floor. But before they noticed I had guided my attention back towards the prize. Therefore eloquently as I could muster, with the stares of the people, I cleared my throat and walked over towards the table with all the edibles, alone. My own pathway was even drawn for me, is that not nifty?

I clasped my dry hands and hung them down in front of my body. I picked at all the trays and platters and plopped and piled them all into my mouth. Who needs to chew?

"Pardon me, Miss Kaiden." A clearing throat gathered my attention, I was getting ready to endure any kind of berating, but was ultimately overwhelmed at the fact that it was not the person I had expected, so I had a rough time swallowing.

I coughed a few crumbs and cupped my mouth, "Lord Kaylock, how do you do?" I wobbly curtsied and gulped down my harsh slab of food down my throat.

"Good evening, milady." He politely took off his hat, bowed and leaned in a tad closer. "I am afraid I have something to tell you,"

"And what would you like to say?" I arched a sighing brow.

"Out of courtesy, before you hear it from someone else, I want you to know that there have been rumors about you, did you know?"

"Rumors of what? You had to know by now that I cause scandals every other day, you must be more specific."

"Well, I usually do not concern myself with gossip, but I recognized your name while overhearing a conversation and it was quite curious."

I sat on the edge of my seat and piqued my brow, "You have gotten me interested, now. Go on."

"Well, the word on the street is that you have outrageously not been offered to dance yet and Mister Kaylock has been waiting for roughly two years for his chance."

That was definitely not the answer I had perceived, "I see, Lord Kaylock is referring to himself in the third person now."

"A beautiful woman can do that to a gentleman,"

I held back a blush and squinted my eyes, "Careful, your charm is almost too smooth."

"Really? Because I have also heard I can be quite the arrogant bastard. Pardon my French,"

I pursed my lips in impingement and said, "I see you seem to have been humbled since the last we spoke."

"Two years is a long time,"