like I'm not completely inside of my body. Like the smoke has pushed some of me out to make room for it.
"Miss Huntington, you look remarkable this evening." The voice behind my back is familiar. I want to groan and turn with the sweetest sickly smile spread across my lips, but I can't. Instead, I giggle like a fool because I'm dizzy from the cigarette and the face Angie is making. I turn still giggling like I have no breeding. I exhale my cigarette in the face of the man my daddy wants to sell me to.
"Why Mr. Ryan, you look remarkable yourself." Angie speaks with a confidence I know he hates. They all hate it. They all hate her. But she doesn’t care and that makes me love her more.
His lip fights the grimace he wants to give, but that his own breeding won't allow. I see him now. I see the fake smiles and the fake manners. I see the way he fights his eyes when he looks at me and they try to seek my heaving chest.
"Shall we take a walk?" He puts an arm out for me. I pass her my cigarette and take his arm. "Certainly." I am not allowed to answer differently and he knows it.
Angie smokes both cigarettes. I laugh at her again. She turns and enjoys the magic of the evening.
"You really shouldn’t be with a girl like her. Her parents have been allowing her in New York too often. I hear she stays at their place in the city on her own. No supervision. Plus she's a wicked gossip. Girls like that get a reputation.“ His words are soft but the tone is scolding me nonetheless.
I feel my back straighten. "Girls like Margery Banks, you mean?" My voice couldn’t be sweeter.
His cheeks blush. He smiles but doesn’t lose the control over himself, that only well-bred gentlemen know how to maintain.
I know the truth about him.
He is a cad, like Rhett Butler but not as attractive and that was really the only thing Rhett had going for himself. That and his cocky smile.
He is a cad and I have fooled myself long enough about him and the foolish notion of marrying to make my family happy. Losing Ramón has changed things for me. Changed the way I see things. Maybe Mr. Whitlock has also had a hand in it. Either way, I do not want this. I'm young and I want to see the world first.
He walks us away from the party before speaking again, "Girls like Margery Banks are fun for a boy to date, for a time. Not the kind of girl a man would marry though. Your friend Angie is the same sort of girl." His voice has a hidden sneer that I can hear but can't see past the charming smile.
I watch him and know, I will never marry this man.
A gentleman doesn’t speak ill of a woman he hardly knows. My daddy has misjudged his breeding. Damned Yankees. We may be Southerners; we may talk slow and be simple in a lot of ways, but we don't disrespect people we don’t know and we don’t let anyone mess with one of ours.
I notice how far we've walked away from the party when my heels dig into the gravel and destabilize my balance. I'm reliant on his arm now, as we walk down the path to the gazebo. My stomach flips and squirms like a fish is in there. He passes me his bourbon.
"Thank you." I gulp a huge drink of it. The warmth fills my stomach and I recall not having any dinner. Momma forbid it after my dress didn't fit. I need to get away from him. I need to find my daddy and call the whole thing off before it gets too serious.
He stops walking and takes the glass from my hands. He swallows the last of it and tosses the glass out into the grass.
He looks down on me with intensity. My heart stops beating completely. I know what's about to happen.
The moon gives off just enough light that I can see the color of his eyes. He is beautiful. Tanned skin, bright-white straight teeth, dark-blond hair, and stunning blue eyes. He looks like a Beach Boy mixed with a Kennedy. His grin is mischievous and confident. He lowers his face on mine and kisses me softly. His lips don’t pry or try to open my mouth. He kisses the way he should, like a gentleman.
It's a
"Miss Huntington, you look remarkable this evening." The voice behind my back is familiar. I want to groan and turn with the sweetest sickly smile spread across my lips, but I can't. Instead, I giggle like a fool because I'm dizzy from the cigarette and the face Angie is making. I turn still giggling like I have no breeding. I exhale my cigarette in the face of the man my daddy wants to sell me to.
"Why Mr. Ryan, you look remarkable yourself." Angie speaks with a confidence I know he hates. They all hate it. They all hate her. But she doesn’t care and that makes me love her more.
His lip fights the grimace he wants to give, but that his own breeding won't allow. I see him now. I see the fake smiles and the fake manners. I see the way he fights his eyes when he looks at me and they try to seek my heaving chest.
"Shall we take a walk?" He puts an arm out for me. I pass her my cigarette and take his arm. "Certainly." I am not allowed to answer differently and he knows it.
Angie smokes both cigarettes. I laugh at her again. She turns and enjoys the magic of the evening.
"You really shouldn’t be with a girl like her. Her parents have been allowing her in New York too often. I hear she stays at their place in the city on her own. No supervision. Plus she's a wicked gossip. Girls like that get a reputation.“ His words are soft but the tone is scolding me nonetheless.
I feel my back straighten. "Girls like Margery Banks, you mean?" My voice couldn’t be sweeter.
His cheeks blush. He smiles but doesn’t lose the control over himself, that only well-bred gentlemen know how to maintain.
I know the truth about him.
He is a cad, like Rhett Butler but not as attractive and that was really the only thing Rhett had going for himself. That and his cocky smile.
He is a cad and I have fooled myself long enough about him and the foolish notion of marrying to make my family happy. Losing Ramón has changed things for me. Changed the way I see things. Maybe Mr. Whitlock has also had a hand in it. Either way, I do not want this. I'm young and I want to see the world first.
He walks us away from the party before speaking again, "Girls like Margery Banks are fun for a boy to date, for a time. Not the kind of girl a man would marry though. Your friend Angie is the same sort of girl." His voice has a hidden sneer that I can hear but can't see past the charming smile.
I watch him and know, I will never marry this man.
A gentleman doesn’t speak ill of a woman he hardly knows. My daddy has misjudged his breeding. Damned Yankees. We may be Southerners; we may talk slow and be simple in a lot of ways, but we don't disrespect people we don’t know and we don’t let anyone mess with one of ours.
I notice how far we've walked away from the party when my heels dig into the gravel and destabilize my balance. I'm reliant on his arm now, as we walk down the path to the gazebo. My stomach flips and squirms like a fish is in there. He passes me his bourbon.
"Thank you." I gulp a huge drink of it. The warmth fills my stomach and I recall not having any dinner. Momma forbid it after my dress didn't fit. I need to get away from him. I need to find my daddy and call the whole thing off before it gets too serious.
He stops walking and takes the glass from my hands. He swallows the last of it and tosses the glass out into the grass.
He looks down on me with intensity. My heart stops beating completely. I know what's about to happen.
The moon gives off just enough light that I can see the color of his eyes. He is beautiful. Tanned skin, bright-white straight teeth, dark-blond hair, and stunning blue eyes. He looks like a Beach Boy mixed with a Kennedy. His grin is mischievous and confident. He lowers his face on mine and kisses me softly. His lips don’t pry or try to open my mouth. He kisses the way he should, like a gentleman.
It's a
Similar Books
