Enchanted Summer: (Regency Romance) by Gloria Gay Page B

also on holiday from Eaton.
    It was by this pleasant lady that Margaretta sat the day of the gathering and she could not have chosen a better usher to ease her into the area’s society. Sophie was fond of company and seemed to be bursting with pent-up energy.
    The guests had gathered in the spacious drawing room and after being introduced Celia did not join any of the groups but stayed back a little, and observed the gathering.
    Caroline was displaying an anxiety rare in her usually cool demeanor as she glanced repeatedly at the door. The only ones not in the assembly yet were the Earl of Shelton and his family, so Celia assumed it was for them she was looking out.
    Celia was curious to see what Lord Shelton’s family looked like for she had not been introduced to them when she had attended her Aunt Solace’s funeral.
    The Longards—Caroline’s aunt Louella and her daughter Beatrix, were as rude as Caroline and now crowded around her. Celia could tell this was not to Caroline’s taste, for she appeared to want to be unfettered and moved away from them repeatedly. She was dressed in creamy white with a soft embroidered shawl on her shoulders and certainly looked handsome.
    Just then the Earl of Shelton, seated in his Bath chair, was wheeled into the large drawing room by his footman. Alongside them were Lord Merrick, his sisters and Lord Shelton’s nurse. And as they entered the drawing-room the girls were surrounded by the fawning Longards and by Caroline and Sylvia. For a moment Celia did not notice them but looked beyond them at their brother, Lord Merrick. There was warmth in his eyes as he held her gaze for a moment as Caroline called him away in a proprietary manner. Yet after he greeted her he moved away, towards Celia.
    “That’s just Miss Meade and her family,” said Caroline, tugging at Lord Merrick’s arm, and with her action dismissing Celia and her family as unimportant. But Lord Merrick, after greeting Worth Delaney, Tom and Sylvia, who were standing together, moved toward Celia, who was standing by her mother, who was seated.
    “I’m very glad you and your family are to make your home among, us, Miss Meade” Lord Merrick said to Celia. “I hope you will be happy here.” 
    Celia tried not to acknowledge the twinkle in his eyes that sent a secret message to her of having already met her in the wood for she knew that Caroline was watching her alike a hawk, standing rigidly nearby.
    Celia introduced Merrick to her family and Lord Merrick introduced his family to the Meades, welcoming them to the area. His father nodded toward the Meades and he then motioned to the footman to move his Bath chair along. Lord Shelton seemed restless and tired and Celia wondered why he had made the effort to come at all, when it was obvious he would have been more comfortable at home. His face glistened with perspiration and he seemed as uncomfortable as anyone in his situation could be. Celia was certain that when she met Lord Merrick in the wood again, Lord Merrick would tell her his father had insisted on attending the reception and then had changed his mind about it.
    After settling his father, the footman and Lord Shelton’s nurse in a comfortable area, Lord Merrick moved on with his sisters to greet the rest of the guests.
    Celia was wearing her new celadon green silk gown, and the color enhanced the honey shades of her hair, which she wore piled high on her head with a few strands curled down from her temples and nape. The hue of the gown made her eyes sparkle and for the second time that evening Lord Merrick gazed into her eyes. Had Celia been able to read his thoughts, she would have been breathlessly pleased to find that at sight of her, Lord Merrick’s breath had caught at his throat and he was anxiously looking forward to his next meeting with her.
    As Lord Merrick and his sisters moved around, Caroline was constantly at his side. And Celia noticed that each time he moved away from her to talk to someone