Rescuing Rosalind (Three Original Ladies and Their Gentlemen) by G.G. Vandagriff Page A

you, Fan: you need to drop the act when you are with him. Be yourself.”
    Fanny felt a spurt of panic. “But, Elise, who is that?” Trying to understand the source of her sudden anxiety, she said, “I can only play parts.”
    “You are not playing a part right now.”
    “Then, tell me who I am. You have known me all my life.”
    “You have always been a very adventurous, affectionate creature. You are creative, imaginative, and a rebel when faced with something you do not want to do.” Taking Emma on to her lap, she combed her daughter’s blonde curls with her fingers. “But deep down inside, Fan, you are vulnerable. We all are—you and me and Sophie. Because of mother. We can be hurt far more easily than most people, so we are very slow to trust or to acknowledge deep feeling.”
    Fanny pondered this. She knew instinctively that what Elise said was true. Why then had she been so quick to trust Deal? It was a mystery to her.
    * * *
     
    She loved to ride in Hyde Park at the fashionable hour. Lord Westringham had a very smart curricle and a bang-up pair of chestnuts. The crowd of fashionables was enormous, but, for a sailor, Viscount Westringham was an excellent whip. Their progress through the park was slow but steady.
    “Have you known the captain. . . er. . . the marquis, a long time?” he asked.
    “I met him years ago at Ruisdell Palace. He was very rude to me.”
    Westringham laughed. “What did he do?”
    Looking at the viscount’s elegant profile as he managed his horses, she said, “He quelled my pretensions, which is never a good idea. I am very attached to them.”
    “Ah. There are two things the captain cannot abide: pretentiousness and bullying.”
    “Well, I am not a bully, at least.”
    “Nor do I find you pretentious.”
    “Thank you for that. You might, however, if you knew me better.” She stopped to acknowledge Sally Jersey, who had come up beside the curricle.
    “Miss Edwards,” Lady Jersey said from her open carriage. “I have not had the privilege of meeting this gentleman.”
    “Lady Jersey, may I present the Viscount Westringham? He is recently returned from the wars, where he served as a naval first lieutenant.” Turning to her escort, she said, “Lady Jersey is one of the patronesses of Almack’s.”
    Lord Westringham tipped his hat. “My lady, it is a pleasure indeed.”
    “It is presentable young men such as yourself that we value highly at Almack’s. I will be most delighted to provide you with a voucher.”
    Fanny’s escort tipped his hat again. “I thank you. That is an honor, your ladyship.”
    With a slight incline of the head, Lady Jersey drove on.
    “It shall be all over London by this evening that I have a very handsome beau,” Fanny told her companion. “Next to the Marquis of Somerset, Sally Jersey is the greatest gossip in London.”
    “Ah, her news will not be received well by your other admirers, I imagine.”
    “Of whom do you speak?”
    “Warmsby, for one. Most likely, he will call me out.”
    Fanny called a greeting to her aunt, Lady Clarice Manton, and her companion, Miss Susannah Braithwaite. They pulled over to the curricle, and Fanny introduced them to her escort.
    “Lovely to meet any friend of dear Fanny’s,” her Aunt Clarice said. “I do believe I read of your elevation to the peerage recently.”
    “In the navy, were you not?” her companion asked.
    “Yes,” the viscount answered. “Second son. Regrettably, my brother died in a hunting accident. Totally unanticipated by me. Miss Edwards is helping me to find my feet among the ton .”
    Sukey laughed. “Then you had best take care. Where Fanny leads, it is not always wise to follow!”
    “Sukey! You are not one to talk, with your beetle collection and Henry Five,” Aunt Clarice said.
    “Henry Five?” Westringham asked.
    “An enormous tortoise,” Fanny told him. “Named for some reason after Henry the Fifth. He is well known in ton circles, as are my aunt and Sukey. I