Meredith's Tender Awakening~ Stepping Out
A serialised Regency romance : Chapter 1
The room had been transformed with extravagant flowers on pedestals, and was perfumed with carnations threaded to decorate one wall, yet the young men and women who milled within those walls were the same, narrow selection with whom Meredith had been socializing all season. She concealed her yawn with the edge of her fan, watching her mother appraise the room for young men of independent fortune and good repute.
“Compose yourself, dear one, the Marquess of Davenport approaches.” Aunt Cecily spoke in sotto tones.
Meredith flicked her whisky-coloured eyes towards the broad-shouldered man cutting purposefully through the throng. A mamma and her daughter intercepted his quest. He stopped, smiled, and nodded politely to the older woman, barely glancing at the simpering nineteen-year-old dressed in an over-frilled gown of lemon silk.
“I wonder, will Mister Pembroke be in attendance tonight?” Meredith’s mother mused.
Privately Meredith hoped not. Mamma had grown obsessed of late with Pembroke’s fortune and everything she heard about his estate near Bath. Meredith had been asked to dance by him on a few occasions, consequently, she dreaded his halitosis and clumsiness and knew him as pompous, opinionated, and entitled. The Marquess politely managed to disentangle himself. He stepped towards Meredith with a smile, bowing his head to Aunt Cecily and Mamma.
“Lord Davenport,” her mother lowered her eyes to dip a curtsey.
“May I have the honor of securing the first dance, Miss Millais?” His voice was cultured and pleasantly husky.
“It would be my pleasure,” Meredith responded, offering the little card hanging from her wrist, with its gold pencil, for him to annotate.
At the soiree given by her godmother, Lady Abington, Meredith had enjoyed a spirited discussion with the Marquess, so she had something pleasant to anticipate. In all honesty, she longed for simpler times, when she and her friend Ariadne would not have been among the dancers, but watching from the sidelines, gossipping about books and art over a water ice. But a girl’s first season ‘out’ was serious business.
An obstacle race, in which each comely female competitor must dash towards the finish line of a good marriage, dressed in an array of silken gowns, carrying a parasol or fan, while playing hide-and-seek for an eligible bachelor en route.
Sometimes Meredith imagined herself a broodmare, surveyed by a prospective buyer for good teeth, physique, and childbearing hips. A young lady could acquaint herself with a gentleman’s prospects, but she was less able to be proactive in the selection process.
Once the string quartet raised the tempo, anticipation crackled in the air. Chaperones melted to the walls and young women and men poised toe to toe. Meredith gazed into the Marquess’ sea-green eyes and experienced a startling flutter behind her ribs. He smiled, a dimple piercing his cheek as they began the intricate footsteps. When their fingertips touched, her composure slipped again, and each spin into his embrace had her yearning for his thumb to graze her exposed shoulder.
The music halted, their eyes locked, causing her heart to knock against her ribs. Meredith’s lips parted to speak, and drop what fascinating gem of conversation?
Lamely she murmured, “Thank you for the dance, Lord Davenport.”
Dropping a curtsey she turned to greet the next person on her dance card. Meredith’s evening continued thus, becoming a blur of dancing and socializing with rich men also in the marriage market; but without further interaction with the Marquess, it was anticlimactic. She did not see him amongst the throng of guests, even as they waited for their carriages.
Her aunt and her mother were pleasantly occupied with dissecting gowns and hairstyles, prospects, and social graces; Meredith’s jumbled thoughts kept her silent on the journey home.
Once her ladies maid had assisted with the removal of her blue silk dress and jewelry, unpinned her hair, and overseen her toilette, tiredness pressed her eyelids shut, dragging her into sleep. But tonight her dreams teemed with white light and warm sensations. A thirst ravaged her body, leaving Meredith clenching with need. An insistent pulse thudded in her veins until she was woken with flushed skin and the strangest feeling.
Could this be love? Meredith, like most girls in their first season, had little idea what to expect of the emotion, except to understand that it was the ‘cherry on top’ of a good match. She knew many couples married without feeling love at the outset, and that some grew to experience it. Still, love felt like a mysterious, cloaked state of mind about which she was curious but unaware.
Papa had been ill for much of Meredith’s childhood, and after his death, her mother had withdrawn, only beginning to socialize once Aunt Cecily came to live with them. Her family was genteel and well off, Meredith had a decent dowry, but her father’s broken health had necessitated a quiet upbringing. They had never traveled, although her aunt had hinted at a trip to take the waters in Bath later that year.
She glanced at the clock on the mantel, aware her maid would soon arrive to help her dress. Ariadne was expected at ten for their shared pianoforte tuition, so Meredith swung her legs off the side of the bed and stretched until her shoulders clicked. Might that be considered unladylike? She worried, before pulling on her robe and rubbing her eyes.
MTA is a romantic novella inspired by a love of of Jane Austen and Julia Quinn’s books.
Meredith Millais is a poised young woman, experiencing her first season in society.
Meredith's mama wants her to land a husband of superior station. Her Aunt Cecilia hopes she can make a match who will tolerate her modern thinking.
Meredith dreams of a match made with respect, love and passion.
The Marquess of Davenport has property, wealth and a stubborn streak a mile wide.
The Marquess’ sister says he needs a wife, but this season's young women seem so silly ...
Currently, Meredith’s Tender Awakening is serialised for subscribers to my Ream Account : Shake a Tailfeather tier. Subscribe for $5 a month and read ahead, a new chapters are published on Mondays