I burned my lip on the eggs… Eden
CHAPTER 13
The Duchess had been harping on about a myriad of things to Eden at breakfast, and so she had been tuned out long ago. Eden just could not stop thinking about the night before.
Her lips still felt bruised from Phillip’s kisses.
“Whatever is the matter with your mouth?” the Duchess demanded, shaking Eden from her revelry.
Eden then realized that she had been running her fingers over her bottom lip. She quickly dropped her hand and picked up her fork.
“Nothing, Mother, I burned my lip on the eggs.”
The Duchess looked at her in suspicion, “There is something off about you today, Eden. Are you feeling well?”
Eden felt her color rise, “I am fine, Mother.”
“You have hardly touched your breakfast, and that isn’t anything like you.”
Eden took a big bite - it tasted like sawdust as she chewed it and forced it down.
“Delicious as always,” she patted her lips with her napkin. “If I might be excused, I need to do some writing before the Bluebells’ meeting today.”
“Oh, that quite reminds me,” the Duchess looked up at her daughter and frowned. “For heaven’s sake, Eden, stand up straight! Do you want to have a hunched back?”
Eden fought against rolling her eyes, “No, mother. What was it that you wanted to say to me?”
The duchess smiled, “Yes, I have invited the Lancaster girls to participate in your little club. The Dowager Marchioness accepted for them, and they will be here today.”
Eden’s heart sank: while she adored Phillip’s sisters, they were not officially out yet and the conversations that the Bluebells tended to have were not fit for young ears. Well, technically it wasn’t fit for her ears either, but Eden wasn’t going to belabor the point.
“Alright, thank you for informing me, Mother.”
The Duchess nodded her dismissal, and Eden fairly raced from the room. She went to the footman and told him she had an urgent message that needed to be delivered immediately to Lady Mangrove. He was not to leave their residence until he had a response from Sophie herself.
*****
Sophie arrived frazzled and distracted, and truthfully, quite a bit later than Eden had anticipated.
“What is the emergency?” Sophie grasped Eden’s hands. “I have been terrified that Randall has done something awful.”
Eden glanced away feeling her skin heat up, “It wasn’t terrible in the slightest.”
“Oh, dear,” Sophie’s hand rose to her lips. “What has he done? Sit down and tell me the whole of it.”
After hearing the account of the previous evening, Sophie was more confused than ever.
“This is not at all like the Randall I know.”
Eden wrung her hands, “Don’t you think I know that? I know the playboy, rakehell that thinks every woman is going to fall at his feet. I know the pompous idiot that thinks all women love and adore him. But last night he was at times kind and considerate. I am so very confused. I think I may be developing feelings for him.”
Sophie pleaded with her friend, “You do not know how many women have tried to bring him to heel. I am not sure that he is capable of delicate feelings. I am so very worried about you, and I feel that this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have introduced any of the bedroom things to the Bluebells.”
Eden jumped, “That’s another thing. My mother has invited Phillip’s sisters to join the Bluebells.”
“Can she do that?” Sophie exclaimed heatedly.
Eden frowned, “Apparently. And I do not know how I am going to act natural around them when I know what kind of things I want their brother to be doing to me.”
Sophie giggled.
“It’s not funny, Sophie!” Eden moaned in distress.
Sophie sobered immediately, “Of course, it isn’t. I just for the slightest moment thought of you trying to act nonchalant. You are a terrible actress, Eden.”
“I am not,” Eden declared vehemently.
Sophie cocked a brow.
“Maybe a little,” Eden conceded rolling her eyes. “But what are we to do?”
“You shall leave this up to me!” Sophie smiled at her friend. “All will come to rights.”
“Why are you so confident now?”
Sophie got a devious look in her eye, “I just realized that we have an inside track into how Randall’s mind works. They are his sisters, after all. If you truly think you are coming to care for him, they know him best. So, let’s find out what makes Phillip Randall tick.”