Читать книгу An Unconventional Miss - Dorothy Elbury - Страница 13

Although Jessica made every effort to banish the dilemma of Wyvern’s indifference from her thoughts, the highly provoking subject continued to plague her.

She found it hard to believe that the man could be so high in the instep as to regard her family as beneath his touch. Thanks to Imogen’s godmother, Lady Sydenham, having successfully paved the way for them, the Beresford family had been extremely well received by the beau monde. Imogen and Matt were well liked, and Jessica herself, as she could hardly have remained unaware, was extremely popular, not only with most of the young men about town, but also with quite a few of their female counterparts.

Back home in Kirton Priors, she had always reigned supreme in the popularity stakes. Here in the capital of the fashionable world, however, it had not taken her very long to discover that holding such an undisputed position in one’s own small neighbourhood was, in reality, of rather small consequence when one found oneself surrounded by a not inconsiderable number of other very attractive young ladies. Consequently, she had taken Imogen’s advice and had gone out of her way to make friends with many of her fellow debutantes—with the possible exception of the somewhat stuffy coterie to which Miss Felicity Draycott belonged!

All of which made Wyvern’s complete lack of interest in seeking any sort of introduction very difficult for her to comprehend. Eventually, however, after having forced herself to review their first encounter, she was obliged to admit that her own conduct towards the helpful stranger had not been all that it might have been, in the circumstances. Moreover, the longer she thought about it, despite all arguments to the contrary, it became increasingly obvious to her that the reason she had behaved so badly at the time was that Wyvern had managed to discompose her in a way that few men of her acquaintance had ever succeeded in doing.