A Common Scandal by Amanda Weaver Page A

he’d used on Amelia.
    “Lady Julia, the delight I felt on discovering you were to be a guest cannot be adequately expressed.”
    “You don’t say?” Lady Julia said evenly.
    “Indeed. I was about to seek you out.”
    “And abandon poor Miss Wheeler?” Julia smirked. The wicked gleam in her eye was directed at Amelia. “Say it isn’t so!”
    Cheadle began to bluster, overwhelmed with trying to slather insincere flattery on two wealthy young women simultaneously. Amelia had to suppress her laugh and gave Julia a bit of credit for her handling of him.
    “It’s good to see you, Lady Julia,” she said, to forestall any further compliments from Mr. Cheadle.
    “Please, call me Julia. And may I call you Amelia?”
    “Of course you may.”
    “Mr. Cheadle, might I steal Amelia from you? I have something terribly important to discuss with her.”
    “Of course. I’m sure you young ladies have much to gossip about. But please don’t deprive me of your delightful company for too much longer. Either of you. Both of you.”
    The corners of Julia’s mouth twitched. Amelia was already beginning to recognize the subtle signs of Julia’s amusement. “You’re very kind. Amelia, come sit in the window seat with me. It’s quite cozy. You should take one of those cakes first, though. They’re delicious.”
    “What did you wish to talk to me about?” Amelia asked as they walked away.
    “Nothing. I saw your face. You looked quite desperate to escape, and with good reason.”
    “He’s a true terror, to be sure. I’m in your debt. We have to make a proper show of it, though. What should we talk about?”
    Julia steered her toward the window seat. “Miss Wheeler, I’ve come to understand you hail from Portsmouth.”
    “I do.”
    “Did you live anywhere near the harbor?”
    Memories of racing through the streets, down to the docks to find Natty, flitted through her mind. “Close enough.”
    “Did you spend much time there?”
    Now she couldn’t help her fond smile. “Almost all my time, truth be told. They couldn’t drag me away from the docks.”
    “I suppose you know your way around a ship?”
    “A bit. The sailors usually chased me back ashore as soon as they caught me aboard. They didn’t exactly welcome a young girl.”
    “I suppose they wouldn’t.”
    “You enjoy the sea?”
    “Not particularly, no. Why?”
    Amelia blinked in confusion. “Only... You seemed so interested in Portsmouth. I thought you must like the sea.”
    “It’s only because of my father’s shipping company,” she said quickly, with a dismissive shrug. “I’ve been hearing about it for years.”
    “I see.” Amelia murmured, completely at a loss as to how to proceed. Julia seemed lost, as well. She might have peculiar notions of how to carry on a conversation, but Amelia was finding it difficult to hate Julia. Just like Percy Cholmondeley, she was so inherently decent, it was impossible to scorn her, even when Amelia remembered Nate’s blatant interest in her.
    “Oh, look!” Julia cried. “Mr. Smythe has arrived.”
    Perhaps she could hate her just a little bit.
    Nate had indeed arrived in the same carriage as Lord Radwill, and was now talking to Lord Tewsbury by the entrance to the parlor. When he glanced around the room, his gaze fell on her. And stayed. She’d spent the past several weeks convincing herself what had happened on the terrace at the Longvilles’ house was an anomaly. She and Nate had been poking at each other all evening and it had finally erupted in a most unexpected way. It was hardly even worth dwelling upon because it was never happening again.
    But when his eyes found hers, even from across the parlor, the shock of awareness down her spine froze her on the spot. Lord , she wished it could happen again.
    She’d been kissed a handful of times, brief encounters in darkened hallways or gardens, by one or another bland Society boy. Each time, she’d let it happen hoping to feel that spark, that madness,