Chapter One

 

 

All in Society are well-aware of the famous—or is it infamous?—Lady No. Despite her station in life, her generous dowry and the expectations of her family, the young woman refuses any man who dares cross her path. Kindly, yes, but firmly. The lady seems determined to enter into spinsterhood. Will this new Season finally be the one to see Lady No meet her match? Only time will tell. But if not, one wonders if the shine will eventually wear off her diamond, leaving her to regret the chances she did not take.

 

As her aunt Louisa read the latest Scandal Sheet out loud, Lady Sophie couldn’t help but laugh. Her aunt lifted her gaze with a smirk of her own.

“Well, there you have it,” Louisa said, folding the paper. “You are famous. Or infamous.”

Sophie shook her head and teased, “Me? Are you saying you think Lady No is me?”

“Oh come, don’t play coy even in jest. You know they call you Lady No behind your back. It could be no one else but you,” Louisa said.

Sophie’s laughter faded and she glanced at the folded sheet before her aunt. She could only read a few words now, but Lady No stood out amongst them all. It was her not-very-secret nickname, though she’d never felt it was said in cruelty. She was an oddity in Society, to be certain, but she was liked well enough. She had friends, and the gentlemen who she refused were, on the whole, good-natured about it. She was always kind in her set downs.

“I’m not really certain why it fascinates them so, my refusals. I simply haven’t found something worth saying yes to. Shouldn’t I wait to say yes until I find something worthwhile?”

Louisa had been smiling along with her, but now her face fell a fraction. “Of course. I’ve been your guardian for how long now?”

“Nearly fifteen years,” Sophie said softly, carefully not allowing her thoughts to turn to her long-dead parents. “And you have been the best guardian one could hope for.”

Louisa smiled briefly and reached out to take Sophie’s hand. “Well, I’ve always been proud to see that you have your own mind. And I think you are correct that you should not accept anyone into your life who doesn’t appreciate that wonderful quality about you.”

Sophie tilted her head. “I sense a however coming.”

Louisa laughed. “You know me too well. However, I wonder at your methods, my dear. It isn’t just that you have refused any marriage proposal that has come your way. You refuse everything else, too. How long has it been since you took a walk with a young man? Or danced? Or paired for a hand of cards?”

Sophie pursed her lips. She hated to admit her aunt was right, but she was. It had been many a year since she had done any of those things. Since her first season, and that was nearly four years before.

“They only want me for my money,” she said. That was true. There were other things that kept her saying no, too, but she wouldn’t think about speaking them out loud. They only caused pain for both her and her aunt. Only made her think about topics best left unexplored.

Louisa shook her head. “I’m not certain you know that for a fact. You say you haven’t found anything worthwhile to say yes to, but you haven’t really allowed anyone to prove their worth to you, have you?”

Sophie sighed. “Perhaps,” she said through clenched teeth.

Louisa laughed again, softening the suddenly serious mood between them. “You inherited your stubborn streak from me, I fear. But are you ready to accept that your actions may do exactly as this little story implies and leave you a spinster?”

Sophie pushed back from the breakfast table, smoothing her hands over the skirt of her gown as she did so. Her breath suddenly felt short and her heart was pounding. But not because she feared the ultimate end her aunt described. Certainly not.

“You know, I have never seen being a spinster as such a terrible thing,” she said slowly. “After all, you never wed and you are well-loved by all who know you. Is it such a terrible end?”

To her surprise, Louisa’s expression flickered briefly with a pain Sophie had never seen before. A regret very much like that which had been described in the Scandal Sheet paper. Sophie couldn’t believe she was seeing it, for her aunt had always seemed so cheerful about her life.

Louisa pushed her plate aside and leaned an elbow on the table for a moment before she spoke. “I, like you, was afforded a great deal of freedom and independence. After seeing what your mother…endured, my father vowed that I would not be forced into a marriage.”

Sophie winced, once again trying not to let memories of her parents flood her mind. Trying to pretend that their life together, and their death together, wasn’t so strong an influence on her own decisions.

“I loved him for that,” Louisa continued, tears filling her eyes. “But my choices have had consequences, alongside their advantages. I adore you, my love, and I think of you much as my own daughter, but I have never borne a child. I have never felt the warmth of a husband’s touch. I am, in many ways, alone.”

Sophie caught her breath. “You are speaking of the very regret the paper mentions.”

Louisa nodded. “I don’t express it, for what would be the point? But certainly I sometimes regret that I didn’t take a different path. And I would hate to see you feel that same thing, my love. Even if it is rare and fleeting, it is painful.”

With a shuddering sigh, Sophie turned and walked to the window. As she looked down onto her aunt’s pretty garden below, anxiety washed over her in waves. She drew a few long breaths to quell it and then whispered, “Well, what would you have me do, Aunt Louisa?”

Her aunt held up the paper they’d been reading from together. “As this rag says, the new Season is just beginning. A fresh start. I would challenge you to say yes.”

“Say yes?” Sophie repeated, pivoting on her aunt with a gasp. “What are you talking about?”

“Say yes to every opportunity put on your path,” Louisa encouraged. Sophie’s face must have reflected the horror those words instilled in her, for her aunt shook her head swiftly. “Within reason, of course. No one is suggesting you run off to do something wicked or that you accept any marriage proposals you are offered. I am simply talking about saying yes to those things you’ve avoided. Dance. Play. Walk. Go riding in the park. Not all your experiences will be filled with pleasure, I’m sure, but you may be surprised that some of them will not be as terrible as you expect.”

Sophie clenched her hands in front of her. She could hardly imagine doing what her aunt had suggested. It sounded terrifying, when she was honest with herself. She would open herself up. That meant she could be hurt.

And she didn’t want that.

“I don’t know,” she breathed.

Louisa pushed to her feet at last and moved toward her. Her warm arms came around Sophie, and she squeezed gently. “I won’t force you, Sophie. I would never do that. But I’m asking you to do this for me. Then if you decide to take the same path I have, at least I’ll be comfortable in the knowledge that you gave yourself every chance to understand what you might give up.”

Sophie sighed. If Louisa saw her as a daughter, she very much loved her aunt as a mother. And Louisa so rarely asked anything of her, and had kindly accepted her quirks over the years. To refuse her seemed the height of bad behavior. Besides, it was only a Season. She would please her aunt and have some good stories to tell in the end.

She didn’t have to change her mind about the ultimate path of her future, after all.

“Very well,” she said with a shuddering exhalation. “I will do as you ask, Aunt Louisa. I’ll say yes for a Season.”

Louisa’s face lit up, and it was all the reward Sophie ever could have asked for.

“Oh, Sophie, I’m so pleased!” Louisa practically danced away and she snatched up the Scandal Sheet from the table as she moved toward the exit.

“What are you doing with that?” Sophie said with a laugh at her aunt’s giddiness, even if the cause made her nervous.

“I’m saving this,” Louisa explained. “In the hopes that when the Season is over, we’ll look back on this moment as a turning point in your life, my love. No matter what comes out of your agreement to say yes.”

Sophie watched with a smile as she left the room, paper in hand, but the expression fell when she was alone. Her decision to say no to everything had been one she made purposefully. Giving it up was a terrifying thought. As was the idea that saying yes might change her life forever.