"You're far too sweet," answered Pippa, who could not help but smile at her friend's enthusiasm. This could be a wearing time of year for anyone, but for darling Della with her bright spirit, Pippa could only imagine it was all the worse.

"I've scarcely had the time to consider new dresses," she ...

"At Hermione's debut? I will be there, of course," Pippa replied, her expression schooled into polite enthusiasm. "I've promised her I shall help with the planning, although it feels so long ago that I planned my own coming out. I suppose things cannot have changed too much."

This was not an ...

"He is a good boy, Archie; a sweet boy," Pippa allowed with a smile, and could not imagine it was saying too much that she was capable of this assessment. She had, perhaps, been made to be a mother, and had taken the time to sit with the little boy and get to know him. To ignore his presence in the ...

The holiday season at Stourhead had proved a more pleasant experience than Pippa had anticipated. Archibald had been true to his word, and the business of their relationship expanding beyond friendship had never been raised again. The house continued to be lovely, particularly amidst the steely-cold ...

Perhaps Pippa ought to have expected the kiss to her hand — It was a very Archibald Seymour thing to do, on the face of it. But the tenderness with which he applied the mere brush of his lips to her skin caused her breath to catch softly in her throat despite herself. There was a degree of devotion ...