Burn - Edmund Bridgerton II's story

Chapter 5 - Further Inconvenience

When the dinner bell rang Amelia accepted her fate that she had to leave the safety of hers and Emily's bedroom again. Emily had already left earlier, apparently she had gone on a promenade down to the village with her chaperoning mother and Miles Bridgerton, so the room had been peacefully quiet ever since Amelia had locked herself in there after the incident in the music chamber. What kind of cruel irony was it that just when she had managed to tell Eddie Bridgerton to stay away from her, because he was a deviously smirking rake, he then suddenly had to be genuinely charming and musically talented instead? Why could he not be the one interested in some dusty old Roman pillars and Geoffrey would be the one making her burst out in joyful song? Amelia had no time to think about her cruel fate any further, because the dinner bell rang again. She was not looking forward to a long dinner with all the Bridgertons, but she knew her absence would be noticed, so reluctantly she walked outside to the corridor and downstairs to the great dining hall. But much to her surprise, no one was there, as it had already been converted into a dining room with several smaller tables for the upcoming ball and apparently nobody had been thoughtful enough to tell Amelia where tonight's dinner would be held instead. Irritated, she walked back out to the entry hall and as she did so, her eyes happened to glance at a large painting that was hanging next to the door. It was a surprisingly lifelike and detailed painting of the viscount's and viscountess' four children, the oldest one being no more than fifteen or sixteen and the youngest one maybe seven or eight years old. Amelia suddenly halted when she noticed how perfectly the artist had managed to capture that boyish twinkle in Eddie's eyes, as his eyes on the painting looked exactly the same as they had earlier today when they had sung together.

"Got you!" Amelia heard a male voice behind her, definitely not Eddie's, so she spun around fearing for the second time already today that it was Anthony Bridgerton. But it was not, even though the tall man looked a lot like him. His clothing was a bit more extravagant though and on his face lay a playful smile the like of which Amelia had never seen on Anthony's grim face.

"I... Did not..." She began hesitantly and looked away from the man's piercing blue eyes.

"Did not mean to admire my artwork, or perhaps my nephew?" He smirked. "I cannot blame you for either, that is one of my finest works and I guess one could say my nephew is rather handsome as well."

"I was just admiring the artwork, my lord." Amelia quickly stated and curtsied.

"Of course." The man replied with a mischievous grin, which made Amelia quite sure he did not believe a word. "And I am no lord, merely a poor old second son, so stop your curtsying sweet girl! My name is Benedict Bridgerton. You are Siena's and Lord Fife's daughter, right?"

"Yes..." Amelia replied, abashed and wide-eyed from the fact that he had called her mother by her first name. "I am Amelia Fife. Do you know my mother?"

"Well, I knew her friend Madame Delacroix better, if you know what I mean..." Benedict declared quite boldly, accompanied by another suggestive smirk. "But yes, we used to roam in the same underworld together with your mother as well, so we bumped into each other every now and then. Especially at the time when she and Anthony –"

"I know." Amelia interrupted him coldly.

"Good. But oh, God, I believe I am talking about totally indecent things in front of a young lady such as yourself...!" He flashed an ashamed smile at her and had a sip of the half empty drink in his hand, which was probably the reason why he had begun to blabber so freely in the first place.

"Genevieve is my godmother." Amelia said with a twitch on the corner of her lip, somehow wanting to be slightly devilish and make the man realise just how indecently he had been expressing himself, even though she instantly got a feeling that she actually liked him.