"You're right. I'm not who I said I was. Rosalie is my friend. My cousin basically," he looked at her, his brows knitted together with confusion.
It took a few minutes, and several retells but she managed to explain to him the entire situation.
"So you're disguising as her and she's pretending to be you," he recited, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Yes."
"And this is just until her suitor calls for her?"
"Precisely."
"That's a truly horrible plan," he scoffed.
"I know," she sighed. Rosalie was a bright girl, but to her credit, this scheme was far from being a good plan.
"Are you going to tell someone?" That was the answer she needed to receive tonight.
He thought about the question for several seconds. It was clear that he was actually thinking about it, something that made her extremely anxious.
He glanced back up at her again, and after a pause, he muttered a small "no."
No?
She exhaled a deep breath, feeling instantly relieved.
"No, because you're going to help me," he proceeded.
He clearly saw the relieved look on her face, and certainly did not want Amelia to get her hopes up.
"Just like I said the other night, I need you to pretend that we are courting."
"I don't understand," she voiced. "Why do you need to do this?"
"It has come to my attention that I have been perceived as ..... cold, and arrogant, and slightly promiscuous. Too promiscuous to find me a wife."
And would they be wrong? she asked herself.
"I need for you and me to pretend to form an attachment. To let everyone know that I am capable of possibly settling down. To let the rumors die down. To let them know I am not just a smug viscount, that I am not a-"
"A rake?" Amelia interjected.
"Yes, exactly," he muttered. "I cannot risk dishonoring my family any further."
"So, this is all for your family's sake?" she asked faintly.
"Yes. I will not let my missteps compromise my family's name."
For the first time, since the small, while she's known him, he actually seemed sincere.
Sincere enough for her to even empathize with him.
Amelia may not understand what it may be like to be a viscount, but she surely understood the importance of family.
"Fine," she whispered. "I will help you."
"Really?" his eyes widened, clearly surprised at her swift agreement to his plan.
"Yes. Well it's not like I have a choice do I?" she huffed.
He nodded silently, seemingly forgetting that he was blackmailing her.
He began pacing around the room, his fingers to his head as if he was thinking hard about something. He started muttering to himself, "the season will begin shortly, and you must be prepared."
"You will need to dress suitably. I cannot be seen with just anyone. You could handle that right?" he asked, pausing in front of her.
She nodded. She certainly didn't have any nice dresses, but Rosalie definitely did.
Maybe her pesky etiquette lessons were actually going to be needed.
Just perfect, she sighed sarcastically in her mind.
The rain began to fall even harder, and the two of them flinched at the sound of thunder booming.
"Perhaps you should go," he muttered. "Before the weather gets worse."
She stood up, "like always, it was nice talking to you Bridgerton," she mused, getting his name right for the first time.
She curtseyed as she said his name, mocking what was going to be the next few weeks of her life.
He let out a small laugh at her joke and she was happy to have that effect on him.
Maybe this won't be so bad
She grabbed her umbrella and started to make her way out of the drawing-room when she heard his voice.
"You know, you can call me Anthony."
She looked back at him, an eyebrow quirked.
He continued, "I mean we're pretending to court anyway. We don't have to be so formal."
The last part seemed more like a question as if he was asking for her permission to call him by his first name.
She nodded and smiled back, "Okay. Anthony" and she curtseyed again, making him smile again.
It was the first genuine smile she'd seen on his face.
She opened the front door, the wind hitting her harshly.
She unravelled the umbrella and took a step outside when she felt a hand on her wrist.
She turned around and glanced at her hand, where his fingers were wrapped around.
"Oh sorry," he quickly muttered, pulling his hand away. "I just wanted to ask before you left, who are you?"
"What?!" she shouted, unable to hear him over the rain.
He grabbed her wrist again and pulled her towards him, closer to the door.
He was standing mere inches away from her, the umbrella now covering him as well.
"I mean what's your name. I know you're not Rosalie, so what's your name, your real one?" he murmured gently, as he brushed his hand away from hers.
"Oh," she felt her cheeks blush. "M-my name is Amelia."
It was bizarre that she was only now telling him her real name as if it was an insignificant detail that she'd happened to forget to mention in the past thirty minutes.
"Amelia," he repeated and she could see a faint smile make its way on his face.
She turned back once more and walked down the porch and into the rain.
"Goodnight Amelia," she heard and she found herself smiling again.
"Goodnight Anthony"
~~~~~~~
A/N
cute cute cute
ugh school has been killing me lately so there hasn't been updates in the last few days
but hopefully i'll be able to update more often these coming weeks
lmk what u think
vote 🤠🤠
& comment
have a nice day y'all
violet
31/01/21