"Encouragement" (Book 1), by Gratiana Lovelace, 2016 (Completed)

Ch. 9 (PG): The Outing Turns into a Heart to Heart Chat

"Encouragement", Ch. 9 (PG): The Young Ladies' Shopping Outing Turns into a Heart to Heart Chat, October 12, 2016 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #981) 

(An original Regency romance copyrighted by Gratiana Lovelace; all rights reserved) [(1) story cover, left]

[From time to time, I will illustrate my story characters with: Armitage as Lord Christian Blount Earl of Sussex, Kate Winslet or Emma Lady Hamilton as Lady Madeline Lucretia Sinclair, Dame Maggie Smith as Lady Lucretia Beckham Knott, Polly Mabrey as Lady Elizabeth Blount, Crispin Bonham-Carter as Lord Harold Blount, Dame Judi Dench as Lady Catherine Blount the Dowager Countess of Sussex, and others as noted.]

Authors Content Note: "Encouragement" is a frothy love story with sometimes humorous and sometimes dramatic themes of love and relationships. It will mostly be at the PG and PG-13 movie levels. Specific chapters or passages may have a further rating of: D for dramatic emotions, and LS for love scenes that are tenderly sensuous and not explicit. And I will rate the chapters accordingly. If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with the ratings that I provide for a chapter, then please do not read that chapter. This is my disclaimer. And as is my habit, I will summarize the previous chapter's events at the beginning of each chapter.

Author's recap from the previous chapter: Lady Madeline Sinclair receives many callers paying their addresses to her the week after her presentation ball. None more aware of this is Lord Christian Blount, who realizes that his goal of making Lady Madeline his wife has competition. Then on the following days, Lord Christian is sure of it. Unfortunately for Lord Christian, his younger sister Lady Lizzie supports Lady Madeline's philosophy of getting to know all of her suitors before narrowing down the pack. Since Lord Christian must marry a richly dowered lady to save his family from financial ruin, then he chooses Lady Madeline—because she has charmed and enchanted him. So Lord Christian focuses upon finding a path to making Lady Madeline his bride, his wife. And Lord Christian knows that if he is to have a serious chance with lady Madeline, that he has to somehow make her want him for her husband.

"Encouragement, A Regency Tale of Love and Romance", Ch. 9: The Young Ladies Shopping Outing Turns into a Heart to Heart Chat

Since earlier in the week due to fatigue, Lady Madeline's Grandmama Lady Lucretia Beckham Knott was unable to take she and Lady Elizabeth Blount to the gloves and accessories emporium that she favors, Lady Knott refixes the date of their shopping expedition to the afternoon of Thursday, February 8, 1816.

And with Lord Christian returning to Lady Knott's residence to collect his sister who had stayed for luncheon after morning calls—while he had gone to his club--he learns of the impromptu scheme as the three ladies are set to walk out the door. And he is drafted to accompany them. Or rather, he drafts himself. Though ladies shopping expeditions are not high on Lord Christian's list of favorite past times—he is another horse mad nobleman—he views it as an opportunity to have Lady Madeline to himself, without her other suitors around, despite having her Grandmama and his sister in tow, as it were.

And though Lord Christian is unwilling to spend any money that he does not have to, due to their straitened finances, his younger sister Lady Lizzie still needs some accessories for her attendance at the Kimball Ball this weekend. However, Lord Christian is a little worried that with Lady Knott's deep pockets when it comes to cosseting her granddaughter Lady Madeline--in that his sister Lady Lizzie will be disappointed in the budget that he needs to restrain her to.