Penelope spent her entire adolescence putting Colin Bridgerton on a pedestal.
Her vivid imagination and romantic heart had transformed him into a knight in shining armor : a man who was always kind and pleasant, who believed in true love and had no taste for libertinage.
The Colin she had in mind was a gentleman who would never embarrass a lady in public.
« I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington. Not even in your wildest fantasies, Fife »
She forgot that he was as flawed as any other human being, and her fantasy shattered into a billion pieces on the night of the Featherington Ball.
After last season, when the Featheringtons left their London home for the countryside, Penelope withdrew into herself.
Had it not been for Mr Dankworth's courtship of Prudence, which occupied much of her match-making mind, Portia Featherington would have compelled her youngest child to leave her room. Or perhaps she had guessed her quarrel with Eloise and decided to be more lenient with her.
Small victories.
Meanwhile, Penelope could think how easily she had lost both her best friend and her childhood sweetheart, and she refused to let the same fate befall « Lady Whistledown's Society Papers ».
If she wasn't meant to be someone's friend or lover, perhaps she could become the best writer England has ever known.
Nothing could stop her.
Especially not Colin Bridgerton.