AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tricia bowed her head. “Of course, my lord. It would be my honor.”
Lord Polk was a fine dancer. As was Mr. Jameson. Thomas was fine at many other things, but she knew nothing of his dancing skills. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She had seen him dancing with every other woman but her at the ball, and he had seemed quite proficient.
“Come, Tricia,” Lady Clementine said, “it will be time for luncheon soon.”
Tricia was already a bit hungry.
“Do you fancy that gentleman?” her mother asked her as they walked up the stairs to get cleaned up for luncheon.
Tricia sighed. “Not really.”
“Good,” her mother said. “He’s a nice-looking young man, and I’m sure he has an allowance from his father’s estate, but I cannot get past the fact that he and that cousin of Thomas’s tried to get you to go on a stroll with the both of them last evening. It was so improper.”
Tricia resisted rolling her eyes. “Yes, Mummy. I know what you think of the matter.”
Lady Clementine raised an eyebrow. “You should have thought the same thing, Tricia.”
Indeed, she did. But she could hardly tell her mother that she had been reading The Perils of Portia in The Ruby, and that Portia herself had two lovers, so Tricia was a bit curious. Not so much about being with two men at the same time, but perhaps about strolling with them, at least. Having two men attending her.
It would have been…
Blimey, it would have been nothing.
Because neither of those men were Thomas.
Lily sat straight up, holding back a yawn. She was having an early lunch with Viscountess Polk.
Lady Polk was going on and on about some such thing. Her needlepoint craft, her knitting. Her newest piece on the pianoforte.
Which was a laugh, of course, because the viscountess could not play the pianoforte worth a damn.
Lily had grown up with Rose, who had quite a talent for the instrument. When she and Daniel visited the Polk Estate, she had to keep from wincing while the viscountess entertained them on the pianoforte.
What Lily really needed was to get her to drink a bit of wine.
In vino veritas and all.
But that couldn’t happen until the dinner hour, and Lily would be seated at the head table with Daniel.
So she did something wicked.
She pulled a small flat flask out of her reticule.
It was filled with a lovely brandy. Lily didn’t indulge a lot, but she enjoyed a good brandy with Daniel every now and then.
“What is that, Your Grace?” the viscountess queried.
“Would you care for a nip?” Lily poured a bit of the amber liquid into her water glass.
The viscountess raised her eyebrows. “Oh my, I shouldn’t. Hawthorne would have a fit.”
Lily smiled deviously. “Viscountess, I don’t believe Hawthorne is here.”
A small smile cracked the viscountess’s lips. “’Tis true.”
Lily poured a bit more brandy into the viscountess’s glass. “That’s a lovely brooch you’re wearing, my lady. Do tell me about it.”
28
