An Improper Lady (The Powder and Patch Collection) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Jane Godman
met!
***
Sir Peregrine arrived the next day, just as the two ladies were finishing their breakfast. Bella rose to greet him and he clasped her hand, the warm glow she had come to depend on lighting his eyes as he looked at her.
Primrose blushed becomingly when he kissed her fingertips, and murmured her gratitude for his intervention. The expression in her eyes was nothing short of worshipful, and Bella felt a pang of something suspiciously like envy. Am I turning into a jealous crone? Was Sir Peregrine perhaps comparing Bella’s polished beauty with Primrose’s delightful freshness? Worse than that, are his comparisons unflattering to me? Bella gave no sign of these troubled emotions as she poured coffee for Sir Peregrine, who joined them at the table.
“ Been thinking the thing through,” he said, stretching his long legs before him and flicking an infinitesimal speck of lint from his riding breeches. “Likely to be the very devil of a dust kicked up about you going missing, Miss Chorley. I mean to make a push to find this cavalry officer of yours, but that may take me out of town. Don’t mind telling you, I’m not happy about leaving Lady Bella to stand the nonsense if it’s discovered you are here!”
Primrose cast a guilty look at Bella. “No, indeed! Oh, how very dreadful of me to ask you to hide me away, my lady! I would not, for all the world, cause you any trouble.”
“You didn’t ask me, I offered,” Bella reminded her coolly. “And why should anyone discover you are here? My servants are very discreet.” Sir Peregrine appeared to choke slightly on his coffee at this, and she threw him a challenging look. He begged pardon, and Bella continued as if the interruption had not happened. “You need not show your face outside of this house while Sir Peregrine tracks down your betrothed, and I have no engagements I cannot cancel.”
Primrose blanched at the suggestion that her fashionable hostess should curtail her busy social life on her account. Since she was, however, greatly in awe of Bella, her weak attempt at a protest fizzled out under that lady’s brilliant gaze.
“How do you propose to find Ned?” Bella asked Sir Peregrine.
He rubbed his nose thoughtfully. “Start with a visit to Horse Guards. Know a few chaps over there,” he explained. “Find out which regiments have recently been moved on from a posting in Cheshire. Then travel to their new location, and make enquiries there.”
“Oh, Sir Peregrine, how very clever you are!” Primrose exclaimed, clapping her hands together delightedly. The unlikely recipient of this effusive praise blushed and disclaimed.
“ Fear not, Miss Chorley,” he said in a hearty voice that was quite unlike his usual tone. “I will have him here within the week!”
“ I do not doubt it!” Miss Chorley murmured softly, both of her dainty little hands reaching out impulsively to clasp Sir Peregrine’s strong wrist. “Oh, Sir Peregrine, just knowing that you are going to take care of me makes me feel so much better!” There was pure, undiluted devotion in the large, pansy-like eyes that were raised so sweetly to Sir Peregrine’s face. Bella, glancing from one to the other, wisely kept her inevitable reflections to herself. But, she thought crossly, would her pride ever recover should her nose be pushed out of joint by a chit from the schoolroom?
***
In the event, Sir Peregrine was gone for rather longer than a week, during which time Bella felt that her life slowed to a crawl. Her usual activities were suspended, and her wide acquaintance informed that she was indisposed. Primrose’s guilty apologies for being the cause of her curtailed pleasure were profuse, but, oddly, Bella found she did not miss the social scene at all.
Primrose’s conversation was not scintillating, and Bella’s only hobby – other than fashion - was not one she could indulge while an innocent girl was residing under her roof! The sight, therefore, of
***
Sir Peregrine arrived the next day, just as the two ladies were finishing their breakfast. Bella rose to greet him and he clasped her hand, the warm glow she had come to depend on lighting his eyes as he looked at her.
Primrose blushed becomingly when he kissed her fingertips, and murmured her gratitude for his intervention. The expression in her eyes was nothing short of worshipful, and Bella felt a pang of something suspiciously like envy. Am I turning into a jealous crone? Was Sir Peregrine perhaps comparing Bella’s polished beauty with Primrose’s delightful freshness? Worse than that, are his comparisons unflattering to me? Bella gave no sign of these troubled emotions as she poured coffee for Sir Peregrine, who joined them at the table.
“ Been thinking the thing through,” he said, stretching his long legs before him and flicking an infinitesimal speck of lint from his riding breeches. “Likely to be the very devil of a dust kicked up about you going missing, Miss Chorley. I mean to make a push to find this cavalry officer of yours, but that may take me out of town. Don’t mind telling you, I’m not happy about leaving Lady Bella to stand the nonsense if it’s discovered you are here!”
Primrose cast a guilty look at Bella. “No, indeed! Oh, how very dreadful of me to ask you to hide me away, my lady! I would not, for all the world, cause you any trouble.”
“You didn’t ask me, I offered,” Bella reminded her coolly. “And why should anyone discover you are here? My servants are very discreet.” Sir Peregrine appeared to choke slightly on his coffee at this, and she threw him a challenging look. He begged pardon, and Bella continued as if the interruption had not happened. “You need not show your face outside of this house while Sir Peregrine tracks down your betrothed, and I have no engagements I cannot cancel.”
Primrose blanched at the suggestion that her fashionable hostess should curtail her busy social life on her account. Since she was, however, greatly in awe of Bella, her weak attempt at a protest fizzled out under that lady’s brilliant gaze.
“How do you propose to find Ned?” Bella asked Sir Peregrine.
He rubbed his nose thoughtfully. “Start with a visit to Horse Guards. Know a few chaps over there,” he explained. “Find out which regiments have recently been moved on from a posting in Cheshire. Then travel to their new location, and make enquiries there.”
“Oh, Sir Peregrine, how very clever you are!” Primrose exclaimed, clapping her hands together delightedly. The unlikely recipient of this effusive praise blushed and disclaimed.
“ Fear not, Miss Chorley,” he said in a hearty voice that was quite unlike his usual tone. “I will have him here within the week!”
“ I do not doubt it!” Miss Chorley murmured softly, both of her dainty little hands reaching out impulsively to clasp Sir Peregrine’s strong wrist. “Oh, Sir Peregrine, just knowing that you are going to take care of me makes me feel so much better!” There was pure, undiluted devotion in the large, pansy-like eyes that were raised so sweetly to Sir Peregrine’s face. Bella, glancing from one to the other, wisely kept her inevitable reflections to herself. But, she thought crossly, would her pride ever recover should her nose be pushed out of joint by a chit from the schoolroom?
***
In the event, Sir Peregrine was gone for rather longer than a week, during which time Bella felt that her life slowed to a crawl. Her usual activities were suspended, and her wide acquaintance informed that she was indisposed. Primrose’s guilty apologies for being the cause of her curtailed pleasure were profuse, but, oddly, Bella found she did not miss the social scene at all.
Primrose’s conversation was not scintillating, and Bella’s only hobby – other than fashion - was not one she could indulge while an innocent girl was residing under her roof! The sight, therefore, of
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