Finding Miss McFarland by Vivienne Lorret

Author:Vivienne Lorret
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A week before Emma and Rathburn’s wedding, Delaney stood in a jewelry shop, bartering over a silver platter.

“As you can see, the scrollwork is quite unique,” the bearded shopkeeper said with a flourish of his hand.

Just as she opened her mouth to tell him that she’d seen three other platters with the same scrollwork, she was interrupted by tap on her shoulder. Turning, she found Miss Pursglove scowling in disapproval.

“I must object once more, Miss McFarland,” Miss Pursglove said with an uptight sniff. “Surely your father’s man would be a better applicant for this task.”

Miss Pursglove, Bree, and Elena Mallory were all attending this morning’s errand. Miss Pursglove had professed to needing assurance that the gift was a “proper representation of Mr. McFarland’s station.” Bree had come because Miss Pursglove had told her to do so. And dear cousin Elena had tagged along in order to be the first person who knew what gift the McFarlands were giving Viscount and Viscountess Rathburn.

Some days, the joys of Delaney’s existence were simply too plentiful.

Even so, this experience was innumerably better than the one she’d had at Thomas & Bailey’s five days ago. Then again, there was one person in particular whom she wouldn’t mind seeing walk through the door. Not that she’d given Griffin Croft much thought. Or ever caught herself wondering if he would suddenly appear at one of her social engagements these past few days.

And never once would she admit to feeling disappointment when he hadn’t.

“Father’s man is a coward. He doesn’t know the first thing about haggling.” Delaney gave her own sniff. “It’s an art form.”

Miss Pursglove shuddered and looked askance at the shopkeeper. “Haggling is such a vulgar term, Miss McFarland. Perhaps you could simply purchase the platter, and we could be on our way.”

Delaney turned away from her decorum instructor and met the shopkeeper’s gaze. “Where were we, Mr. Aramant?”

His cheeks lifted in a grin that seemed to give the ends of his mustachio a slight curl. “Did you know my jewelry is all one of a kind? This particular brooch comes from the farthest reaches of Africa.” From the glass case between them, he withdrew a rather large bird of paradise, faceted with innumerable multicolored gemstones.

It was, quite possibly, the most hideous piece of jewelry she’d ever seen. It was absolutely perfect for Miss Pursglove . . . as a parting gift. What a lovely thought. “I imagine the cost of the platter would reduce considerably if one purchased such an astounding brooch.”

Mr. Aramant’s eyes twinkled. “Perhaps.”

“And I also imagine that the engraving would be free,” Delaney said with her own smile when the shopkeeper nodded in agreement. Bartering like this always gave her such a sense of satisfaction.

In the next few moments, she wrote out the date of Emma’s wedding to have it engraved in the center of the silver platter. When the shopkeeper disappeared into the backroom, she overheard Elena speaking with Bree near the case of cameos.

“It’s so fortunate that you’ve received a voucher for Almack’s.

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