Miss Treadwell's Talent by Barbara Metzger

Author:Barbara Metzger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Untreed Reads Publishing
Published: 2012-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Lud, he’d made a mull of it again. Instead of revealing Miss Treadwell to the duke as the scheming harpy she was, Socrates had made himself took base. Now his old friend was frowning at him, and the chit had tears in her blue eyes. Thunderation, how was he to know old Tremont had left them in such extremely queer straits? And there were plenty of other poor females at Almack’s. Of course they were to be found sitting against the walls, dash it. Hyatt would be damned if he’d apologize yet again though. And he surely would not send round another dinner.

“Be that as it may,” he said, “you do not travel in the same circles as Belinda’s friends, so they have no reason to confide in you.”

The duke was nodding. “He’s correct my dear. Belinda’s friends are a silly lot, barely out of the schoolroom, but I cannot imagine any of them betraying a secret to a stranger.”

“Oh, I am not expecting them to tell me where she went, if they know. I merely wish to find out her interests, her hobbies, which museums she might have visited, with whom she corresponded. That type of thing.” She turned back to Hyatt. “Unless you can tell me that, my lord. After all, as her betrothed, you should know the lady better than anyone. Which modiste did she patronize, for instance? She might have ordered a warm cloak, a domino, or a traveling costume—something that might tell us her intentions, if not her location. Dressmakers are prodigious gossips.”

“How the deuce should I know where she had her clothes made? I told you, I did not follow her about through the Season. That’s for debutantes and green boys.”

“And men who wish to win the hearts of their ladies. I do not believe you care for Lady Belinda at all.”

“Of course I care for her! I’ve known her since she wore pigtails and pinafores.”

“And I have known Grover Treadwell, Lord Tremont, since he wore hair. That does not mean I wish to marry him. And if you care so much, then why are you doing everything possible to prevent me from looking for her?”

“Because you haven’t a chance in hell. Or heaven, or wherever your pet ghosties reside.”

“I don’t know, Soc,” the duke said. “A woman’s got a different outlook. I never thought to send someone to ask at the dressmakers’, for instance. If her supposed chaperone wasn’t prostrate with grief, she might have thought of it. Then too, if she weren’t such a pawky creature, she might not have let Belinda go off to that house party with her friends, instead of her or her maid. Still, Miss Treadwell has some good ideas. I can check the modistes’ bills for addresses, and look through Belinda’s desk again for any letters.”

“And find out which lending library she subscribed to, Your Grace. If she was a frequent customer, the clerks might recall if she purchased any guidebooks, or if she met anyone clandestinely between the book stacks.

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