Miss Francie's Folly by Fran Baker

Author:Fran Baker [Baker, Fran]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency romance, cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 2011-04-12T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Staring out a rain-spattered window at a dreary sky as leaden as her spirits, Francie was so lost in thought that she had not, at first, heard Mary’s softly spoken comments. Jerkily, as if pulled back to the reality of the breakfast room, she faced her sister across the table.

“I’m sorry. Did you say something?”

“I—well, I . . .” Lines of distress etched each side of Mary’s mouth. “I remarked upon your behavior last evening.”

The teacup traveling to Francie’s lips paused in midair. “Oh?”

This short, sharp inquiry knocked the breath from her sister. Mary’s eyes focused on her fingers working a knot into the lace ruffling on her rose-striped round gown as she ventured timorously, “It—I—you did not behave—well, at all seemly, my dear.”

Though she knew it was the truth, Francie was not prepared to hear it. The events of the night before had already exacerbated her beyond the limits of common sense, and she now flared into an irrational defense of her behavior.

“And just what, may I ask, does that mean?” Francie returned her flowered china cup to its saucer with a ringing crash. “Am I to take it that you have been listening to Sir Thomas’s censorious views of my behavior?”

“Sir Thomas?” Mary eyed the cup as if she expected to discover it now split in two. “I don’t know what his views may be, but you must know, Francie, that your actions last night were not quite the thing.”

“I am sorry, Mary, but I do not know such a thing at all,” Francie dissented through clenched teeth. “In fact, I believe I behaved as seemly as anyone else and do not understand why you must needs lecture me on a subject which is, after all, not the least of your concern.”

Though her color drained from her face at this rebuke, Mary straightened in her chair and thrust her round chin into the air. “But of course it is my concern, Francie. You are my sister and your actions reflect upon the whole family.”

“Oh, I see!” Francie flung back her chair as she jumped up in a flurry of dark blue. From the coils of her loose ringlets to the plain hem of her unadorned navy gown, she was a narrow line of inflexible fury. “It is not truly my behavior that concerns you, but only the good of the family. Well, I might point out that you fret needlessly, my dear sister. Nothing I shall do could possibly reflect upon the family any ore poorly than your alliance with a notorious rake!”

Stung out of her usual timidity, Mary rose to meet her sister’s angry taunts head-on. “If you wish to cast names upon people, Frances, I take leave to tell you that you are nothing but an outrageous flirt! I can only say that I am ashamed to call you sister.”

Mary wheeled and ran from the breakfast room before Francie could reply to this intolerable calumny. The door shivered shut on the younger woman’s hostile retreat, followed by a splintering clatter as Francie hurled her half-full cup against the closing wood.

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