Strange Capers by Smith Joan

Author:Smith, Joan [Smith, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9781610845410
Publisher: Belgrave House/Regency Reads
Published: 2011-08-21T22:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 9

Sir Edward was at least six feet tall with broad shoulders, so it is strange that the overall impression when first laying eyes on him was that he ought, by rights, to be wearing a bonnet. I don’t know whether it was his languid, die-away air or his fine-featured face that first put the notion into my head, but, once there, I could hardly look at him without smiling.

He had baby blue eyes, heavily fringed, a pouting set of lips, and a weak chin, but to counteract these adornments, he also had a nose of considerable proportions. He arose to make a ludicrously graceful bow when Rachel and I entered. I observed at once that I had another elegant person to contend with. There were no wrinkles in his well-fitted jacket, no tarnish on its large brass buttons, no dust on his boots, no intimation that he had traveled any distance since leaving his dressing room.

“Ladies, your servant,” he said, scraping a leg most artfully.

“Sir Edward, I’m Aiglon’s cousin, Lady Savage. Allow me to make you welcome at Thornbury,” Rachel said, and went on to make me acquainted with him.

We all sat down before the desultory embers in the grate and stared at one another. “I’m afraid Aiglon is out for the evening,” Rachel explained. “He may not come home for a few hours. If you are anxious to see him, you’ll find him at the White Hart in Folkestone. It’s only ...”

“Your excellent butler was kind enough to tell me so, ma’am. I have taken the liberty of having Shiftwell sent off to fetch him. He should be here soon,” Retchling replied.

The casual use of Shiftwell’s name, along with the rather encroaching way of using Aiglon’s servants, suggested that Sir Edward and Aiglon were close friends. Rachel had soon made inquiries in this direction.

“Bosom bows,” he confirmed, “I come with tidings of great joy. You heard of the Kirkwell fracas?”

“Yes,” Rachel replied, nose sliding chinward.

“I have the honor to be Aiglon’s second in all his duels. I am happy to be able to inform you that your cousin acquitted himself admirably. A good but not fatal hit, and Aiglon was three sheets to the wind at the time, too. But to be defending the honor of a lightskirt! ‘Twas farce, not drama. Still, all’s well that ends well. The fellow has recovered sufficiently to inflict himself on society once more. I immediately dashed forward to tell Lance.”

“He has already heard it,” Rachel told him. “Someone else wrote the news to him. You shouldn’t have bothered driving so far, Sir Edward.”

“I spare no exertion where my true friends are concerned,” he professed nobly, then ran on as frankly as if he sat alone. “I wonder if Lance will know I knew Riddell wrote. I must come up with a better excuse, as that one has evaporated like dew in the morning sun.”

“Why don’t you tell him the reason instead?” Rachel suggested, and her curious glance added that she wouldn’t mind hearing it herself.

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