Diamond in the Rough by Jen Turano

Author:Jen Turano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction;Christian fiction;Love stories;FIC042030;FIC042040;FIC027050
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2019-07-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

“Did I mention that I’ve been given the extreme honor of participating in the Dresden China Quadrille that’s to be held at the first Patriarch Ball of the year?”

Reginald pulled his attention from the snow-covered path down which he’d been steering a rented sleigh, trying to ignore the ache in his head that had started from almost the moment Miss Adele Tooker had taken a seat beside him.

“I don’t believe you have mentioned that yet,” he said, which had Adele launching into a description of the ball in question, barely taking a breath as she discussed the location, which was Delmonico’s again, the people invited, and why she believed Mr. Ward McAllister had chosen her to participate in what was apparently a most desirable quadrille.

While she chattered on and on, his attention began to drift until another sleigh drew up beside him. Giles, his valet, sat behind the reins, his expression somewhat pained, clearly because he’d been given the challenging task of driving Miss Cynthia Roche around Central Park. Cynthia was chattering away quite like Adele was doing, apparently trying to impress Giles, who Charles had let it become known was a man he often sought counsel from—although why he’d done that was a mystery. Giles was now finding himself besieged by young ladies whenever he stepped foot out of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, which had brought a rapid end to his undercover investigation work.

Thankfully, Giles had completed background notes on almost every young heiress out this Season, and it was because of those notes that Charles had suggested the day’s outing to Central Park.

Charles had always been reluctant to believe the worst of anyone. And even though Giles had turned up some less-than-appealing qualities in quite a few of the heiresses, Charles, being Charles, was convinced that ladies like Adele and Cynthia were not the spiteful shrews Giles had heard them to be, so he’d tasked Reginald and Giles with getting to know the ladies better.

“The snow’s beginning to accumulate,” Giles called out. “Think we should call it a day?”

“Don’t be silly,” Adele called back before Reginald could speak. “It’s delightfully refreshing out here.”

Giles pulled down the black cap that was covering his brown hair and pulled up his scarf to where it almost touched his nose. With a significant look to Reginald, one that said the information regarding Adele’s spoiled nature was spot-on, he flicked the reins and set his horse into a canter, the sound of Miss Roche explaining why she was always in high demand drifting after them.

“Where was I?” Adele asked.

“Something about a quadrille?”

And with that, Adele launched into more details regarding the quadrille in question. She didn’t seem to expect Reginald to participate in the conversation, something he was experiencing often of late, what with how he was now gainfully employed as an instructor for over twenty society ladies.

That rather peculiar state of affairs meant that while Charles was off enjoying one frivolity after another, Reginald was traveling from one young lady’s house to the next.

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