Miss Jesmond's Heir by Paula Marshall

Author:Paula Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Georgie almost skipped along the path, looking out for Fitz as she hurried towards Jesmond House on the following day. Would he keep his word? Of course he would. Had he not always done so in the past?

Turning a corner she saw him, seated on the trunk of an old tree which had blown down in one of last winter’s storms. He rose to greet her, punctilious as always. She sometimes wondered what it would take to disturb his lovely calm.

He was as neatly turned out as ever in clothing eminently suitable for a country walk and, after he had bowed over her hand, he invited her to sit next to him and enjoy the peace of the afternoon.

She needed no second invitation. ‘It seems odd,’ she told him, ‘for me not to be worrying you over some financial nonsense or other, but until you have further news we may perhaps talk of better things.’

‘So noted,’ he told her, his blue eyes dancing.

‘Which means?’ she asked.

Jess explained. ‘It’s a clerk’s answer to his employer when he informs him that he has understood his instructions and will carry them out. Kite is very fond of it.’

He thought that he might have given himself away a little with the last sentence for after all, in matters financial, he had pretended that Kite was his master and not himself, but Georgie had missed his slip for she was saying, ‘What an apt name for him! Kite, I mean. Is not a kite-flyer someone who finds out things by speculating on them? I seem to remember my husband saying something of that order.’

‘True,’ Jess said. ‘And he’s very good at it.’ He did not add that he was better and that his friend, Ben Wolfe, was better still. He decided to change the subject, which was a tricky one, for he thought that he might say something untoward which would give him away.

Instead, he began to ask her about Netherton. ‘I’ve been here well over two months now,’ he said, ‘and I’ve still not met all the notables. Am I right in supposing that most of them rarely visit London? No one has yet spoken to me of the place other than in terms of awe.’

His comment arose from his determination to discover who, in Netherton, was spying on him. The only person he could think of was Sir Garth Manning, but that seemed almost too easy a guess.

‘Come to think of it, you are right,’ Georgie said, all unsuspecting of his true motive. ‘I suppose I’ve always taken it for granted. At Nether Brington, though, most of the local gentry have town houses and go there for the Season. It’s not entirely a matter of wealth,’ she added thoughtfully, ‘more one of habit and liking. Father and John detested the place, but I enjoyed myself there. We had a little house in Chelsea and my late husband loved to visit the British Museum.’

‘Do you miss him?’ Jess asked her gently.

‘Not so much now, but when he first died, very much.

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