Beneath a Silent Moon by Tracy Grant Read Free Book Online

ink on her nails, smooth Colin's hair, and scoop Jessica into her arms before Michael announced, "Miss Talbot."
    . Honoria Talbot swept into the room with a whisper of violet and hyacinth and a stir of jaconet muslin and primrose satin. Her face broke into a smile that sparkled with just the right amount of informality bounded by good breeding. "I was hoping to meet the youngest members of the Fraser family."
    "My son, Colin, and my daughter, Jessica. This is Miss Talbot, Colin." And then, because Colin was going to find out soon in any case, Mélanie added, "She's going to marry your grandfather."
    Colin, who had been introduced to the Duke of Wellington, the Crown Prince of the Netherlands, Talleyrand, Metternich, and the Duchess of Richmond, stepped forward and bowed. "Does that mean you'll be my grandmama?"
    Miss Talbot laughed and crouched down to his level, heedless of the way she was crushing her flounced skirt. "I suppose it does, but I'm afraid I'm still getting used to being a wife, let alone a grandmama, so perhaps you'd best call me Honoria."
    "Noria," Colin repeated. A smile broke across his face. Apparently Miss Talbot's charms were effective on three generations of Fraser men.
    Miss Dudley, Colin's blessedly efficient governess-nurse, arrived to take the children into the garden, and Michael brought in a tea tray. Mélanie and Miss Talbot settled themselves on the green velvet sofa before the fireplace.
    Miss Talbot began to undo the pearl buttons on her limerick gloves. "What lovely children. You must be so proud. I believe Colin has Charles's eyes and mouth."
    Colin couldn't look remotely like Charles except by sheer luck. Miss Talbot was either being exquisitely tactful or sending a particularly effective dart in Mélanie's direction.
    Mélanie lifted the teapot, which had a chip in the spout from one of their various moves. "Milk or lemon?"
    "Lemon. And two sugars. I have a shocking sweet tooth." Miss Talbot accepted the cup and took a graceful sip. "It seems so odd to think of having children of my own, though I've wanted them for such a long time." She set the cup and saucer down, barely rattling the bone china, and turned her Wedgwood-blue gaze full on Mélanie's face. "There's no sense in pretending. Last night must have come as a shock, especially to Charles."
    Mélanie reached for the milk jug. "It was certainly a surprise."
    "I thought about warning him. I couldn't begin to find the words. So I took the coward's way out." Miss Talbot smoothed her gloves in her lap. "I own to a craven relief that Charles isn't at home."
    "He's gone to see his father."
    "Today?" Her fingers tightened on the gloves. Her diamond betrothal ring caught the light from the windows. "I didn't realize Kenneth—Mr. Fraser—would tell him so soon."
    "Tell him?" Mélanie set down the milk jug, splattering white droplets over the satinwood table and silver-rimmed saucer.
    Miss Talbot laid the gloves atop her shell-shaped reticule. "I wish—but it isn't my place. Only do be kind to Charles when he returns—oh, but that's nonsense. I'm sure you're always kind. And I'm sure he'll tell you directly. You seem so admirably devoted."
    Mélanie took a sip of delicately scented tea, longing for café au lait. "I'm sure Charles will tell me whatever he wishes to." She held out a plate of biscuits.
    Miss Talbot accepted a biscuit, but set it on her saucer untouched. "I do hope we can be friends. It's bound to be awkward. I'm sure you know that Charles and his father aren't on the terms of intimacy one would hope for between a father and son."
    "You have the makings of a diplomat, Miss Talbot."
    "Perhaps it's presumptuous of me, but I hope in some small way I can help to put things right between Charles and

Mr. Fraser. I don't know the whole of it, of course—no doubt he's told you more. But I do know it was dreadfully hard on all of them when Lady Elizabeths—Charles's mother—died. It could hardly fail to be so, especially