Lady Dearing's Masquerade by Elena Greene Read Free Book Online Page B

they sat together in the library sharing tea.
    Livvy agreed, then took a bite of a macaroon. The children had washed, said their prayers and were safely tucked into bed for the night. Usually this was a quiet, relaxing time for her and Jane, but tonight anxiety preyed on both of them.
    “I do not know what Sir Jeremy will think,” Jane continued, faint worry lines creasing her smooth forehead. “We have deviated so much from the course of study the children used to follow at the Foundling Hospital.”
    “I can only hope that once he meets the children he will understand. But that is not our only problem.”
    Jane tipped her head slightly to the side.
    “He wants to take Mary as his ward.”
    “Mary? But why?” Jane pushed a light brown strand of hair back into place.
    “He says it is because it was his wife’s dying wish. I do not know . . . It is a strange tale.”
    “You do not think? . . .” Jane’s eyes widened.
    “That he is her father? I don’t know. Perhaps what he said is true. There was something about how he spoke of his wife . . . as if he bears a wound he would rather not have touched,” she mused, half to herself. “Moreover, if he is the one who sent Mary to the Foundling Hospital with the hundred pounds, why would he claim her now?”
    “Perhaps he and Mary’s mother were cruelly parted. Perhaps she died, and it has taken him all this time to find Mary.”
    “You are a romantic, Jane!”
    “Well, it might be true,” said Jane with a stubborn tilt to her chin.
    “It is no stranger than his own story,” Livvy conceded.
    “Perhaps he plans to take a new wife and thinks she will be a mother to Mary.”
    Was he thinking of remarrying? A chill crept over her heart. Sir Jeremy had not the demeanor of a man in love, but he might be contemplating some very proper alliance. Livvy reflected that it would be a rare gentlewoman who would tolerate a foundling—possibly her husband’s illegitimate daughter—in her household.
    She shook her head, baffled. “Regardless of his reasons, I hope we can persuade him to allow us to keep Mary, at least a while longer. That is, if he decides I am a suitable person to have charge of any of them.”
    “You don’t think he truly would take them all away?”
    “It is possible. If you had seen the way he looked at me—well, I can tell he would not hesitate to remove the children if he thought I was doing them any harm.”
    “Surely that won’t happen!”
    “In any case, you will have a home with me, dear,” Livvy replied, seeing the alarm in her friend’s eyes. “But it won’t happen. We will find a way to deal with Sir Jeremy.”
    “Livvy, you must tell me if there is any way I can help you tomorrow,” said Jane, after a little pause.
    “We must go on as we always do, Jane. There is no sense in trying to deceive Sir Jeremy about what we have done for the children. We can only try to convince him that we have acted rightly.”
    And, she added silently, one deception was quite enough for her to manage.
    * * *
    Jeremy turned in to the gates in the brick wall that encircled Rosemead Park, his horse’s hooves squelching through the damp earth and gravel of the drive. He’d arisen early to find that the night’s rains had given way to a perfect spring day.
    “Steady lad, one would think you were two years old again,” he admonished Samson, as his mount playfully shied away from a swaying, bud-laden rhododendron bush.
    But he himself was far too eager to be riding up that winding drive, watching the elegant, symmetrical building of rosy brick emerge from its secluded position in the wooded vale.
    He thought he had talked himself into a more proper frame of mind. Yesterday he had allowed Lady Dearing to surprise him into rudeness. He’d not expected her to be so lovely and youthful. And her odd manner, bursting into the entrance hall to greet him, and responding so strangely to the things he’d told her about Cecilia—perhaps she was rather