My Fair Lily by Meara Platt Read Free Book Online Page A

the heat of those bubbling pots and blazing fires, and then no gentleman will have her.”
    Lily’s frown faded into a chuckle as she joined in. “Don’t forget her remark about our hands. They must remain as delicate and unblemished as a baby’s bottom,” she mimicked. “Perfect hands are the true mark of a lady.”
    “Of course, we’ll overlook the dreadful rash that afflicted Cousin Harry’s little bottom last spring. Or Mother’s horror when you sprained your thumb sneaking that oversized Druid fertility god into our room.” Dillie placed a hand over her brow and pretended to swoon. “Oh, the shame! The disgrace! Girls, fetch me my smelling salts!”
    Lily burst into laughter. It was impossible to remain irritated with Dillie. She always knew how to tease her out of ill humor. “Do you think Mother knows how many relatives are floating about this house? Or that Uncle Ernest and Aunt Mary left for Bath yesterday with only three of their five children?”
    “More important,” Dillie continued with a nod, “do Uncle Ernest and Aunt Mary realize they are missing two of their children?”
    “About those horses for Mr. Cameron,” Lily said, now restored to better humor, “I’ll stop by Laurel’s this afternoon on my way home from the Royal Society meeting and ask her to assist him.”
    “Och, ye’re a braw, bonnie lass, and I’m that sorry m’beastie shed his fur all over yer new riding frock!” Dillie, ever irritating, took Lily’s face into her hands and kissed her on the nose just as Mr. Cameron had done yesterday. Then she released Lily and marched out of their bedchamber pretending to play bagpipes while dancing a jig.
    Lily sighed.
    Sometimes, she hated being a twin.
    ***
    Lily spent the rest of the morning corresponding with friends and playing Duck, Duck, Goose with her cousins. When the little ones were sent up for their naps, she decided to pay a call on Eloise, hoping to learn a bit more about Ewan Cameron. Clearly, he had not been raised to assume the dukedom, for he had little knowledge of polite society and little desire to learn. He had a gruff manner and the rough hands of a man used to hard labor. He also had the brawny good looks of a warrior.
    On him, a very nice combination.
    Oh, how had that thought slipped in? She cleared her throat and paused at Eloise’s front door to ring the bell.
    “Lady Dayne is not at home,” her butler informed Lily. “Shall I leave word that you stopped by?”
    “No, Watling. It isn’t important.”
    She returned to the Farthingale residence and prepared for the Royal Society meeting. Today’s lecture was to be on geological formations. For that staid affair, she chose a midnight blue pelisse over a light gray frock, selected a midnight blue reticule and pair of gray lace gloves, and then completed the outfit with a stylish hat topped with a gray feather.
    Finally, she nudged her new spectacles firmly onto the bridge of her nose, framed a few playful curls at the nape of her neck, and marched downstairs to join her uncle, also an admirer of the Royal Society and the lectures offered to the public.
    “I haven’t had the chance to speak to Eloise or this Mr. Cameron yet,” her uncle George said as they climbed into one of the Farthingale carriages.
    “Don’t trouble yourself.” She settled against the black leather squabs. “There’s something you ought to know. Something I ought to have mentioned last night.”
    Her uncle leaned forward.
    She proceeded to tell him of Mr. Cameron’s connection to the Duke of Lotheil.
    “I suspected as much.”
    “You did?”
    He nodded. “Gossip and such, but didn’t wish to say anything before I was certain.”
    “I wish you had told me. I made an utter fool of myself in front of him.”
    He patted her hand. “I’m sure he finds you as charming and clever as we all do.”
    “Jasper might, but I doubt his owner feels the same way.”
    ***
    Ewan stood in the back corner of the lecture hall watching