My Lady Governess (Zebra Regency Romance) by Wilma Counts Read Free Book Online

pleasure sweep through her.
    “Papa, may we see the shark? Please?” Geoffrey asked.
    “Pooh! Who wants to see that old thing?” Anne objected. “I want to choose some pretty shells at Mr. George’s shop.”
    “A shark?” Elinor inquired. “Surely not from these waters?”
    “No.” Adrian smiled. “Actually, Geoffrey refers to the skeletal remains of a shark that some ship’s captain brought from the South Seas many years ago.”
    “Just some old fish bones.” Anne gave a superior sniff.
    “No. ’Tis truly a wonder, Miss Palmer,” Geoffrey said seriously. “Please, Papa.”
    “If we are to show Miss Palmer all the sights of our village we shall certainly see the shark, Geoffrey. And, yes, Anne, you may choose some pretty shells. And what do you want to see, poppet?” He directed this last to Bess.
    “Toffee.” She giggled.
    “I should have known. The sweet tooth in the family,” her father noted.
    The village was larger than Elinor had expected and cleaner than she remembered seacoast villages being when she had visited others with her father and brother. She commented on its size.
    “West Benton is larger than most of its neighbors,” Trenville agreed. “Local farmers trade here and the harbor accommodates small fishing boats nicely. Not to mention the occasional smuggler.” He added the last in a rueful tone.
    “The area does seem rich in resources for the table,” Elinor said.
    “Ah, here is our first stop—the fish market. Here you will find the venerable bones of one poor old shark.” As he aided in her descent from the carriage and took her elbow to help her over the raised entrance, Elinor felt warmed where he touched her.
    The fish market, a large barnlike building, was nearly overwhelming in its impact on the nose, Elinor thought. Inside were several large tables with raised edges at which men and women were working scaling, boning, and filleting fish of varying sizes and species.
    Anne wrinkled her nose, but turned down the option of waiting at the door for the others.
    “See! There it is!” Geoffrey exclaimed. “Isn’t it just the most fearsome thing?”
    Along one wall was displayed the full skeleton of a shark that must have been ten or twelve feet long when it plied the waters of some southern sea.
    “Indeed it is,” Miss Palmer agreed. “Those teeth look very sharp.”
    “Come ta see me shark again, have ye, me young lord?” An older man addressed Geoffrey. He was a strong-looking fellow with a splotchy white apron wrapped around considerable girth. His round face was clean-shaven except for a grizzled fringe running from ear to ear. His skin, too, looked grizzled—weathered by years of sun and wind. His blue eyes twinkled with welcoming delight. “Yer pa was just as fascinated with that thing as ye be when he were yer age.”
    “Don’t you be telling all my secrets now, Jake,” the marquis said with a sheepish smile. He introduced Miss Palmer to the fisherman.
    “His lordship used to go out on me boat wi’ us,” the older man told her. “Yuh’d a made a right smart fisherman, my lord.” Jake chortled at his own joke. “Mayhap this young feller would like to go out sometime.”
    “Oh, Papa, may I? Please? May I?”
    “We will see,” his father said, adopting the tone of parents who, since the beginning of time, have been reluctant to commit themselves on the spot.
    The children wandered around among the workers, clearly fascinated by the whole scene, especially when they witnessed the use of large, dangerous-looking knives. Elinor tagged along, keeping an eye to the safety of her charges and ever aware of the man at her side. She noted that Trenville addressed many of the workers by name and they seemed thoroughly at ease with him.
    “May we see the fish ponds, Papa? They are just in the back,” Geoffrey said.
    “Shark’s teeth are not enough, eh? Miss Palmer would you care to see the fish ponds?” Trenville gave her a look of mock