Sheer Folly by Carola Dunn Read Free Book Online

get you, Miss Beaufort?”
    â€œSherry, thanks.” Julia waited until her mother had moved away, following Owen Howell, then she said in a low voice to Daisy and Lucy, “Mother thinks drinking cocktails is fast. That’s the trouble with being out of the country for so long. She doesn’t realise how times have changed.”
    â€œFast!” Lucy said indignantly. “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t—”
    â€œCalm down, darling, Mother’s not saying
you’re
fast. Or rather, she believes a certain degree of rapidity is acceptable in daughters of the aristocracy, particularly married ones, but not in the spinster daughter of a mere knight, even if he was a general.”
    Lucy blinked. “Rapidity?”
    â€œWell, fastness doesn’t seem quite the word I want.”
    â€œI wish we had a well-fortified fastness to retreat to,” said Daisy. “Here comes Rhino, and he’s already on his second cocktail.”
    â€œYour sherry, Miss Beaufort.” Handing Julia the glass, he ignoredDaisy and Lucy. “This place is too boring for words. Can’t you persuade Lady Beaufort to go back to town before Monday?”
    â€œI’m sorry you find us boring,” Julia said sweetly. “You really mustn’t feel obliged to stay. Mr. Pritchard or Mr. Howell will certainly drive us into Swindon to the mainline station when we leave.”
    â€œYou’re not boring, it’s all these others.” He made a sweeping gesture that encompassed everyone in the room, and nearly sent Daisy’s glass flying.
    She didn’t bother to protest.
    â€œHow has he survived all these years with no one throttling him?” Lucy marvelled. She made no attempt to lower her voice, but Lord Rydal gave no sign of hearing her.
    â€œIf it was summer,” he continued to Julia, “we could go for a stroll, but at this time of year there’s no chance to be alone together.”
    â€œThank heaven,” she murmured.
    â€œYour mother won’t let you go out in the car with me. Doesn’t she realise you’re much too old to need a chaperone?”
    â€œRhino, how crass!” Lucy said in disgust, and stalked off to speak to Lady Beaufort.
    Daisy exchanged a glance with Julia, who appeared to share her feelings. They combined a pressing desire to giggle, alarm at what Lucy might say to her ladyship, and amazement at Rhino’s apparent belief that he could win his beloved by insulting her.
    â€œ ‘A mad-brain rudesby,’ ” said Julia.
    â€œ ‘Full of spleen,’ ” Daisy finished off the quotation. “
Taming of the Shrew
?”
    â€œYes. Kate, speaking of Petruchio, of course.”
    â€œIf you ask me, you need to be a bit of shrew to cope with a rhinoceros.”
    For once Lord Rydal seemed to realise he had offended. At least he made a feeble attempt to explain himself: “I don’t care for schoolgirls.” Or perhaps he was simply objecting to their display of erudition. With a sulky look, he tapped out his cigarettebutt in the nearest ashtray and his lighter flashed as he lit another.
    In a way it was just as well that he was so obviously appalling. Surely after a week at close quarters, Lady Beaufort would be forced to abandon her plans to see her daughter a countess.
    Daisy had just reached this comforting conclusion when Mrs. Howell burst into the drawing room.
    â€œBrin,” she cried, her face tragic, “Cook says the soles have gone bad!”
    â€œGood job you invited the vicar,” Pritchard quipped.
    â€œReally, Brin, you mustn’t joke about such things.”
    â€œSorry, I thought you were talking about fish, not religion,” he said. He sounded penitent, but he looked pleased with himself, and Daisy had seen his eyes slide sideways towards Lady Beaufort, who hadn’t quite been able to hide a discreet little snort of laughter.
    â€œI
was
talking about