Sheer Folly by Carola Dunn Read Free Book Online Page A

fish,” Mrs. Howell snapped. “In any case, the vicar couldn’t come, so I invited Dr. Tenby instead. But the fish has gone off and there’s none for dinner.”
    â€œWhere’s it gone off to?” Having got into a facetious vein, he continued to mine it.
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous. You know perfectly well what I mean. It’s high.”
    â€œFlying fish? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen them at the fishmonger.”
    â€œBrin!”
    â€œWell, what do you want me to do about your flipping fish? Take a rod out to the grotto pool? No, a net would be best, I don’t think there’s anything bigger than minnows in it.”
    His sister-in-law shot him a glance of pure loathing.
    â€œWith such splendid dinners as you give us, Mrs. Howell,” said Lady Beaufort, “I’m sure we shan’t feel the want of fish.”
    Owen Howell brought his mother a glass of sherry, and he and Lady Beaufort set themselves to smooth her ruffled feathers.
    Daisy looked at Rhino to see how he was taking the prospect of no fish course. He was staring after Julia, who had drifted quietlyaway to speak to a young man who must have entered the room in the wake of Mrs. Howell. The stranger was nothing out of the ordinary—sandy-haired, slightly snub-nosed, no more than a couple of inches taller than Julia—his evening clothes respectable, but clearly not from Savile Row. He was puffing at a pipe. His chief attraction appeared to be that he was not Rhino.
    The earl might have been glowering at them, but his usual expression was so like a scowl that Daisy wouldn’t have sworn to it.
    His attention was distracted by the entrance of another couple, followed by a sleek, blond young man. Owen Howell instantly abandoned his mother and hurried to greet them.
    â€œLady Ottaline, Sir Desmond, welcome to Appsworth Hall.”
    Sir Desmond apologised for the lateness of their arrival. “—unavoidably detained by my wife’s loss of a glove just as we were leaving.” His words were sarcastic, but his tone was indifferent.
    Lady Ottaline, Sir Desmond
. Where had Daisy heard those names recently? Ah, the Wandersleys, at whose house the Beauforts had made the acquaintance of the Managing Director of Pritchard’s Plumbing Products. Wandersley was a civil servant, she recalled, and the two had business together.
    Sir Desmond Wandersley looked like a senior civil servant, suave—not to say bland—impeccably turned out, his impressive girth evidence of decades of good living, but he had the height and the tailoring to carry it off. A well-barbered mane of white hair and gold-rimmed eyeglasses added to his distinguished air.
    Daisy was more interested in his wife. Lucy and Julia agreed that she was an aging vamp, and her appearance did nothing to contradict their description.
    Lady Ottaline wore a slinky grasshopper-green frock, with a long, gauzy, spangled scarf draped over her pointed elbows. Her angular arms emerged with insect-like effect. Her collarbones and face were all sharp angles, pointed chin, pointed nose, even pointed lobes to her ears, exaggerated by long, dangling, glittering earrings, faceted like an insect’s eyes. Her face was powderedwhite, with a touch of rouge on high, sharp cheekbones, loads of eyeblack, and blood-red lipstick to match her fingernails.
    A cross between a mosquito and a praying mantis, Daisy thought fancifully. She was quite surprised when Lady Ottaline’s voice turned out to be not a high, thin whine, but low and husky.
    Howell introduced his mother and his uncle to the Wandersleys and their follower. Sir Desmond turned out to be a Principal Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Health, and the sleek young man was Carlin, his Private Secretary.
    As Owen Howell provided the newcomers with drinks, Daisy, still standing next to Rhino, was aware of his lordship’s tension. And when Lady Ottaline glanced round the room and