The Clarendon Rose by Kathryn Anthony Read Free Book Online Page B

be in touch through my usual channels if I need you for anything else.   Now get out.”   He watched as the door snicked closed behind the thug.   But, when Fitzwilliam rose to follow suit, he noted with a touch of chagrin that the stench of the man lingered behind.
    Drawing his handkerchief from his pocket, Fitzwilliam used it to open the door.   After he had closed it behind him, he carefully folded the square of cotton so that the sullied side would not accidentally touch his skin, before tucking it back into his pocket.  
    Don’t know why I bother really, he thought dismally.   But then again, I suppose a leisured gentleman has to have some hobbies.   And I do declare that revenge, when it all comes together properly, is certainly almost as diverting as horticulture.
    Fitzwilliam grinned suddenly, his stride acquiring new energy.   I wonder how my newest beauty is doing.   I’ll find out soon enough—and if all goes according to plan, I’ll have a new breed of rose on my hands.   Not a moment too soon, either…   He chuckled to himself.   I can hardly wait to give it a name. And thus occupied with happy thoughts, he sought out the innkeeper in order to settle up his bill.

    Tina set her horse Achilles to a walk, before turning to smile and wave at the smith and the carpenter.   They inclined their heads respectfully as she rode away.   She had set out for a ride this morning with no clear idea of where she was going.   After working off Achilles’s high spirits in an invigorating gallop through the estates, she had found herself riding towards the village, where she had run into a few of the tradesman who were involved with some of the ventures she and Uncle Charles had formulated to stimulate the local economies.   This one involved the estate’s investment in a small shop in the village for the building of good quality ploughs and drills based on Tull’s innovations.  
    As Tina rode out of the village, she smiled to herself.   Uncle Charles will be pleased, she thought, before catching herself.   Sometimes, she still forgot that he was gone—that he would not be waiting for her back at the manor, eager to learn of all the latest goings-on among his people.  
    Her throat ached as she thought of the vitality in his eyes, even as his body had wasted away into an emaciated husk.   And now, I’ll never see him again.   She blinked rapidly against the sudden prick of tears at the corners of her eyes.   It simply wouldn’t do to break down in such a public place, for she was only just riding past the outskirts of the village.   Think of other things, Valentina Merriweather.   Like what aspects of the holdings you’re going to show the new duke.
    Of course, that led her thoughts in a different, equally dangerous, direction.  
    As she was about to leave the public road in favor of a shortcut across a back corner of the grounds, Tina glimpsed a figure in the distance, waving.   The slender young woman in a patterned dress, blond curls peeping out from under her bonnet, could be none other than Miss Georgiana Fielding, the second child of Sir Roland Fielding.   Tina returned the greeting, turning Achilles back to the road.
    Miss Fielding increased her pace, a shy smile on her face as the two women met.   “Hullo Miss Merriweather.”  
    Tina liked Georgiana Fielding, despite feeling like a hulking ancient in the girl’s presence, for Miss Fielding had always been a lovely, golden child.   Though she was now more than old enough to make her come-out and was simply waiting for her father to assemble sufficient funds to give her a London Season, there remained a six-year age difference between the two women.   Yet, even if they had been the same age, Tina found that the things she had seen as a child usually created an invisible barrier between herself and other gently-bred young women.  
    Yet, Miss Fielding, for all her delicate appearance, had a fortitude and a spirit of adventure that