The Dashing Miss Fairchild by Emily Hendrickson Read Free Book Online Page B

Jamaica. However, I am pleased to find the house thus occupied, I assure you."
    Quite satisfied that he was reconciled to his abode in the Edgar Buildings as well as renewing their acquaintance, Clare ushered him down the stairs and into the study, then urged Venetia into a charming Chippendale chair close by while settling upon another next to Mr. Talbot. If they were to put their heads together over this, Clare was determined to be near enough to do so. She totally ignored the interesting reality that she had never behaved so in her entire life.
    "Now,'’ began Mr. Talbot, “I suspect we had best start with the Season before last. Since I was absent from the country, it will be up to you ladies to think of possible names for the list.” First he located a fresh quill and a pot of ink, then he glanced at Venetia before turning to Clare.
    Venetia stared into middle space while considering the brilliant, and not-so-brilliant, marriages of that year.
    "There was the Musgrove wedding. Quite a splash at St. George's. That was followed by the Jolliffe-Claverhouse, then the Elfinstone-Fayer. Lady Du Plat married Lord Hepburn in July, such an unfashionable date, too. The Grantham-Inglis wedding took place in September just before the Kysale-Lombe affair. Gracious, how shall one ever make a list of them all? I touch only upon the church weddings. The remaining shall require a separate list."
    "I agree. The task is difficult enough, without trying to figure out just who was breeding at the appropriate time to produce little William,” Clare said thoughtfully.
    Venetia looked as though she longed to expire from embarrassment at this bit of outspoken language. Her brows rose to new heights, and she fanned herself vigorously as she cried, “Dear Clare, do have a thought for propriety, please! What you said is quite enough to bring on a case of the vapors!"
    "I thought better of you, Venetia. My mama was not quite so missish about life.'’ Clare turned her eyes, now alight with humor, on Mr. Talbot. She was not disappointed. That green gaze met hers with perfect understanding.
    "Can you recall who of the ton has red hair? That might be more to the point.” Richard studied the two young women in turn. Miss Fairchild was relaxed, yet concentrating on her thoughts. Miss Godwin seemed of a divided mind, as though she wished to do two different things at the same time. Having been around and about for some years, it was not too difficult for Richard to figure out what she had in her head.
    "The Fitzgeralds, of course,” Venetia finally offered. “And the Innes family has a number of redheads as I recall. The grandmother's side of the family, you know. I think we might ignore most of the Scots, for it would be most unlikely they would be around this area to deposit that child in dear Clare's coach."
    "She has a point there,” Clare conceded to Mr. Talbot, wishing all the while that she didn't find it quite so difficult to concentrate on the matter to hand. He would think her a peagoose without a brain in her head.
    "Well, it is too bad of them all. There ought to be a convenient way to merely look up all the marriages of that year without going to London,” Venetia said with a pout.
    "We could do that if necessary, you know. Or I might send my man to check for us if your memories fail.” Richard looked at Clare, who seemed to have plunged into the past.
    "You know,” mused Clare, while thinking back in time, “there was a quiet little scrap of a girl I just recalled. Her name was Jane something or other. She married the Earl of Millsham. Had pots of money. He did, that is. I seem to remember that he had dark red hair. ‘Tis the sort of color that just might have been brighter when he was a child. Did you not have brighter hair as a little girl, Venetia?"
    Looking as annoyed as a hornet that has been brushed away from a chosen flower, Venetia hastily denied any such thing. Her hair had always been its present hue. Her skin flared