Wallflower (Old Maids' Club, Book 1) by Catherine Gayle Read Free Book Online Page B

lot of trouble if you’ll
just be out with it straight from the beginning.”
    Tabitha glanced around, making certain
no one else could overhear, even though she’d been in the exact
same spot for long enough to already know they were absolutely
alone. Perhaps she was just trying to stall—to avoid having to
answer her cousin. If she could put off telling Jo, then maybe she
could put off admitting it all to herself.
    But then Jo scowled and planted her
hands on her hips in a perfect imitation of Tabitha’s late mother.
“Tabitha Eleanor Shelton, you answer me right this minute. What
happened out there?”
    “ I don’t know! I don’t
have the first iota of an inkling what happened.” Which, truth be
told, was all the more perplexing. “Lord Devonport asked me to
dance, and he never asks me to dance. I thought he refrained
because he knows I don’t like it. But tonight he asked me, and then
we were dancing and talking, and he was smiling at me with those
devilishly handsome eyes, and I was tingling from the tips of my
ears to the soles of my feet. I could have sworn he was flirting
with me, but we both know that isn’t possible, because why on earth would a
gentleman like Lord Devonport possibly flirt with a stout old maid
like me? But even still, I think I wanted him to be flirting with me,
which is perhaps even more ridiculous a thought since it couldn’t
possibly ever happen. And then I realized how irrational I was
being, and I knew he had to be going along with whatever Toby was
planning, and that was that. I wasn’t going to play along with his
games any more, and I left.”
    Finally Tabitha took a breath. Hot,
salty tear tracks were coursing down her cheeks. Good God, why was
she crying? She hastily brushed them away and looked up at Jo,
whose expression, for once, was indiscernible.
    “ You have feelings for
him,” her cousin murmured.
    “ Well of course I have feelings
for him,” Tabitha said. “He’s practically family. He’s Elaine’s
brother, and he’s been spending his holidays with us for five
years. He’s almost like a brother. Which makes me even more a ninny
than I already was.”
    “ No,” Jo said, unruffled.
“You misunderstand me. Perhaps purposefully.” Her eyes narrowed a
bit, but she pressed on. “You have an affection for him that isn’t
like a brotherly affection. Maybe even a bit of a tendre ?”
    “ Don’t be absurd.” Tabitha
sniffed. She couldn’t possibly have those sorts of feelings for Lord
Devonport, could she? “And even if I do, he certainly doesn’t
return them. And even if he did, I could never act on them. Old
Maids’ Club. Remember? I have no intention of breaking our pact.
Not now. Not ever.”
    Not even if it broke her heart to do
so.
    Jo eyed her discerningly as she sat
down on the settee beside her. She took Tabitha’s hand in her own
and squeezed. “Yes.” Then she lifted their joined hands and kissed
the back of Tabitha’s as a single, wet stream trailed its way down
her cheek. “I remember. How very well I remember.”

Chapter Four
     
    Raynesford and Elaine arrived at
deLancie house the following evening to collect Noah and his
mother. Mother had announced her plans to meet Glastonbury there
before Noah took her home after the Scantlebury soiree last night.
Noah, Leith, and Claremont had informed Raynesford of their
intentions to attend as well. Raynesford had kindly offered the use
of his carriage. Claremont and Leith would meet them
there.
    Raynesford had also informed Noah
that, after rushing away from him at the Scantlebury ball, Lady
Tabitha had sent Miss Faulkner to fetch him. Nearly an hour had
passed by that time, which made Noah feel more like a scoundrel
than ever. She claimed to be suffering from a megrim to the point
of incapacitation, and she had insisted upon going home at
once.
    Based on her claims, Raynesford and
Shelton seemed to believe whatever had happened hadn’t been Noah’s
fault. Fortune had seen fit to smile down