Edwin released a bark of laughter at his friend’s absurd remarks. “Destined match? You believe in destiny now? I did not take you for such a romantic, Habtage.”
His friend rolled his blue eyes toward the ceiling and back down again.
“You encounter a mysterious lady with red hair and green eyes in a field, and you cannot stop thinking about her. If that is not destiny, my dear Morrington, I do not know what else it could be.”
Edwin chuckled, amused by Habtage’s fanciful notions. “You speak as though I am living a fairy tale.”
“If a lady is able to catch your eye and keep it without any effort on her part, then I would not doubt there is some kind of magic involved,” Habtage drawled.
Edwin opened his mouth to voice a retort, but then shut it again. In truth, he had not real argument to put forth to dissuade Habtage from his thinking. Perhaps there were some sort of outside forces at play? The more time stood between him and his meeting the mystery lady, the more he was beginning to believe that perhaps she had not been real after all.
It was a ridiculous notion, he knew this. He was a logical man with reasonable thoughts, but there was nothing else he could come up with to explain their meeting, and also her complete disappearance. He had been out and about in the village several times since their meeting, and he had not so much as glimpsed her anywhere he had visited. It was not a large village, so it seemed unlikely she would simply vanish into thin air.
Where have you gone to, Lady Red? Were you flesh and blood…or simply a dream?
Chapter 9
Sunday morning after they attended church, Tabitha and her sisters lingered in town to wander among the shops. Sophia chatted happily as they went, entertaining them with her rambling thoughts and her imaginings of all they might have missed during their week with Aunt Bess.
“Oh, I hope we come upon Miss Abigail,” she declared as they entered the small village. “She will have heard everything there is to hear about Lord Morrington and his companion.”
“How would Miss Abigail have heard anything about the gentleman?” Tabitha asked. She was naught but a girl of fourteen, and not permitted to even attend society balls yet.
“She hears things from her mother, Lady Carey,” Sophia explained. “Lady Carey is a frightful gossip with a loud voice, and Miss Abigail overhears her speaking to Lord Carey about everything that transpires in the county.”
Tabitha met Unity’s gaze over their younger sister’s head, and they both grinned.
“I fear you will turn out to be just as frightful of a gossip, my dear,” Unity said to Sophia. “You must learn to keep your nose out of other people’s lives.”
“Oh, do not be a humbug,” Sophia pouted. “You may not admit it, but I know you enjoy hearing the things I find out. You are just lucky I do not care so much what others think of me as you do.”
Tabitha reached up and tugged her sister’s braid. “Do not speak to Unity so. She is right to be concerned for you. Do you wish to grow up to be like Lady Carey, whose own daughter goes behind her back to spill her secrets?”
Sophia rolled her eyes. “I will never be like Lady Carey. My voice is not so loud.”
Tabitha and Unity both laughed at their sister’s words. She grinned at both of them, and then skipped ahead toward the dressmaker’s shop.
“She will prove a wild one, I fear,” Unity said with an adoring smile once Sophia was out of earshot.
“She is already wild, Unity dear,” Tabitha sighed. “We will just have to pray she finds a husband to settle her down before she does something that will truly damage her reputation.”
Unity turned to her with wide eyes. “You do not think she would do anything truly shocking, do you?”
Tabitha shrugged. “You heard what she said. She does not care what people think of her. Without that fear to temper her, she might be capable of just about anything.”
Unity looked back ahead toward their sister and groaned. “She causes Papa such stress and aggravation. He fears she may do something to inadvertently damage her reputation without realizing it.”
“She will drive us all mad,” Tabitha murmured under her breath. Unity’s concern for their sister’s wellbeing were well deserved, but when Tabitha tried to picture a demurer, well-behaved Sophia, the image seemed wrong.
Our Sophia would not be herself if she were not a little wild.
They caught up to their youngest sister the next moment. She had stopped to study the window display of the dressmaker’s shop, and was grinning from ear to ear with excitement.
“Look at this pattern. Is it not lovely?”
Tabitha looked up at the bolts of cloth on display, and her eyes landed on the one Sophia pointed to. It had a yellow floral pattern against a background of gray. She frowned at the tingle of familiarity that shot through her. She felt as though she had seen that specific shade of gray somewhere before.
Where, though, she could not quite remember.
“Can we go inside?” Sophia asked, turning her pleading gaze up to Tabitha.
“You do not need a new dress,” she replied.
“Oh, Tabitha, please? We could just get a swatch of the cloth. I could use it to make a new lining for my coat.”
“Her coat is rather worn through,” Unity said.
Tabitha looked between the two, and knew she was beaten. Unity clearly wished to go inside the store as well.
“Very well,” Tabitha nodded, releasing a resigned breath. “We can go in, but we are not ordering any dresses, understood?”
“Very well,” Unity nodded.
“Yes, yes, fine.” Sophia was already moving toward the shop’s door. “Hurry along now!”
Tabitha followed her sisters into the shop. It was one of their favorites to visit, and each time they stopped in, there was always something new to see. Bolts of cloth shipped in from London were displayed throughout, along with samples of lace, buttons, and ribbons of every color and size. Sophia hurried toward the window display to take a closer look at the gray and yellow cloth.
“Good morning, Miss Walters,” a high voice called. “Miss Unity, Miss Sophia, it is good to see you all.”
Tabitha turned around in time to see a lady emerging from the back of the store. Her dark hair was pulled into an elegant chignon at the back of her head, and her gown was a fashionable number in blue and black. The woman was middle-aged, but maintained an air of youthful elegance as she approached the sisters. A pincushion was strapped around her wrist.
“Good morning, Mrs. Harper,” Tabitha said with a polite nod. “How are you today?”
“Very well, thank you,” Mrs. Harper replied. Her discerning eyes swept Tabitha from her head to her feet and back again. “What may I help you with today? Are you in to be measured for a new dress? A cloak, perhaps? I am very happy to come to the house to do full measurements if you would like to make an appointment?”
Tabitha shook her head. “Not today, I am afraid. We were passing by, and one of your new bolts of cloth snagged my sister’s interest.” She tilted her chin toward Sophia, who stood by the window display, running her hands along the gray fabric with a look of wonder on her face.
“Oh, yes, that is a lovely pattern is it not?” Mrs. Harper beamed. “It just came in from London this past week. I have had much interest in it already.”
“Could we please have enough for the lining of a coat?” Tabitha asked.
Mrs. Harper nodded. “Of course. Give me just one moment.”
She bustled away from Tabitha toward Sophia to grab the bolt of cloth and then went to the back of her shop to cut it. While the sisters waited, Tabitha meandered around the shop, perusing the items for sale absentmindedly. Moving past the front window, movement across the street snagged her attention.
Pausing in her stride, she turned to the window fully and gazed out to see what it was that had caught her eye. When she fully comprehended what she was looking at, she froze and her mouth dropped open in shock.
Lor
d Morrington strode down the sidewalk across the street from the shop. He looked dapper in a hat and dark jacket. A second man walked with him, and was nearly as handsome as Lord Morrington himself. The two chatted as they moved, looking completely at ease with each other.
With a gasp, she yanked herself away from the window and pressed her back to the shop’s wall and out of sight. Unity glanced toward her with a deep frown.
“Tabitha? What in the world are you doing?”
Sophia looked up from where she was studying a collection of buttons.
“What is going on?”
Tabitha could only stare at them, her mind too muddled to come up with an explanation for her strange behavior.
“I…I was just…startled by something, that is all.”
Unity approached her, her expression changing from curious to concerned.
“What startled you, my dear? Something outside?” She turned her head to look out the window.
“No!” Tabitha yelled, but it was too late. Unity’s eyes widened when they fell on the gentleman across the way.
“Who…who is that?” she murmured.
Tabitha felt a jolt of angst at her sister’s clear interest in Lord Morrington.
“That is Lord Morrington,” she said with more force than she had intended.
“That handsome black-haired gentleman is your Lord Morrington?” There was a note of disappointment in Unity’s voice.
“He is not my Lord Morrington,” Tabitha insisted. Then, she realized what Unity had said, and grew confused. “What do you mean the handsome black-haired man? Lord Morrington is blond.”
She looked back out the window with Unity and realized with a start that her attention was not focused on Lord Morrington, but on his companion.
“If he is not Lord Morrington, then who is he?” Unity whispered.
Tabitha glanced at her sister and her brows shot up toward her hairline when she found Unity’s cheeks tinged pink.
She appears as though she has fallen in love at first sight.
“That is Lord Habtage,” Sophia explained, coming up to stand beside her sisters.
Tabitha blinked at her. “How in the world do you know that?”
“I knew that a week ago,” Sophia explained. “It did not seem pertinent information at the time, though, as he was not the one you came upon in the field.”
Tabitha scowled at her sister and then slowly turned her gaze back to the gentleman on the street. Her heart began to beat at a rapid pace. She pressed her hand to her chest, as though she could slow it back down with added pressure.
She realized that her memory of his appearance had been dimmed somewhat. Even from a distance, she could tell that he was more beautiful than she had recalled. He was so tall and his shoulders were so broad. He smiled as he spoke with his friend, and the sight made her knees weak.
Shaking her head forcefully, Tabitha yanked her gaze away from the window and turned her back to it.
You cannot be thinking such things about him. He is only a pretty face. There is not much more substance to him than that.
Still, her cheeks continued to burn with embarrassment and excitement. She wondered if he had thought of her at all since their meeting. The treacherous thought snuck into her mind unbidden, but once it was there, she could not seem to think of anything else.
Had he gone to the McKenzies’ soiree? Had he met any other young ladies while there? Had he already forgotten her and moved his attention on to another?
She could not fight the urge to peek over her shoulder at him again, but to her relief or disappointment, she could not truly tell, she saw that he was gone.
“Where did they go?”
“Into the bookstore,” Sophia answered in a sly voice. “Is that not where you wished to go next, Tabitha?”
“I…I…I do not need to go there,” she stammered. “We can skip our stop…”
“Nonsense,” Unity blurted, her eyes locked on the bookstore, which sat directly across from the shop they stood in. “You had your heart set on going today. We should not allow those gentlemen’s presence to deter you from stopping there.”
“Really, it is not necessary…”
“Sophia, you stay here and wait for your cloth,” Unity ordered, her tone uncharacteristically firm. She dug her coin purse from her pocket and handed it to their sister. “Tabitha and I will go over the bookstore. You can meet us over there when you are done.”
“All right!” Sophia nodded, her eyes flashing with glee.
Tabitha was shocked by Unity’s bold behavior. Of the three of them, she was the calm, polite, soft spoken sister who never toed the line of propriety. Yet now, she was planning on chasing after two gentlemen she had never met before, and was going to drag Tabitha along with her.
“Unity, no, we should not do that,” Tabitha insisted. “It is not proper.”
“We will only observe them,” Unity promised, grinning at her sister. “We will not speak with them if you do not wish to.”
“I do not wish to go over there at all.”
As if she did not hear her, Unity grabbed Tabitha’s hand and pulled her toward the shop’s door.
Chapter 10
Edwin perused the bookshelves of the shop he and Habtage had decided to visit. He had nothing in particular in mind that he wished to buy, but his friend had insisted that he leave the Manor today as he had rarely left the property apart from his morning ride all week.
He had hoped it would prove a decent distraction from his obsessive thoughts of Lady Red. Sadly, it was not quite doing the trick. She was still there, her image seared into his mind. As he moved among the shelves, he found himself wondering what else she enjoyed reading. Before he realized where his feet had taken him, he was standing in front of a shelf prominently displaying the works of Ms. Austen.
He stared at the spines of the novels and thought of Lady Red. Which of these had she already read? Which of these was her favorite? Who else did she enjoy reading?
He ran his finger along the shelf, reading the titles until he came upon the one he had seen her holding that day. He picked it up and flipped through its pages, releasing a sigh of longing that caught him off guard. With hurried movements, he closed the book and slipped it back in its place along the shelf. Turning away, he marched to another row, determined to put Lady Red from his mind.
Edwin had never longed for one specific woman. He had never been so consumed with the thought of one that he could not function as he normally would. This lady was haunting him like a phantasm, and he knew nothing about her. He was either losing all his senses and going mad, or he was exaggerating her appeal to a degree that made her more fantasy than real.
That was it. That had to be it. The more he considered the idea, the more he was certain his imagination was simply running away with him. It was not possible for Lady Red to truly be as intriguing in truth as he had built her up to be in his mind. If he were to see her again, he would most likely be disappointed.
He heard the shop door open and shut a moment later. Edwin paid it little mind as he picked up a tome by Walter Scott and glanced through its contents.
“Ah, there you are Morrington,” Habtage suddenly appeared by his side. “Found anything of interest?”
“Not particularly, no,” Edwin admitted as he replaced the book he held on the shelf. He was simply unable to appreciate any of the works around him with his mind so occupied.
As if he could sense his friend’s turmoil, Habtage patted him on the shoulder in a masculine attempt at comfort.
“Perhaps a bookstore is not stimulating enough,” his friend said with a sigh. “What else could we do to take your mind from your mystery lady?”
I fear nothing will take my mind from her. She will likely haunt me until I learn her identity.
Edwin gave his friend an exhausted smile. “Your efforts to distract me are appreciated, but I do not know that we will find much success here. Lady Red appeared to be an avid reader.”
“Ah, that does make this place less an idea if our goal is to put her from your mind,” Habtage nodded. “Perhaps a stop at the cigar shop down the way? I doubt your Lady Red has an affinity for smoking.”
Edwin chuckled and nodded. “Yes, that sounds fine.”
The two gentlemen made their way up the aisle of books toward the front of the shop. Edwin paid little attention to their surroundings, but as they neared the door, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. It was a flash of red. Pausing, he glanced back to see what it might have been that had tempted his attention.
Improperly Enticed By The Rascal Earl (Steamy Historical Regency Romance) Page 7
