Rose Gardner's Florist (The Providence Street Shops #2) - Bonnie Dee Page 0,40
Will. “It ain’t…It’s not correct to shake hands with servants.”
“Not generally. But don’t worry.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “It does not concern me if you don’t follow the so-called rules to the letter. Please, sit down while we await my mother.”
She smiled at him because she could not help but do so when he looked at her with those concerned eyes, but inside the words await my mother chimed a death knell. There was no bloody way the woman would view Rose with anything other than contempt.
As Will removed his spectacles and wiped away the dust of their journey, Rose examined the elegant room that could have held her family’s entire flat inside it. Family portraits from past generations decorated the damask covered walls. The heavy wood furniture was well polished but underneath that gloss a patina of great age bespoke hundreds of years standing in those precise spots. Had Lord Carmody received his baronetcy from William the Conqueror? How far back did the Carmody lineage extend? She wished she had looked up the family in Debrett’s peerage.
“Good afternoon.” A cool, cultured voice interrupted the moment.
Rose stood to face a short woman with a ruddy complexion and eyes as intent as her son’s. Rose dropped a curtsy she’d been practicing. “Lady Carmody, I am ever so pleased to meet you.”
“No need for such formality.” The woman glided into the room, her carriage erect and her stance patrician. Yet Rose noted the cuffs Lady Carmody’s simple day dress were stained with soil as if she had come in directly from the garden.
“Mother, this is my guest, Miss Rose Gardener. I thought I might introduce her to you before we set out on our picnic.”
Her ladyship nodded. “Good afternoon, Miss Gardener. Welcome to Carmody Hall.”
Rose’s knees refused to unlock so she might straighten from her curtsy. William silently took her elbow and helped her up. “I understand you raise prize-winning roses. I would greatly love to see them if it is not too much trouble,” Rose blurted, since she could think of absolutely nothing else she might have in common with this woman.
Lady Carmody shot a glance at her son as if to ask who or what have you brought home with you, but she replied graciously. “Certainly. I am always pleased to show my Lucinda Mays.”
Rose nodded vigorously and felt her hair slipping from its pins. She reached to steady her hat. “Might I freshen up, please?”
“Of course,” Will said. “I apologize for not suggesting it right away.”
Before he could summon the butler, Albertson appeared as if he’d been hovering in the hallway. He directed Rose down a corridor to a powder room.
Once inside, Rose collapsed against the door until she had brought her heart rate under control. She faced her reflection in the mirror. “You are meant to be a proper young lady, for heaven’s sake. Don’t behave like a bloody nincompoop!”
With her coiffure refreshed and her composure somewhat regained, she returned to the drawing room to find Will and his mother discussing some social event.
“You should ask Lady Smyth’s permission if you wish to attend with a guest,” Lady Carmody was saying.
“I will notify her soon. I promise.”
At the sight of Rose, Will stood and directed her to a seat. Rose had hoped they might skip from uncomfortable conversation to walking in the rose garden. At least there, she and Lady Carmody might find some common ground.
“My son tells me you are a good friend of Guy Hardy.”
“Yes, that’s true. He invested in my floral business.” No point in pretending to be anything better than she was.
“Ah, you own a shop,” her ladyship said, as if that explained much. “William told me he had hired someone to help plan the conservatory. I am most anxious to see what plants you’ve chosen.”
“Early days yet,” Will said. “We have yet to begin planting, but I will hold a grand unveiling when we are finished.”
Rose made an attempt to break free from the drawing room prison. “I had hoped to gain some inspiration from viewing your beautiful gardens here. Would you give a tour?”
“On the condition that you stay for dinner,” Lady Carmody countered. “The rest of the family is hither and yon just now. I’m certain William would like for them all to meet you.”
“That would get us back to the city far too late,” Will said firmly. “Miss Gardener has but one day off. She must be at work in the morning.”