Scandal Meets Its Match (The May Flowers #7) - Merry Farmer Page 0,10

winked up at him.

Freddy chuckled, his amused expression likely giving anyone who happened to glance at them the erroneous but convenient impression that the two of them were madly in love. He leaned closer to Lenore to ask, “So Mr. Mercer has been invited to this event, has he?”

“I received Lady Diana’s invitation while Mr. Mercer was standing right next to me in Hyde Park the other day,” Lenore whispered back, catching the approving grin of a matronly woman who, like so many others in London, likely believed it was high time that Lord Frederick Herrington marry, like he was supposed to. “She couldn’t very well issue an invitation to me while leaving him out.”

“And I would wager that suits you just fine,” Freddy said, strolling around the perimeter of the conservatory with her and helping her to search Phineas out.

“I am always happy to see my friends,” Lenore answered with a coy grin.

She was beyond grateful to have found such an understanding friend in Freddy. Freddy was probably grateful to have found such an understanding faux fiancée in her. She was perfectly at ease with his proclivities and his bond with Reese, having known men like him back at home in Haskell. But just because she was willing to play her part in protecting his reputation with their engagement didn’t necessarily mean he had to be willing to let her eyes and heart wander to someone who might be more suitable for her.

It was just a crying shame that she couldn’t do a damn thing about it, even if she did find someone more suitable. Even if that man was Phineas Mercer.

Lenore’s mood teetered on the verge of going sour before Freddy cleared his throat and nodded to a potted palm in the far corner of the conservatory, near a wall of French doors. “There’s your lover now,” he muttered.

“Ssh!” Lenore smacked his arm with her fan again, bursting into giggles, her heart fluttering and her face heating. “You’ll be sorry if anyone hears you say that.” When Freddy sent her a sardonic look in reply, she tilted her head up and said, “Besides, he’s not my lover. Yet.”

Freddy laughed, raising a hand to his mouth and clearing his throat when a pair of young debutantes glanced to him with a start. The two had their heads together and were whispering over several sheets of pink-tinted newsprint, but they smiled and simpered at the pair Freddy and Lenore made as Freddy escorted Lenore past, heading toward the corner where Phineas stood.

“Good Lord,” Lenore whispered as they proceeded around the room. “Those two had a copy of Nocturne, and it looked to be new.”

Freddy rolled his eyes. “And once again, the minds and morals of London’s elite will waste away as all and sundry rush to read the salacious content of that publication.”

Lenore snorted. “You’re just put out because it never contains any content that you and Reese might find educational.”

Freddy flushed such a deep shade of red at her comment that it was all Lenore could do not to giggle. “For your information,” Freddy went on in a voice so low Lenore almost couldn’t hear it, “we need no lessons in those subjects. We do quite well on our own.”

“Everyone needs edification,” Lenore argued, though she couldn’t sustain her argument without laughing. The very thought of Freddy and Reese was as titillating as it was mystifying, and seeing as they were two of her dearest friends at the moment, like brothers to her, she didn’t want to know.

“Ah, Mr. Mercer. Fancy seeing you here this evening,” Freddy greeted Phineas as he and Lenore grew near. Freddy’s tone suggested he was in no way whatsoever surprised to see Phineas.

“Lord Herrington,” Phineas greeted him with a respectful bow, adjusting his glasses as he straightened. He wore an impeccably tailored suit and was groomed to perfection—so much so that he blended in with every other gentleman in the room. “The pleasure is all mine.”

“It will be if you agree to take my miscreant fiancée off my arm so that I can have a moment’s peace,” Freddy said with a teasing look for Lenore.

“You always say such charming things, my love,” Lenore told him in return, batting her eyelashes up at him.

“I would be more than happy to relieve you of the burden, my lord,” Phineas said with exaggerated solemnity. Lenore thanked her lucky stars that the savvy light in Phineas’s eyes told her he was in on the game and knew the