Scandal Meets Its Match (The May Flowers #7) - Merry Farmer Page 0,3

features. “The business of searching for a wealthy bride, of course,” he said. His eyes flashed, and if Lenore wasn’t mistaken, raked her with a heated gaze.

“If I find one, I’ll be sure to let you know,” she said, fanning herself coquettishly.

“I was given to understand London was full of them when I made my way here from Yorkshire,” he went on. “Though those claims have yet to be proven true.”

“You must not be looking in the right place,” Lenore said, blinking innocently.

“Oh, I’m looking in the right place, all right.” His blue eyes bored into her, suggesting far more than his casual words.

“It’s a shame Freddy—” She wasn’t sure how to end the sentence. She wasn’t sure the sentence had more of an end than that.

Fortunately for Lenore, she was spared having to explain as Lady Agnes laughed again and lurched in her direction. Lenore wheeled around just in time to catch the poor young woman as she stumbled close.

“Are you all right?” Lenore asked, holding her so that she didn’t fall and keeping her steady until she was certain Lady Agnes could stand on her own power. It came as no surprise that the poor dear was trembling slightly, which caused the copious lace ruffles of her theater gown to flutter like a hundred restless butterflies.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” Lady Agnes said in a breathy voice, then swallowed.

“Are you quite certain?” Phineas asked with a concerned look.

“I am, truly, I am,” Lady Agnes went on, her eyes not seeming to fix on anything in particular. “Oh, dear. Do you have any smelling salts? I fear I might need them.”

“You are not fine, Lady Agnes.” Lenore lowered her voice, genuinely concerned.

“No, no, I must be. I have to be.” Lady Agnes drew in a breath and stood straighter, pressing a trembling hand to her décolletage and looking as though she might grasp the thick strands of pearls around her neck and use them to strangle herself, putting herself out of her misery. “Mama insists that I must do my duty by our family and find a husband.”

“Oh?” Lenore kept a hand on the woman’s arm until she was certain Lady Agnes wouldn’t faint.

“Yes.” Lady Agnes nodded tightly, gulped, and forced herself to smile. “Even though I would so much rather stay safe at home.” Her eyes took on a hunted look, and Lenore thought she might cry.

“Agnes.” Her mother’s single syllable was all it took for Lady Agnes to straighten and put on a tight smile as the formidable Lady Hamilton approached. “The house is opening,” Lady Hamilton said. The woman’s expression was all concern.

“Well, that’s that, then,” Lady Agnes said breathily, reaching for her mother’s hand and letting herself be led off to the theater.

Lenore watched the two women go, feeling terrible for Lady Agnes.

“What a curious interlude,” Phineas said, a look of careful calculation in his eyes as he adjusted his spectacles.

Lenore wasn’t sure she liked his tone. “I have a friend like her—who has what I assume is her same problem—back home,” she said in a scolding tone. “Bethany had a mortal fear of crowds. They make her anxious to the point of tears, as though she is in imminent danger. She says that in crowded circumstances her pulse races, her hands grow numb and clammy, and she feels as though she might pass out, even if there is no more danger than some of the boys from town running around too fast and making too much noise.”

“Yes, I have heard of the condition as well,” Phineas said with enough of a sympathetic look that Lenore’s good opinion of him remained intact. He nodded across the room, then went on with, “You’d better rejoin your fiancé and his friend.” There was just enough intonation to the way he spoke to leave Lenore believing Phineas knew all about Freddy and Reese. “The house is open.”

Lenore stayed right where she was. She crossed her arms and studied Phineas. “I suppose you think you’re clever,” she said, one eyebrow arched, daring him to point out the truth of her arrangement with Freddy. And Reese, for that matter.

“Oh, I know I’m very clever indeed,” he answered with a mischievous grin, made somehow more alluring by the way his glasses framed his eyes. “But then, I suspect you are clever as well.”

A shiver of excitement swirled through her. She adored speaking in code, particularly when done in the context of flirtation with a man. It was almost a shame she hadn’t