Confessions of a Little Black Gown Read Free Page B

Thatcher something about the stabling of his horses.
    Yet the moment still held Tally in its grasp.
    She shook her head over Nanny Jamilla’s advice. That a woman just knows when she’s about to fall in love.
    Given that Jamilla, having been at the French court, had fallen in love enough times to fill the advertisement page of the Morning Post , Tally had to assume she knew of what she spoke, but this couldn’t be!
    In love? With a vicar?!
    Tally’s hand went to her mouth to cover the gasp that was about to escape, not that Mr. Ryder noticed overly much for he was blandly nodding at something Thatcher was saying about the pastures.
    So he was staying? And for some time, by the sound of it.
    Tally pressed her lips together. Oh, she could only imagine Felicity’s reaction to this uninvited guest. Even if he was Thatcher’s cousin.
    Tally almost felt sorry him. Without even an “Honorable” or a “Sir Charles” or a “Sir John” attached to his name. Felicity would be cross as crabs over his arrival.
    As if on cue, her sister, the Duchess of Hollindrake, breezed into the room. “Oh, Thatcher, there you are! I was about to call you to dinner, but I was delayed by—” She stopped in mid-sentence at the sight of her husband’s guest, and to her credit, she smiledwidely, that is until her sharp gaze landed on his less-than-fashionable cuffs.
    “Felicity, how perfect. I was just about to send for you,” the duke said. “Look who has arrived: my cousin, Mr. Ryder.”
    Tally took a step back, not that Felicity would make a scene in front of a guest, but, well, it was just best to be out of the line of fire where Felicity was concerned.
    But to Tally’s shock the wide smile continued to spread across her face and she held out her hand in greeting. “Cousin Ryder! What a charming surprise! I must say, I thought you were going to arrive next week—”
    Tally looked in shock at her sister and then back at Mr. Ryder. He had been expected?
    He moved forward without any measure of grace, nearly treading on Tally’s toes in the process. “Well, I—I—I—I…that is to say, I—I—I,” he stammered. “I hope my early arrival isn’t an—an—an inconvenience, for I arrived in London a week past, with the idea of staying with our cousin, Lady Bethsheba, but I discovered her suddenly out of town—imagine that! And with the costs too dear to stay on my own—for you cannot believe the prices associated with a stay in London and though I have inherited of late, I daresay parting with funds at such extortionate rates taxes my sensibilities unduly—so I made the unpardonable decision to impose myself upon your kindness earlier than I had been expected.”
    Tally cringed. Oh, goodness, he’s quite the mushroom, and a pinchpurse.
    Good luck matching him, Duchess , she thought, using not her sister’s title, but the childhood nickname Felicity had carried into adulthood.
    Meanwhile, Felicity had wound her arm around Mr. Ryder’s and was leading him from the study. “Perhaps your early arrival is most fortuitous, sir. Since you are intent on finding a wife”—she looked him over again—“Yes, well, perhaps it is best you’ve come early, for I believe we do have our work cut out, if you don’t mind my saying. And there is no time like the present to begin.”
    “Um, I…that is to say…” he stammered anew, glancing over his shoulder at Thatcher as if he expected the duke to step in and save the day.
    Tally nearly smiled. Mr. Ryder had asked Felicity to find him a wife? Oh, the poor man. But she wouldn’t have been in a rush to pity Mr. Ryder if she had known what Felicity had in mind next.
    The duchess glanced over at her sister. “Tally, I’ll need your help with Mr. Ryder.”
    “ Me? ”
    “Of course, you!” Felicity’s smile widened, which was never a good sign. Like a cat about to pounce. “Unless you have something better to do?”
    She could think of a thousand things, quite frankly, for this