Season's Regency Greetings Read Free

Miss Cecilia Ambrose.”
    Cecilia didn’t see how he did it, not with children on both sides of him, but he managed an elegant bow. You are well trained enough, she thought as she curtsied back, even if you do look like a refugee from Bedlam. “Delighted to meet you,” she said.
    â€œ I doubt it,” he replied, and there was no mistaking the good humor in his wonderful voice. “You are probably wondering what lunatic asylum I escaped from.”
    It was not the comment she expected, and certainly not the appraisal she was used to: one glance, and then another, when the person did not think she was looking. Cecilia could see nothing but goodwill on his face, rather than suspicion.
    â€œ My uncle is a barrister,” the young boy said. He tugged on the man’s sleeve. “I shall go find Janet,” he said, and went into the house.
    â€œ You are … you are a barrister?” she asked. The name was familiar to her. Was he a father of a student in her advanced watercolor class? No, that was not it. It will come to me, she thought.
    â€œ Miss Ambrose, he is the best barrister in the City,” Lucinda assured her. She leaned against him, and Cecilia could tell that in the short space of a few minutes, all of Miss Dupree’s deportment lessons had flown away on little wings. “Papa says he likes to right wrongs, and that is why he almost never comes here. There are more wrongs in London, apparently.”
    The man laughed. “You’re too polite, dear Lucy,” he replied, and gave his niece a squeeze before he released her. “He refers to me as the patron saint of lost causes.” He gestured toward Cecilia. “Come indoors, Miss Ambrose. You’re looking a little chilly.”
    The foyer was as beautiful as she had thought it would be, soft color on the walls, delicate plasterwork above, and intricate parquetry underfoot. “What a wonderful place,” she said.
    â€œ It is, indeed,” Lord Trevor agreed. “I know there are many country seats larger than this one, but none more lovely, to my way of thinking.” He rubbed his hands and looked around. “I love to come home, now and then.”
    â€œ Where is Mama?” Lucy asked as a footman silently approached and divested her of her traveling cloak.
    â€œ Lucy! Thank God you have come! This family is beset with Trying Events!”
    Well, I suppose I can safely say that others in this family besides Lucy tend to speak in capital letters, Cecilia thought as she allowed Lord Trevor to help in the removal of her cloak. Lucy ran to her sister Janet, who stood with her arms outstretched dramatically.
    â€œ I do believe the most trying event is Janet’s propensity to be Yorkshire’s premier actress of melodrama and melancholy,” Lord Trevor murmured to her as he handed her cloak to the footman. “I have only been here three days myself, and already I want to strangle her.”
    She looked at him in surprise, then put her lips together so she would not laugh.
    Lord Trevor only grinned at her, which made the matter worse. “Such forbearance, Miss Ambrose,” he said. “You have my permission to laugh! If you can withstand this, then you must be the lady who teaches deportment at Miss Dupree’s Whatchamacallit.”
    â€œ Far from it,” she replied. “I teach drawing and the pianoforte.”
    He took her arm through his and walked her down the hall toward the two young ladies. “My dear Janet, wouldn’t this be a good time to tell your sister what is going on, before she thinks that pirates from the Barbary Coast have abducted your parents?”
    â€œ Lucy would never think such a thing!” Janet declared, looking at him earnestly. “I doubt there have ever been any pirates in Yorkshire.”
    Lord Trevor only sighed. Forcing down her laughter, Cecilia spoke up in what she hoped were her best educator’s tones. “Lady