The Summer Bride (A Chance Sisters Romance) Read Free

downstairs.”
    Featherby seated himself with a reminiscent sigh. “All of us living on the brink of disaster.”
    “Yeah, but—”
    “William was an ageing, broken-down prizefighter, getting pounded to mincemeat for a few shillings, and I was a disgraced former butler, dismissed without a character for drunkenness.”
    “Drunkenness?” Daisy gave him a surprised look. “But I’ve never seen you touch even a drop.”
    “Not now, I don’t. But it was pure luck”—he smiled—“
chance
, if you will—that you girls needed our help that day. And that Lady Beatrice took William and myself in, as well as you girls.” He gave her a long, steady look. “We’re secure now—or as secure as any servant with an elderly employer can be—and we have no intention of risking our position.”
    Daisy narrowed her eyes. “Are you sayin’ I’m threatening your security?”
    “No, not at all,” Featherby said smoothly. “But—and I say this on the strength of our previous acquaintanceship, and not as a butler—or not only as a butler—do as the old lady wants, Daisy.”
    “But it’s stupid—”
    “Do it anyway. It matters to her that she teach you all the things a lady needs to know.”
    Daisy rolled her eyes. How many more times did she have to say it. “But I ain’t never gunna—”
    “Do it anyway,” Featherby repeated. “Because you love her. Because she loves you.”
    Daisy was silent a moment. Lots of talk of love flying around this morning. She wasn’t used to it. Had no idea how to handle it.
    She frowned, considering his words. She did love the old lady, she did. But . . . She gestured to the piles of garments in various stages of construction. “Look at all this, Featherby. I ain’t got time to waste ladifying meself for no good reason.”
    “Make the time.”
    “And how does me work get done, eh?”
    Featherby shrugged. “Find another way. You’re talented and clever and resourceful. And you’re young. You have your whole future ahead of you, Daisy.” He lowered his voice for emphasis. “Lady Beatrice doesn’t. She’s old. And whatever her reason, this is what she wants for you.”
    “Did she send you up here to talk me into—?”
    Featherby looked slightly affronted. “No, she has no idea. I sought you out as a friend, not as a butler.”
    Daisy believed him. She nodded, mollified.
    Featherby waited a moment, then continued, “Lady Beatrice is the reason none of us is still living in a rundown slum, living from hand to mouth. She’s the reason you have this rosy future you’re working so hard for.”
    There was a long silence. “You’re sayin’ I owe her.”
    Featherby made a noncommittal gesture. “It’s your decision.”
    Daisy heaved a sigh. “I know.” She hesitated, rubbing a finger back and forth along the seam of her skirt, then muttered. “But I feel like such a fool, Mr. Featherby, clumpin’ around practicing curtseys wiv me gammy leg, let alone trying to dance.”
    “I know,” he said gently. A faint smile crossed his normally impassive features. “You should have heard William the first time he put on footman’s livery.”
    Daisy looked up. “He didn’t like it?”
    Featherby’s smile widened. “He loathed it. Swore he wasn’t going to go around all trussed up like a Christmas goose.”
    Daisy laughed. Big, rough-hewn William wasn’t the smoothest of footmen.
    “But he grew accustomed to it, and he found a way to make the role his own,” Featherby finished. “And so will you, Daisy. You can do anything you put your mind to.”
    Proving, Daisy thought, that he’d heard the whole argument between her and Lady Bea. Still, Featherby wasn’t given to saying things he didn’t mean. “You reckon so?”
    “I know so. So, will you attend the lesson tomorrow?”
    Daisy sighed. “You know I will. You’ve made me feel that big.” She made a gesture with thumb and finger.
    Featherby gave her an approving smile. “My dear, never think that I