Read Online A Taste for Scandal by Erin Knightley - Free Book Online

decided to answer in kind. “I’m still alive, so I am assuming not. Unless arsenic is slower acting than I realized, in which case perhaps we should give it more time.”
    Mother shook her head. “Richard, you are completely incorrigible. How is it that the most charming man I know managed to be so insulting—and to a female, no less? I’m really quite disappointed. I thought I raised you better than that.”
    He sighed. This was why he couldn’t wait to have his own rooms back. “Nothing wounds me more than the thought of your censure, Mother. I’ll have you know I was just on my way to make amends.” And procure some more biscuits. His mouth watered at the very thought.
    “Oh, good, would you escort me to Bond Street?” Beatrice looked to him with pleading eyes. “Lord Andrew asked if he could call on me today, and I would very much like to have the green ribbon that I didn’t have yesterday. I think in the daylight, it will really bring out the green in my eyes.”
    “Your eyes are blue, Beatrice,” Carolyn pointed out, giving her a look that clearly said Beatrice was daft.
    “Of course they are, but they have some green flecks, too. Mr. Hamilton said as much while we were dancing last week.”
    “Mr. Hamilton needs his eyes examined,” Jocelyn muttered.
    “I’m sure that is not true, Jocelyn,” Mother said, ever the peacekeeper. “Beatrice, I’m certain Richard would be delighted to accompany you. Isn’t that so, Richard?” His mother looked to him with steel in her eyes.
    So this was to be his penance. He could ignore them all and be on his way, but he was rather fond of the lot of them. Especially when Beatrice leveled those big, beseeching eyes on him.
    He sighed. Perhaps it was best to have a mitigating presence with him anyway, in case things didn’t go as well as he anticipated. At least Beatrice was the most reserved of his sisters. Dipping his head, he said, “With pleasure, my dear.”
    “Mrs. Brown is here. She wants to talk to you.”
    Jane looked up from the egg whites she was whisking and frowned at her brother. “Mrs. Brown?”
    Weston nodded, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “And she doesn’t look happy.”
    Well, that wasn’t saying much. Their across-the-street neighbor never looked happy. How the kindly old tea shop owner across the way had come to marry such an odious woman, Jane couldn’t imagine. “What does she want?”
    Weston clomped down the steps in his oversized boots, recently raided from the chest of their father’s old belongings. Screwing up his face in a fair representation of Mrs. Brown, he said in a high-pitched wobble, “My business is of no concern to you, young man. Now go fetch your sister posthaste—I haven’t got all day.”
    Jane’s heart sank. She sounded even more in a state than usual. Why, oh why did the woman have to take such a dislike to her? Jane sighed hugely—she really was not in the mood for this—and wiped her hands on a rag. “Can you wash up and take over for me? It has a good ten minutes to go, so just keep going until I come back.”
    Weston saluted her and Jane headed up the steps and down the short corridor to face Mrs. Brown. Her brother had cleaned the shop from floor to ceiling yesterday after the series of calamities they had endured, but many of the battle wounds were still evident. With half her good platters reduced to rubble, they had supplemented the remaining pieces with the plain stoneware from their personal plates. An unsightly crack now bisected the glass door of the display cabinet behind the counter, and one of the shelves had been broken clear in half. The dull ache deep in her heart sharpened at the sight. It pained her to know that she couldn’t afford the repairs any time soon—she took pride in the tidy little shop. Still, the early sun slanted in through the front windows, making the two intact glass-topped display dishes she had left sparkle merrily. And most important, the sweet scent of baked