Read Online Don't Look Back by Amanda Quick - Free Book Online Page A

footsteps, Lavinia."
    There was a short, extremely heavy silence.
    Lavinia finally realized that her mouth had fallen open in a most unattractive fashion. She managed to get it closed.
    "Ridiculous," she said.
    "I want to become your assistant, just as Anthony is doing with Mr. March."
    Lavinia stared at her, frozen in her chair by the sheer horror of it all.
    "Ridiculous," she said again. "Your parents would be shocked at the very notion of their dear daughter going into trade."
    "My parents are dead, Aunt Lavinia. Their feelings need not be considered in this matter."
    "But you know perfectly well how they would feel about it. When you came into my care I assumed a certain responsibility to establish you in the world as they would have wished. A lady does not go into this sort of business."
    Emeline smiled. "You are in the business and I consider you a lady." She looked at Tobias. "Don't you consider Aunt Lavinia a lady, sir?"
    "Absolutely," Tobias said easily. "I will call out any man who says otherwise."
    Lavinia rounded on him. "This is your doing, sir. You have put this crazed notion into Emeline's head as well as Anthony's."
    "I fear you cannot blame Mr. March," Emeline said.
    Tobias swallowed some of the biscuit and held up both hands, palms out. "I assure you, I gave neither of them any encouragement."
    Emeline smiled across the rim of her coffee cup. "If you must blame someone, blame yourself, Aunt Lavinia. You have been my greatest inspiration since the day I came to live with you."
    "Me?" Lavinia was stunned into momentary speechlessness a second time. She wondered if she was on the verge of swooning. She had never actually experienced a fainting spell, but surely this sensation of breathless dread was a prelude to such an event.
    "Indeed," Emeline continued firmly. "You have impressed me greatly with your astonishing ability to come about after the most devastating reversals of fortune. Reversals that would have crushed most people, male or female. I do so admire your extraordinary resilience and cleverness."
    Tobias's mouth twitched. "Not to mention your ingenious ability to garner invitations to some of the most important and exclusive social affairs of the Season, Lavinia. No one else of my acquaintance could have managed to combine an investigation into murder with the successful launch of a young lady into Society as you did a few weeks ago, madam. It was a truly astonishing feat."
    Lavinia propped her elbows on the table and dropped her face into her hands. "This is a disaster."
    "Emeline is quite right to hold you up as a paragon and model of female behavior." Tobias picked up his coffee cup. "Indeed, I do not see how she could do better than to look to you for inspiration."
    Lavinia raised her head and glared at him. "Kindly cease your teasing, sir. I am not in the mood for it."
    Before Tobias could respond, Mrs. Chilton walked into the breakfast room bearing a heavily laden dish. "Here ye are, sir. Eggs and potatoes."
    "Thank you, Mrs. Chilton. Your talents in the kitchen are really quite remarkable. If you ever take a notion to leave your present employer, I hope you will apply for a position in my household."
    Mrs. Chilton chuckled. "Doubt that'll happen, sir. But I thank you for the offer. Will there be anything else?"
    Tobias tilted the small jam pot to examine the interior. "I believe that we are out of your excellent currant jam, Mrs. Chilton. I vow, it is far and away the best I have ever tasted."
    "I'll fetch some more."
    Mrs. Chilton vanished back through the door that led to the kitchen.
    Lavinia gave Tobias a repressive look. He gave no indication that he noticed. He was too busy with his eggs and potatoes.
    "I'll thank you not to try to steal my staff, sir," she said.
    Emeline uttered a tiny, dramatic little exclamation and made a show of glancing at the watch pinned to her bodice. "Oh, dear, you will have to excuse me." She folded her napkin and rose lightly to her feet. "I must go and dress.