Read Online In the Flesh by Portia Da Costa - Free Book Online Page B

up her maid’s frisky side.
    “Well, he’s a smart sort of chap. He doesn’t look like a toff, but he’s well set up. Very well set up.” Polly cocked her head on one side, and licked her lips. “They both are, Miss Bea. If I was in the position to get a letter, I wouldn’t mind getting one from either of them, I must admit.” Did Polly wink? Beatrice could swear she had done. She gave the girl an old-fashioned look, and Polly, used to being absurdly indulged, replied with a shrug.
    “Did he say who sent him, this spokesman of the pair, who the letter is from?”
    “It’s from a gentleman of your recent acquaintance, he said. Said you’d be expecting it too.” Polly nodded at the envelope, where it lay on the bedcover like an incendiary device clad in heavy cream bond. “Aren’t you going to open it now, miss?”
    “All in good time, all in good time.” She didn’t look up. Clever Polly had instincts like a razor. Especially when she scented something juicy going on. “You can go back down and inform this man in charge of yours that I’ll reply when I’m good and ready. He and his friend can wait if they so desire, but they might be here all day, and I’m sure whoever sent them has other duties for them.”
    “Yes, miss. I’ll tell him that exactly.” Polly’s eyes twinkled when Beatrice finally lifted her gaze, and she adjusted her cap and straightened her apron. “But I don’t really think he’s my man in charge at all, miss. In fact I think his mate is much more my fancy. A bit rough and ready and I like them that way.”
    “Polly!”
    Beatrice was well aware of what the other woman liked, and it wasn’t always as rough and ready as she’d just claimed.
    “Would you like some tea, miss? For while you read your letter?”
    Beatrice quelled a smile. Incorrigible as she was, Polly’s heart was kind. The two of them had been together a long time, and circumstances had forged a bond between them far beyond a conventional mistress and servant status. Beatrice was tempted to confide. But she really had to read the letter on her own first, and absorb its import without even Polly to distract her.
    “Yes, thank you, Polly. And you might as well give your men some tea too.”
    Polly bobbed a curtsy and retrieved the silver tray. “Shall I wake Mr. Charles then?” She paused, her eyes shrewd. “Or will you deal with it, miss?”
    To involve Charlie now would only cause a disturbance. He’d want to play his “man of the house” role, as any brother guardian quite naturally would. But it would be easier to present this to him as a fait accompli, with all the financial advantage it entailed already in place. He’d been strangely distracted last night in the carriage, and had barely spoken, his face relaxed and dreamy. It was probably much kinder to leave him in the dark for the moment and let him enjoy whatever it’d been that had put him in such a gentle good humor. He’d only get cross if he knew a certain person had come calling, and be both outraged and enraged—with perfect justification—on learning exactly what that person had come calling about.
    “No, let him sleep, Polly. And don’t mention our visitors until I’ve seen him.” Polly’s nod spoke volumes about her understanding of her employers, and Beatrice nodded back with a resigned little shrug.
    But as her maid reached the door, Beatrice called out. “This man…the one who seems to be in charge. Does his fair hair have a bit of curl about it?” Her hands shook as she studied her own name, written in strong, energetic script on the heavy, expensive-looking envelope.
    “Why yes, Miss Beatrice, how did you guess? That’s him to a tee.”
    Beatrice picked at the seal on the back of the envelope with the edge of her nail. “And his eyes, did you by any chance catch a glimpse of them? They wouldn’t happen to be blue, would they?”
    Polly’s smile was sly, even more speculative than before. “Yes indeed. Dark as night