Read Online Magic in the Stars by Patricia Rice - Free Book Online Page A

don’t want to hear that,” Theo grumbled, shoving
the pamphlet into his coat pocket. “Next, you’ll be asking women to join the
Society.”
    Herschel snorted and bent over his pen and paper again. “Why
do you think I’m here and not at home? Not a chance, my boy, not a chance.”
    Weary in mind and soul, Theo stumbled back to Pascoe’s to
find an invitation waiting for him from Lady Azenor to join her and a few
guests for tea. Theo stopped to examine his reflection in the hall mirror and
tried to determine if his rumpled cravat and the gravy stain on his waistcoat
might pass muster.
    “You need a valet,” Pascoe said, wandering down the corridor
from his study.
    “I don’t need a valet to make glass or study the stars. Can
I hire a temporary valet?” Theo asked.
    “Most likely not. And my Merritt is not available. He’s
invaluable as far more than a valet. He can even keep books. The problem with most
servants is that they’re uneducated and only trained in one task.”
    “Not a problem I’m inclined to tackle,” Theo acknowledged. “Iveston
is filled to overflowing with untrained, uneducated Ives progeny. Maybe I
should marry a schoolteacher and keep the brats home.”
    “A schoolteacher who will train them to be stewards and
valets?” Pascoe hooted. “Ives don’t make good servants.”
    “Outlaws, pirates, and potentates,” Theo agreed in
frustration. “We’re useless.”
    “Leaders and men of science are always needed. We’re just
worthless for domestic purposes. Have Lady Azenor find a match for me while
you’re at it. One who can tell stories to the demanding fiends in the nursery.”
    “I’d rather be an outlaw,” Theo growled. Realizing he was
late, he hurried off without hunting for more starched linen.
    Upon reaching the lady’s street, Theo swallowed a lump of
panic. Three carriages were unloading a wave of women in enormous silk sleeves,
bell-like skirts, and frippery from head to toe.
    The lady had been busy. If he weren’t so terrified, he’d be
impressed. His future could be in one of those carriages.
    He hurried to assist the women emerging from the last vehicle.
Enveloped in their silks, laces, and perfumes, Theo was too overwhelmed by
femininity to notice if the occupants were fair or young. They chattered to him
and each other as Lady Azenor’s surly footman held the door open.
    Theo entered last and the footman winked at him. Taken
aback, Theo absent-mindedly clung to his hat and followed the ladies into the
colorful parlor.
    Azenor was garbed in peacock blue today. Unlike the others,
she wore reasonable sleeves and a simple skirt that didn’t require voluminous frills.
Short, compared to her guests, she still stood out like a beacon of rationality
and a star in the night sky. Theo wanted to grab her and carry her off and be
done with it.
    Which was utter nonsense and probably a product of panic.
This marriage business required a good deal more . . . sensory stimulation  . . .
than his solitude-loving brain could handle all at once.
    He remembered to bow politely at introductions but didn’t remember
a single woman’s name while he watched the footman carry off his hat.
    “Miss Jenkins,” Lady Azenor reminded him, catching Theo’s
arm and turning him toward a voluptuous woman wrapped to the chin in lavender.
“Lord Theo is an astronomer. He says I must find empirical evidence to prove my
charts are accurate.”
    “As an astronomer, you should be able to duplicate Lady
Azenor’s charts mathematically,” Miss Jenkins said in a voice deeper than
Theo’s own. “I have done so, although I cannot deduce more than when the
planets are aligned with the sun.”
    “You are a mathematician?” he asked, more aware of the
interesting mop of copper curls at his side than the Juno he faced.
    “I enjoy numbers and equations but find little use for them
in dealing with my younger sisters. Do you find astronomy useful?”
    “Miss Jenkins is raising her sisters