Read Online Not Quite a Lady by Loretta Chase - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Loretta Chase
Tags: Fiction, Historical
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She’s a countrywoman. She will enjoy the challenge, I don’t doubt. Is that not so, my dear?”
“What challenge, Stepmama?” said Lady Charlotte.
“We are going to put Beechwood House to rights.”
Lady Charlotte gave her stepmother one short, shocked look. It was so brief that Darius would have missed it had he blinked. A fraction of a second later, her placid cow mask was back in place.
“Are we, indeed?” she said coolly. “I should have supposed that the last thing in the world Mr. Carsington would want is a pair of women he hardly knows fussing about his house. He has so much work to do, and a great deal on his mind. I should think he would want a refuge. Instead of allowing him an island of calm, we shall turn his house upside down. We shall have bricklayers and carpenters and plasterers and paperhangers and such banging about. And scaffolding everywhere. Not to mention we must pester him about this, that, and the other thing—for after all, it is his house, and ought to be the way he likes it.”
She met his gaze then.
For an instant he was lost in a vision of a beautiful someone making a refuge for him, a place of warmth and order, a place of his own where things were as he liked them to be.
Then his mind cleared, and in the cool blue eyes he saw the death threat once more.
The message was plain enough: Agree to this, and I will kill you with my bare hands.
That was amusing.
Logic told him he couldn’t afford to be amused. He must decline the offer, and to hell with Mrs. Badgely. Lady Lithby’s involvement would cost him thousands. He was supposed to turn a profit.
The trouble was, Lady Charlotte clearly wanted nothing to do with his house.
The trouble was, she had left him to Mrs. Steepleton’s ear-numbing chatter, then Mrs. Badgely’s scolding.
“When you put it that way, Lady Charlotte,” he said, “how can I possibly say no?”
Charlotte really was going to have to kill him.
She smiled sweetly, and said, “If Mr. Carsington does not mind our destroying his peace, I shall be happy to help. It should be a most interesting undertaking. I do not believe Lady Margaret made any improvements to the house in all the time she lived there.”
“A fossil of a house,” said Mrs. Badgely. “The same as it was in your great-grandfather’s time. Lithby Hall was a fossil, too, but not so ramshackle.”
“A little old-fashioned,” said Lady Lithby.
“Inconvenient,” said Mrs. Badgely. “The rectory was more modern when I came, and that isn’t saying much.”
“It was a good while before I did anything of importance here,” Lady Lithby said.
This was because she’d spent most of the first three years of her marriage saving Charlotte from herself, and several years after that giving Papa four healthy little boys.
“You are too modest,” Charlotte said. “From the first day you came, you made us more orderly and comfortable.”
All the same, it was naughty of Lizzie to give Charlotte no warning at all before dragging her into her Beechwood House scheme.
“Comfortable is all very well, but the recent work is splendid,” said Mrs. Badgely. “I only wish you could have seen Lithby Hall three years ago, Mr. Carsington, to compare. You would hardly recognize it.”
Being a man, he was unlikely to notice what was wrong and inconvenient, Charlotte thought. Certainly he could have no idea what he was in for once Lizzie took charge. Papa certainly hadn’t realized.
Oh, but it had been great fun.
Perhaps, after all, Lizzie had done her a favor. A large project like this would offer Charlotte a happy distraction, if only temporarily, from the nightmare of the coming house party.
The project would certainly offer Mr. Carsington an unhappy distraction, and that would be fun, too. Meanwhile, she’d love to see his face when he began to understand what would happen when Lizzie took control.
Charlotte donned her most innocent expression. “I made some paintings and drawings
“What challenge, Stepmama?” said Lady Charlotte.
“We are going to put Beechwood House to rights.”
Lady Charlotte gave her stepmother one short, shocked look. It was so brief that Darius would have missed it had he blinked. A fraction of a second later, her placid cow mask was back in place.
“Are we, indeed?” she said coolly. “I should have supposed that the last thing in the world Mr. Carsington would want is a pair of women he hardly knows fussing about his house. He has so much work to do, and a great deal on his mind. I should think he would want a refuge. Instead of allowing him an island of calm, we shall turn his house upside down. We shall have bricklayers and carpenters and plasterers and paperhangers and such banging about. And scaffolding everywhere. Not to mention we must pester him about this, that, and the other thing—for after all, it is his house, and ought to be the way he likes it.”
She met his gaze then.
For an instant he was lost in a vision of a beautiful someone making a refuge for him, a place of warmth and order, a place of his own where things were as he liked them to be.
Then his mind cleared, and in the cool blue eyes he saw the death threat once more.
The message was plain enough: Agree to this, and I will kill you with my bare hands.
That was amusing.
Logic told him he couldn’t afford to be amused. He must decline the offer, and to hell with Mrs. Badgely. Lady Lithby’s involvement would cost him thousands. He was supposed to turn a profit.
The trouble was, Lady Charlotte clearly wanted nothing to do with his house.
The trouble was, she had left him to Mrs. Steepleton’s ear-numbing chatter, then Mrs. Badgely’s scolding.
“When you put it that way, Lady Charlotte,” he said, “how can I possibly say no?”
Charlotte really was going to have to kill him.
She smiled sweetly, and said, “If Mr. Carsington does not mind our destroying his peace, I shall be happy to help. It should be a most interesting undertaking. I do not believe Lady Margaret made any improvements to the house in all the time she lived there.”
“A fossil of a house,” said Mrs. Badgely. “The same as it was in your great-grandfather’s time. Lithby Hall was a fossil, too, but not so ramshackle.”
“A little old-fashioned,” said Lady Lithby.
“Inconvenient,” said Mrs. Badgely. “The rectory was more modern when I came, and that isn’t saying much.”
“It was a good while before I did anything of importance here,” Lady Lithby said.
This was because she’d spent most of the first three years of her marriage saving Charlotte from herself, and several years after that giving Papa four healthy little boys.
“You are too modest,” Charlotte said. “From the first day you came, you made us more orderly and comfortable.”
All the same, it was naughty of Lizzie to give Charlotte no warning at all before dragging her into her Beechwood House scheme.
“Comfortable is all very well, but the recent work is splendid,” said Mrs. Badgely. “I only wish you could have seen Lithby Hall three years ago, Mr. Carsington, to compare. You would hardly recognize it.”
Being a man, he was unlikely to notice what was wrong and inconvenient, Charlotte thought. Certainly he could have no idea what he was in for once Lizzie took charge. Papa certainly hadn’t realized.
Oh, but it had been great fun.
Perhaps, after all, Lizzie had done her a favor. A large project like this would offer Charlotte a happy distraction, if only temporarily, from the nightmare of the coming house party.
The project would certainly offer Mr. Carsington an unhappy distraction, and that would be fun, too. Meanwhile, she’d love to see his face when he began to understand what would happen when Lizzie took control.
Charlotte donned her most innocent expression. “I made some paintings and drawings
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