Read Online Simply Perfect by Mary Balogh - Free Book Online Page A

wondered crossly—did one come almost to
need
men, to
miss
them when they were not around?
    But fortunately she remembered Mr. Upton and Mr. Huckerby, two of her teachers. She did not wilt—or notice anyone else wilting—when they went home every evening. She did not need Mr. Keeble, except to be the porter at her school.
    She watched resentfully as the Marquess of Attingsborough swung with ease into his saddle, looking impossibly handsome as he did so. She was really coming to dislike him quite intensely. Gentlemen had no business trying to charm ladies who had no wish whatsoever to be charmed.
    â€œWhat a lovely gentleman he is,” Flora said with a sigh, looking after him too. “If he were only ten years or so younger!”
    Edna sighed too.
    â€œWe will be in London soon,” Claudia said cheerfully, “and we will see Viscountess Whitleaf again.”
    Susanna and Peter had insisted that the girls stay at their house on Grosvenor Square as well as Claudia until they began their teaching duties.
    â€œAnd the baby,” Edna said, brightening. “Do you suppose she will allow us to see him, miss?”
    â€œShe will probably be delighted to show him off,” Claudia said with a pang of something that felt uncomfortably like envy. Susanna had given birth to Baby Harry just a month ago.
    â€œI hope she lets us hold him,” Flora said. “I used to get to hold the babies in the orphanage. It was my
favorite
thing.”
    The carriage moved onward and for a short while the Marquess of Attingsborough rode alongside it. He dipped his head to look in and his eyes met Claudia’s. He smiled and touched the brim of his hat.
    She wished—she really,
really
wished that he were not so very male. Not all men were. Not that the others were necessarily effeminate. But this man possessed maleness in an unfair abundance.
And
he knew it. She hoped fervently she would not see him again after her arrival in London. Her life was peaceful. It had taken her many years to achieve that state of tranquillity. She had no desire whatsoever to feel again all the turmoil and all the needs she had fought so hard through her twenties before finally suppressing them.
    She truly resented the Marquess of Attingsborough.
    He made her feel uncomfortable.
    He somehow reminded her that apart from everything she had achieved during the past fifteen years, she was also a woman.

4

    The Marquess of Attingsborough’s carriage delivered Claudia
and the girls directly to the door of Viscount Whitleaf’s mansion on Grosvenor Square in Mayfair late in the afternoon, and Susanna and Peter were in the open doorway smiling their welcome even before the coachman had let down the steps.
    It was a very splendid home indeed, but Claudia only half noticed in all the bustle and warmth of the greetings that awaited them all. Susanna hugged her, looking radiantly healthy for a woman who had given birth only one month previously. Then she hugged Edna, who squealed and giggled at seeing her old teacher again, and Flora, who squealed also and talked at double speed while Peter greeted Claudia with a warm smile and handshake and then welcomed the girls.
    The marquess did not stay but rode off on his hired horse after exchanging pleasantries with Susanna and Peter, bidding Claudia farewell, and wishing Flora and Edna well in their future employment.
    Claudia was not sorry to see him go.
    Flora and Edna were given rooms on the nursery floor, a fact that delighted both of them after they had seen the dark-haired little Harry and had been assured that they would have other chances to peep in on him before they left. They were to take their meals with the housekeeper, who was apparently anticipating their company with considerable pleasure.
    Claudia was simply to enjoy herself.
    â€œAnd that is an order,” Peter said, his eyes twinkling, after Susanna had told her so. “I have learned not to argue with my wife when