Read Online Thea's Marquis by Carola Dunn - Free Book Online

knocked to direct the coachman to drive on, then said seriously, “All the same, you really must not go about in public without a female companion, or at least one of your brother’s footmen.”
    “By ‘in public’ you mean where I might be seen by the ton, do you not? I begin to think it unlikely that we shall ever enter polite circles.”
    “Why is that?” he asked, dismayed.
    “Jason says that Mama must introduce us to Society’s hostesses, but she is not acquainted with any. For myself, it does not matter, but my sister longs to make her come-out.” Thea took a deep breath, which Rod was coming to recognize as her way of steeling herself to accomplish some task she found alarming. “I don’t suppose you know any lady who might be willing to take Meg under her wing?”
    “I will see what I can do,” he said, more curtly than he had intended. He was aware of a certain disillusionment. Like every other female. Miss Thea Kilmore was after what she could get from him, even if it was for her sister, not herself.
    His tone made her wince. She seemed on the point of saying something, then decided against it.
    The carriage rolled south. As the day advanced, the streets grew busier with coal carts, brewers’ drays, apprentices opening shop fronts, and maids chatting while they scrubbed doorsteps. In silence, Thea watched the activity through the carriage window, her sensitive mouth drooping.
    Rod could not bear her quiet despondency. “I am sorry for snapping at you,” he said. “It was unfair when I had just told you to speak your mind frankly.”
    She turned to him eagerly. “Oh no, it was my fault for trespassing on your kindness. Indeed, I would have apologized and withdrawn my request, but for Meg’s sake I was willing to brave your displeasure.”
    “You are a devoted sister.”
    “Until Jason brought Penny to Newkirk, Meg was my only friend,” she said simply. “I want to see her happily married, perhaps the more so because I shall not wed.”
    “You are determined against marriage?”
    “I am trying to be realistic. At twenty-five, I must be considered on the shelf even were I not too tall and too stupidly timid to attract a husband. Megan is pretty and lively, and her youthful charm may be expected to offset her lack of fortune. I believe she can make a respectable match—with the proper introductions and fashionable clothes.”
    “I daresay she will,” he conceded.
    He would have gone on to dispute her poor opinion of her own attractions, but she said anxiously, “Penny bought me a beautiful new pelisse, but I thought, considering where we are going, that I’d best wear my old cloak. I hope you are not offended that I did not dress in my best to go with you.”
    Smiling, he shook his head. “My dear Miss Kilmore, I am not so easily offended. Your cloak is altogether suitable for the market. I wish I had had the same thought. I fear I shall stand out like a chaffinch among sparrows.”
    “Not a chaffinch, a pheasant.” She clapped her hand to her mouth in dismay at where the licence granted her tongue had led her, but above her hand her eyes twinkled at him.
    He laughed. “Come now, I am not so very much larger than my fellows, any more than you are. It is the constant contrast with your mother and sister that makes you over-conscious of your height.”
    She gave him a look at once grateful and doubting. He had no time to reinforce his point, for the carriage came to a halt and Billy opened the door.
    The noise of the market struck their ears. Cries of “’Taties, fine ’taties,” and “Buy my white cauliflower,” mingled with arguments over prices, a baby’s wail, and a general rumble of business and gossip.
    Rod helped Thea down and settled her hand firmly on his arm. “Don’t stray,” he commanded, and she nodded, overwhelmed by the bustling turmoil.
    The crowd parted instinctively before the tall aristocrat, and Thea and the marquis wandered between barrows, barrels, baskets,