Hunting the Hero (The Wild Randalls 4)

At that, Meredith’s curiosity was stirred. “Lord Grayling’s children are rather quiet.”

Their silence had been rather concerning. Children so young had no cause to be so restrained in the presence of a parent.

“They miss their mother terribly.” Lady Farnsworth sighed. “She was their whole world. Gray wasn’t always so good with them and the eldest remembers. I’ve done all I can, but a succession of governesses coming and going hasn’t helped ease their grief. The girls need stability. So does Gray.”

“They have you.”

“Not really.” Lady Farnsworth frowned and looked out the window. “Everyone expected us to wed when he came out of mourning. I’m sure my brother-in-law did, or hoped to be rid of me. Yet while I’m fond of the children, Gray is more like a brother. I could never marry him.”

With her stunning good looks, Lady Farnsworth could marry anyone she chose or none at all. It was a pity she didn’t have an easier time of it with her family. But wasn’t that the way of the world? Friends were often more reliable. “Grayling explained some of the difficulties you have with Farnsworth. Is there any way to be free? Or is there someone you want to marry so you may escape him?”

A sad smile crossed her face. “No one comes to mind.”

They were silent as the carriage drew to a halt before the large manor house. Meredith stepped out onto the front steps and looked around curiously. Lady Farnsworth’s estate, or rather her brother-in-law’s, was rather too neat for her taste. Not a leaf out of place and no color due to the time of year. Since Meredith had come to stay there had been few visitors for the lady. She must get lonely. “So you live here alone most of the year?”

“At the moment I’m alone. Francesca, a lady whose husband deserved a sound whipping, has recently returned to her family in York. She stayed with me a few months while waiting for word from her brother that he would take her in. Farnsworth doesn’t much care for strangers living in his house, but what he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him.”

The butler, in the act of allowing them to pass inside, grinned widely. “Will you be needing the carriage again today, my lady?”

It was clear the servant approved of their lady’s decisions to keep Farnsworth in the dark, too. How interesting.

“Not until tomorrow for the journey to London,” she said. “We’ll dine informally tonight and then tomorrow you may close the house at your leisure. I won’t return for some time.”

The butler nodded. “You’ll be very much missed, my lady.”

Lady Farnsworth glanced left and right into the empty lower rooms, her expression pensive. Meredith never liked to stay in one place for long. She liked to have options. However, even she could imagine being summoned to London must seem like exile to a lady who liked her home.

Meredith caught the lady’s eye. “Do you do that often? Take in strays like myself?”

Lady Farnsworth linked arms with her and led her up the stairs, deeper into the house. “I’d hardly call you a stray, Meredith Clark. I was rather impressed with how you conducted yourself when we met. I wish I had your courage.”

Meredith followed Lady Farnsworth into her dressing room and assisted in removing her pelisse to begin packing for the trip to London. “I’d say you already had enough courage of your own. Proper ladies do not visit bawdy houses to steal away a woman with my background, Lady Farnsworth.”

“Oh please, it’s Arabella.” She returned her bonnet to a shelf. “And what exactly is your background? Your diction and grace belie the life you were living.” She wagged a finger. “There is something about you that tugs at the mind. I feel we have met before, a long time ago, but that cannot be, can it?”

Assured no one would ever make the connection to her past, Meredith shrugged aside the question. She had covered her trail rather well. “You, my lady, have an overactive imagination. Why did you really bring me back here for another night? A servant could have fetched my meager possessions and brought them to Stanton Harold Hall.”

“Ah.” Arabella sighed as she glanced over her shoulder, checked for servants, and then closed the door. “I’d like to take advantage of your unique expertise.”

For a moment, Meredith couldn’t imagine what expertise she had of value until she realized that a lady, a widow, might have a keen interest in broadening her knowledge of the intimate arts. “With men?”

Arabella nodded slowly, a flush of color sweeping up her cheeks.

“But you’re a widow. Surely…” Meredith left the rest unsaid as she divined the nature of Lady Farnsworth’s marriage and her current level of discomfort with the subject. The frequent blushes and oddly stilted phrases about intimate relations had not been what she was used to hearing, but she’d failed to detect the correct level of Arabella’s experience. She might not be a bride anymore, but she was no experienced widow either. Meredith would bet her prettiest bauble on it. “You’re a virgin.”

The lady glanced away, her cheeks turning a fiery red. “My husband already had two healthy sons from his first marriage and lacked only funds to keep him in life’s little luxuries. He wanted my dowry but not me. I’m eight and twenty and haven’t the faintest idea of what to do to correct the oversight.”

To tutor a virgin, a proper lady, in the intimate arts would be the challenge of her life. She would have to only convey the most useful information and give her confi

dence enough to carry it out later. She had less than a day to do all that, yet there was nothing she liked more than to teach what she knew. Meredith caught Arabella’s hand in hers and squeezed. Men would crumble under such a delicate touch. “What is learned, discovered, cannot be unlearned. You may never look at a gentleman the same way again. Are you sure you are prepared for that?”

“No. But I must.” Arabella shook her head. “I refuse to die a virgin. I saw how keenly Grayling regarded you. He did not want you to leave his home today. If I had not come back when I did I am sure he would have been rather more flustered. No gentleman has ever looked at me in such a fashion. I should like that at least once before I die. Can you teach me to be more like you, to capture a man’s interest?”

Meredith felt the stirrings of sympathy. A life without intimate relations was a barren life. Meredith tried not to remember that she had agreed to such a thing, even for a little while longer in Grayling’s company. She paced the room, stopping to occasionally admire the extensive wardrobe of fine dresses around them while she considered the chances of success. Too many of them were too prim for her taste, but the colors were lovely. “Does this fellow have a name? The one you hope to seduce.”

“He does, but I cannot speak it. In truth we’ve never spoken more than a few words, but I fear he will not be interested in a woman like me.” She scrunched her nose. “A bookish virgin. Never. He prefers women who frequent establishments such as the type you were living in recently and other women who have few morals.”

Meredith turned that over in her mind. “He wouldn’t happen to be the gentleman entering the House when you came to visit me a few days ago?”