Page 16 of Her Sort of Scoundrel
“Tellme more about your interests, Miss Forbes. The things you’re passionate about.” Fiona poured tea and spoke in a light tone, noting the girl’s nervousness.
Pretty, soft-spoken, and scrupulously well-mannered, Dash’s ward would no doubt capture the eye of many eligible noblemen when she made her debut. But so far, their conservation had been all polite formality, and even that seemed to make the girl nervous.
Her timidity worried Fiona. Agreeableness might make her appealing to a bevy of suitors, but it would also make her vulnerable to the sort who wanted nothing more than a biddable wife.
Aurelia sipped her tea and seemed to take a moment to ponder her answer. “I enjoy reading, and I’m quite good at drawing and watercolor painting.” She smiled and then rushed out, “And dancing, of course. I’m afraid I don’t play piano terribly well, but I have a tutor and hope to improve.”
“An admirable list,” Fiona agreed, then savored a sip of her own tea. Perhaps this hadn’t been the best way to meet the young lady. If they’d gone riding or for a walk, perhaps Miss Forbes would have felt freer to be her true self.
Fiona leaned forward on her chair. “Now tell me what truly interests you. If you could study any topic, let us say, what would it be?”
Miss Forbes nibbled her lip, then stiffened as if realizing that was not quite ladylike.
“I love taking walks,” she offered with delightful sincerity.
“Yes, I know you do. I see you and Lord Granford out most days.”
“Oh yes. I don’t feel right if I haven’t been out for a stroll during the day.” This brought the first genuine, unpracticed smile since Miss Forbes had settled herself on a cushioned bench near a flowering vine.
“So you’re fond of nature.”
“Indeed.” She dipped her head, squeezed her hands together, and finally confessed, “Insects, my lady. If I could study any topic at my leisure, it would be entomology. My second choice would be botany in general. I love a garden.”
“That’s wonderful, Miss Forbes.” Fiona laughed and assessed the young lady anew. “You see, that’s the sort of thing I like to know about a fellow lady. Not the niceties, the talents we’re all expected to acquire, but what fires her heart and mind.”
The girl swallowed hard. “I tell very few people. It’s not terribly ladylike, is it? I mean, most people don’t like bugs.”
“But you do, and I find that fascinating.”
Miss Forbes’s cheeks pinked, but she sat up a bit straighter in her chair.
“Lady Fiona,” she said a moment later, “perhaps Lord Granford has explained that I need your help to navigate the Season.”
“Yes…” Fiona was just getting to like the girl and hated to disappoint her, though the notion of trying to steer a girl this young and bright into marriage within a year made her queasy.
“He did mention that you might not wish to participate in the Season.”
“It’s not exactly that.” Fiona sat her teacup aside. “I was married soon after my first Season. That marriage was not as I expected it to be, shall we say. And it ended just four years after we’d exchanged vows with the death of my husband.”
“My condolences, my lady.”
“Thank you, Miss Forbes. You’re very kind and faultlessly polite.” Fiona let out a sigh and decided that plain-speaking was always best. “I’ve come to relish the freedom I have as a widow. Some might be offended to hear me say such a thing. Indeed, many urged me to marry again, but I find that my opinion of the institution has changed.”
“You don’t recommend it?” Miss Forbes asked with a wry smile.
There was no point in prevaricating with the young lady.
“I do not. At least not until a young woman knows herself. And certainly not until she knows the man in question extremely well.”
“I suppose during the Season everyone is, by necessity, on their best behavior.”
“That’s it precisely, Miss Forbes.”
“So you never plan to marry again, my lady?”
Fiona didn’t feel any of the prickliness she might if one of her noblewomen friends, or an aged aunt, asked the question.
“I don’t know that I’ll ever a meet a man who’ll allow me the autonomy I’ve come to enjoy. And I know that I’m lucky to not need to marry out of necessity.”
