Page 17 of Her Sort of Scoundrel
“Necessity?”
“To be blunt, out of financial need. Daughters are reliant on their fathers, and even if they wish to pursue employment, certain opportunities may be closed to them.”
Miss Forbes seemed to ponder this thoroughly, but Fiona sensed the young woman was holding something back. No doubt afraid to be impolite or too opinionated.
That Fiona understood. As a child, she’d been urged to be meek and mild, though none of that instruction had ever taken. With four brothers, Fiona fully believed the world would be a far better place if ladies expressed themselves as freely as men did.
“May I show you something?” Fiona asked her.
“Yes, please,” Miss Forbes replied excitedly.
Fiona stood and crooked her finger, urging the girl to follow. She led her around the central palms in the conservatory, back toward a corner where she cultivated flowers that could be used for cut arrangements in the house.
“If you like bugs, I thought you might want to see my latest visitors.”
Ladybugs made their way into her conservatory now and then, but the asters and dahlias that had recently bloomed had attracted several. It seemed a few more showed up every day, as if a notice had been sent out to all the local ladybugs.
“Aren’t they lovely?” Miss Forbes asked in a breathy tone as she latched her hands behind her back and bent for a closer look. “The fact that you haven’t evicted them tells me you’re aware of how beneficial they are to your garden.”
“I think they’re too pretty to shoo off, but please do tell me how they’re useful.”
“Oh, they’re natural predators for common pests like aphids and mites that might plague your other plants.” Speaking of something she cared about and knew well brought color to Miss Forbes’s cheeks, an appealing spark to her eyes.
Now she was seeing the true Miss Forbes, and despite all her misgivings—and her own aversion to the very notion of ever exchanging vows of wedlock again—she wanted to help the girl.
“Why not start a garden out back?” Fiona indicated the rear of Dash’s townhouse. Though their conservatories took up a great deal of space, there was still a bit left for a modest garden plot. “Or plant some seedlings in the conservatory, at least.”
“Oh, I don’t know whether Lord Granford would like such a thing. He keeps very few conservatory plants, and he doesn’t seem to enjoy being in the space much.”
“But you do, so I suggest that you ask him.”
“Do you think he’ll agree?” Miss Forbes side-eyed her. “You two were once quite close, were you not?”
“Oh.”Don’t blush, for heaven’s sake. “Yes, we were—”
“But not anymore? I think he wishes you still were.” Miss Forbes’s whole attention fixed on Fiona. “And perhaps you do too.”
She wasn’t just awaiting an answer but studying her, as if trying to discern the truth, whether Fiona would admit it or not.
“I think perhaps you’re as perceptive of people as you are of bugs, Miss Forbes.”
“That,” she said with a blink of surprise and then a beaming smile of pleasure, “is possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
Fiona laughed, and then Miss Forbes joined in.
Oh yes, she liked this girl.
“I’ll help you—”
“Thank you so much, Lady Fiona.”
“Now wait. Let me explain. I cannot say I’m keen to re-enter the marriage mart, even as a chaperone or advisor, but I can certainly help you prepare. You’ll need gowns, gloves, and never underestimate the power of good shoes when you plan to spend hours on your feet.”
With each word Fiona uttered, Miss Forbes looked increasingly excited, until she was all but vibrating.
“I’ll take whatever help you can offer and be wildly grateful for it.”
“I can help you find a chaperone too. Unless Lord Granford plans to do the job himself.”
