Page 72 of The Viscount's Seduction
More plotting. The girl was as bad as her father. “No. I don’t think—”
“She’s almost a contemporary of Father’s.” Perry’s intense gaze fixed upon a spot above the fireplace. “It could be quite diverting for him.”
Perry turned that gaze on Sirena, her eyes bright behind the lenses. “Perhaps a diversion for him would benefit us all. And she could be of use. I know I’m to instruct you in managing this house, but truth to tell, I struggle with the task, and the thought of entertaining as Father wishes petrifies me. I spent more time in the stables at Cransdall, you see. As the daughter of an earl, surely you managed such things yourself and likely know more than I.”
So she’d been wrong about Lady Perry.
Sirena shook her head. “I grew up in the stables also. I was young when my mother died, and after that, we never had guests.”
“Ever?”
“Never. We…”We were pariahs, unwelcome by all of the quality. Sirena sighed. “My father simply withdrew. He and I, we took an occasional meal together, but that was it.”
“Not even the heir came to visit? He was a cousin, was he not?”
“He was, but I only met him after my father died.” And she didn’t want to speak of him now. “But I shall ponder the matter of Lady Jane. In truth, she thinks to persuade Barton to open up her own dressmaking enterprise. I can’t imagine how much capital would be required, can you? We’ve all discussed and debated it upon a rainy night, but we couldn’t work out the costs.”
“Bakeley would know. He’s a genius at business.”
“Ladies’ business?”
“Any business. Business is business, he says. And he’s rich in his own right.” She tapped a finger on her chin. “And we could tie this in with Lady Hackwell’s charity. The girls can work as seamstresses, the boys as porters.”
Perry was well on her way to arranging Lady Jane’s move and the establishment of Barton’s dress shop.
This was a very managing family.
And yet...did it not speak volumes that Perry would undertake such fearless planning? Her constraints were few, it seemed. Perhaps here, Sirena would also find some freedom, with access to the horses she’d seen earlier in the mews, and help with the duties of the lady of the house, and, if Lady Jane was welcomed, she’d have another ally, and most importantly of all, a foil for her new father’s scheming.
And there was still the matter of the Hollister files the man must have stashed away somewhere.
“Perry, I’m finding myself more and more persuaded. I wonder, while the gentlemen are away, would you finish the tour of the house?”
Perry clasped both of her hands, her fierce squeezing telling Sirena just how much she wanted her there.
“Truly, Sirena? Youwillbe the mistress here? I’ll be more than happy to show you the rest of the house. What would you like to see?”
Your father’s study. She leaned in close. “Every chamber. Every nook and cranny. Every storage place. Everything.”
Bakeley pulled asidethe curtain of the town carriage. They’d turned down a street in Knightsbridge lined with modest homes. “This is not the way to the Home Office, Father.”
“We’re not going to the Home Office. We’re meeting with Farnsworth at another location.”
So now, at least, he had a name.
Charley lifted his head from his doze. “Who is Farnsworth?”
“A colleague recently returned to town.”
“A former colleague.” Bakeley waited for his father to correct him, upbraid him, or otherwise reveal that he was in fact not at all the poor sick man who had retired from the spying business, that he was still quite actively employed, but with a better cover.
Shaldon smiled. “And as it happens, Farnsworth is your godfather, Charles, though I don’t wonder you don’t remember. And by the way, you look like the devil today.”
Charley grinned. “Thank you, Father.”
Bakeley fought the irritation rising. “He did not mean it to be a compliment.”
“I suppose you were with your lady friend last night,” Shaldon said.
