Read Lady in Red for Free Online Page B

brother’s forehead. “I suppose you need someone to help you find your adventuring frog.”
    “Would you mind? I asked Portia to help, but she was busy cutting the pattern for some gown or another.” George looked properly disgusted. “Cassandra is with her and they are chattering like a pair of magpies. Ned would say they were creaking like ships in a dock and damned unpleasant it is, too.”
    “George!”
    He peered up at her though his lashes. “What?”
    “You know exactly what. I do not wish to hear that word from you again.”
    “I was just saying what Ned would say and—” George hesitated, then the tears spilled down his cheek. “/ miss Ned!”
    At the wail, Honoria gathered George close once again, holding him until his sobs quieted into soft hiccups. After a moment, he pushed away and dashed at his eyes with his shirtsleeve. “Sorry,” he mumbled, glaring up at her as if daring her to say another word.
    A lump rose in Honoria’s throat and she longed to hold him close yet again. “George, Ned will be back in a trice, see if he isn’t. Father just needed help with his new venture. Besides, he is having a wonderful time, exploring and such. You wouldn’t take that away from him, would you?”
    “I don’t want Ned back. I just want Achilles.” George sniffed again and wiped his nose on his sleeve.
    Honoria reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and pressed it into his hand. “If you please.”
    He took it and gave his nose a belligerent swipe. “Girls. You always worry about silly things.”
    She took the handkerchief and tucked it into his pocket.
    “Be glad. Without us, there’d be no plum pudding at Christmas and no fresh, clean sheets like the ones you so love to snuggle between at nights.”
    “Yes well, I’m just glad I’m not a girl so I don’t have to muss with gowns and ribbons arid such.”
    “I’m glad for you, too, though there are times when such things can be pleasant.” Honoria tucked away the papers she’d been working on and returned the pen to the ink pot. “Come. We’ll find Achilles and you can take him back to his box under the bed.”
    George put his hand in hers and they started for the door. Honoria made a great adventure of their search—anything to keep George’s mind off Ned. First they looked upstairs, peering into all of Achilles’s usual hideaways, many of which were cobweb-strewn corners beneath large pieces of furniture. Then they moved downstairs, peeking beneath sofas and cabinets. They would have made faster time had George not been so hesitant about dark places, but so it was. And Honoria knew better than to act as if she-noticed his reluctance. Instead, she nimbly crawled beneath the buffet in the dining room, the large draped side table in the sitting room and anywhere else that might hide a large frog.
    George was poking in the sofa cushions and Honoria was just lying on the floor with her head beneath the sofa in the sitting room when the door opened.
    A horrified feminine gasp filled the air. “Miss Baker-Sneed! Whatever are ye doing?”
    “Hunting something,” Honoria said, smiling up at Mrs. Kemble, the housekeeper. Honoria gracefully found her feet and dusted cobwebs from her shoulders. “Were you looking for me?”
    The housekeeper’s eyes were as wide as saucers, her hands clenched in the folds of her apron. “Miss! Ye won’t believe it, but there’s a marquis here to see ye! A real, live marquis!”
    Honoria and George exchanged glances. “I suppose.”
    Honoria said after a long moment, “that having a real, live marquis to visit is much better than having a dead one.” George giggled.
    Mrs. Kemble plopped her hands on her hips. “Ye don’t understand, miss. This isn’t any marquis, but a very well-to-do one.”
    “How do you know?”
    “He drove up in a coach and six, he did. The entire neighborhood must be agog to know who it is and why he’s come to call.”
    “A coach and six?” George ran to the