Page 39 of Love and the Shameless Lady

“I expect I could,” Melinda said. “They’re good, aren’t they?”

“They’re the best I’ve ever tasted. Better still, would she let me watch her make them, and take notes?”

That brought on another duo of gasps from the Hendersons.

“I’m writing a cookery book, you see, and I make a point of trying every recipe myself.”

That startled Mrs. Henderson into speech. “You bake them yourself? In a kitchen?”

“Yes, at the inn. Where else? One doesn’t make rock buns in a bedchamber.”

Melinda laughed. “That must be fun. When I was a child, our cook would let me roll the pastry. I loved it, but my nurse got annoyed when I got flour all over my clothes. Rebecca likes baking, too. She made some adorably lopsided drop cakes last week.”

At the mention of Miles’s illegitimate daughter, a spasm of disapproval crossed Mrs. Henderson’s face. Daisy found herself wondering how Gloriana had even brought herself to cross the threshold of Garrison House. It was bad enough that Miles had fathered a bastard, but she probably believed such a child should be fostered out.

“I’ll take you to meet Rebecca when I go upstairs to nurse the baby.” Melinda led the conversation to other topics, and Daisy found she could take part without too much difficulty. With such an openhearted hostess, how could she help it?

Until Lady Garrison asked that pesky question again. “You never answered me,” she said with a twinkle. “How did you fall in love with Sir Julian?”

“As he said, he’s a persistent man,” Daisy replied. “He refused to take no for an answer.”

Mrs. Henderson wrinkled her noise in disbelief and disdain, just as Daisy had anticipated.

“Perhaps, but not all persistent suitors are successful, as I can attest by bitter experience,” Lady Garrison said. “If you’d met Lord Bottleford . . .”

Sir Julian snorted. “Everyone should be spared that.”

Her ladyship grinned. “He finally found someone addlepated enough to put up with him. But I digress again. Tell us, Daisy dear.”

Usually Daisy had a dozen stories running through her head. Right now, it was a complete blank.

“Daisy was strolling through some ruins,” Sir Julian said, “on a grim and gloomy afternoon, when she was stricken by a blinding vision of male pulchritude. Drawn by an irresistible force, she returned to the inn and found me there awaiting her.”

That was straight from The Lady’s Ruin, at least the bit about the heroine spying a handsome man in the ruins. Daisy couldn’t help a tiny twitch of the lips.

Lady Garrison laughed. “You sound like a romantic novel. Speaking of ruins, Daisy, have you read The Lady’s Revenge? It was published only a short while ago, and I received mine express yesterday. I stayed up all night reading it. It’s so exciting.”

Daisy smiled at that. “Yes, mine arrived a few days ago.”

“I loved the chase through the moonlit ruins,” Melinda said.

That had been a fun scene to write, too, about the same ruins and the recovery of the rose charm.

“And the ending was so romantic,” Melinda added. “Ah, but Mrs. Henderson does not approve.”

Evidently not, judging by her glower. A pity, for Daisy had had another two or three seconds’ enjoyment. “You do not approve of a happy ending, ma’am? What other sort should there be in a romantic novel?”

“It is not the ending to which I object,” Mrs. Henderson said, “but the process by which it is reached. The so-called heroines of such novels have no notion of proper behavior. Running off to sea, wearing men’s clothing, brandishing pistols and knives, and worst of all, they have . . .” She lowered her voice, glancing at Julian and away. “Inappropriate thoughts.”

A guilty blush crawled up her daughter’s cheeks.

“Romantic novels set a shameful example for young ladies,” Mrs. Henderson said. “The authors of such rubbish should be whipped at the cart’s tail.”

Daisy narrowed her eyes. “Perhaps it’s the mothers who should be whipped for not preparing their daughters to understand those inappropriate thoughts, and even to enjoy them.” She raised a brow at the daughter, who blushed even more.

Mrs. Henderson bridled. “Such indecent talk is unforgivable, and in the presence of a gentleman, even worse!”

“You needn’t worry about me,” Julian said with a grin. He at least was enjoying himself. “I know all about inappropriate thoughts and where they lead.”