Page 3 of Miss Kimble Bites Back

“Yes, indeed he has,” she reassured them, ignoring the flutter in her stomach from nerves, “and not a moment too soon.”

Lord Brookes looked so handsome tonight and, as ever, he chatted with a large group of ladies that surrounded him. The man she had set her heart on marrying was already laughing and clearly enjoying the attention he was receiving from those nearby. She desperately wanted to be one of them.

She wanted to be the most important one of all to him, too, but she could not butt into his conversation. She had to wait for him to come to her as Justine claimed.

Daisy nudged her. “I wonder why Brookes was so late arriving?”

Gabby turned to Daisy. “I do not know, but he’s here now and clearly in a good mood.”

“Whenever is he not?” Daisy asked dryly. Daisy had a deep suspicion of gentlemen who smiled too much. She thought them all disingenuous.

Gabby smiled a lot herself, hiding her discomfort as she fidgeted with her empty dance card. Lord Brookes was known to be fond of dancing and always in good humor. They were the things she liked about him most of all. Some men could be moody creatures. Her cousin Bennett was a prime example of that. Unhappy on occasion but often unable to say why. There was little she could do to lift him from his black moods, and she was always glad when he took himself away on days like that.

Gabby straightened her spine and hoped to make herself even more appealing and earn a dance partner. The right one would be Lord Brookes, but he hadn’t noticed her yet. “Let’s go around to the left a bit farther, so he sees us standing together.”

They tried, but a set was ending, and the guests filed dutifully off the dance floor to rejoin their own parties, slowing their progress.

She fought the tide to remain beside Daisy but soon realized that Justine had somehow fallen behind. The current was too strong to turn back to fetch her and propelled her to the edge of the room instead. She held firm to Daisy’s elbow as they found an open space near a window. When she rose on her tiptoes, she spotted the feathers Justine wore on her head, quite some distance away. She had returned to her sister without saying goodbye.

“Well!”

“Well, indeed,” Daisy agreed, frantically fanning her face. But then she leaned close. “I swear someone just caressed my bottom.”

Gabby snapped out her fan, too, but only to speak behind. “Really?”

Daisy nodded. “Say nothing to my guardian about it. He’ll only become cross if he learns such a thing occurred right under his nose.”

“Agreed.”

Lord Throsby was unnaturally strict and protective of Daisy. She endured all sorts of ridiculous rules about where she could go and who she was permitted to talk with. Gabby suspected she had only just passed muster herself. “I would never break a confidence to your guardian,” she promised.

“Nor I,” Daisy whispered back.

Their guardians drew close, forming a protective wall to save them from being jostled about again.

Daisy suddenly pressed the back of her hand to her brow. “Lord Throsby, would you mind fetching us a glass of punch each?”

Lord Throsby, a man not inclined to take orders well, glared at Daisy and then Gabby, and finally grunted, “Stay with Kimble.”

Lord Throsby did not like to have Daisy out of his sight for long or left to her own devices. It was a miracle he trusted Bennett with the task of watching over her. Throsby’s behavior might have been endearing if the man possessed a little gentleness in his soul. But they were ward and guardian only, argued constantly behind closed doors, and had nothing in common, or so Daisy claimed.

Bennett was a much better guardian. He did not want to be privy to every conversation Gabby ever had. He trusted her not to make a fool of herself and gave her space to make her own mistakes. When Bennett wandered away to admire a nearby painting and gave them privacy to talk, Daisy sighed heavily. “I wish Lord Throsby would do that.”

“Bennett has no interest in eavesdropping on our conversation,” Gabby assured her. “Unlike your guardian.”

“Lord Throsby wants to hear absolutely every word I say. Yesterday he asked what I ate when we were apart, and once, some time ago, what I dreamed of at night. I could never tell him that,” Daisy whispered, a blush climbing her cheeks. “It would be just the excuse he needs to haul me back to the countryside and lock me in my chambers until I reach my majority.”

Gabby squeezed her friend’s hand. “Not long now.”

“Yes. When my twentieth birthday comes, I will finally be free of him,” Daisy murmured. “I will never understand why my father made him my keeper, but I am glad he did not extend the guardianship until I was five and twenty.”

“Well, Throsby is a stick in the mud but at least you have no fear he’d take advantage of his position and misappropriate your funds,” Gabby whispered. Lord Throsby was obscenely rich in his own right and astute in his business dealings.

“Because there’s nothing much of mine to spend unwisely,” Daisy replied, a little sadly. “I suppose I should be grateful he’s willing to foot the bill for my entire season.”

“He might be a little stern, but for you, he’s a generous man,” Gabby suggested.

Daisy scowled. “A little stern?”