“Well, then, I believe you should wear it. The front of your dress is rather wet.”
Miss Grace looked down at herself. Her face turned redder than her sister’s hair, and she quickly slipped her arms into his coat and wrapped it around herself.
Fungy nodded. That would help keep his mind from roaming where it shouldn’t.
Knowing he would ruin his boots if he tried to put them on, he placed them by his side while he caught his breath.
“All roight then, guv’na?” a sailor asked him, leaning his foul–smelling mouth close to Fungy.
Knowing he did not smell too much better after his dip in the water, Fungy forced himself not to recoil. “Yes, thank you. I’ll be all right.”
“I cannot thank you enough, sir,” Miss Grace began, but Fungy held up a hand to stop her gratitude.
“It is quite all right, Miss Grace. Do not say another word.” With great effort—and a little assistance from Miss Grace and the sailor—he managed to stand up.
The weight of his wet clothes pulled at him, as did the exhaustion that made it difficult for him to move at all. But slowly, he managed to get his limbs moving and walked off, carrying his boots in his hand, to find a hackney to take him home.
“Fungy, please allow us...” Miss Grace called after him, but he just walked on, ignoring her. He could not contemplate being social just now, not even with a grateful lady as lovely as Miss Grace.
His mind was filled with all that had just happened, and especially the sobering feelings he had had while caught under the water. He was wet and tired, and it took all of his remaining strength to stay upright. He just wanted to get home.
But most importantly, he wanted to deal with the emotional drain of nearly drowning—on purpose.
Chapter Seven
ROSE’S heart was still pounding in her chest. Luckily, she didn’t think anyone had noticed the tears she’d had to wipe off her cheeks more than once.
First Thalia had nearly drowned in that horrible river, and then Fungy had not surfaced for the longest time. She would not have been able to bear it, had anything happened to him while he was saving her sister.
She turned on Thalia, who now sat huddled, shivering, under a rough wool blanket on the ground. She knelt down in front of her and started to vigorously rub Thalia’s arms to warm her, her worry venting itself in a burning anger she was having a hard time controlling.
“How could you, Thalia? I have never been so embarrassed in all my life! I can’t believe you fell in. If you ever do anything like that again, I swear, I will see that you are punished so severely...”
“Rose!” Laia exclaimed, moving to sit up on her knees.
“But it was an accident.” Thalia protested at the same time.
“It was an entirely avoidable accident,” Rose said, looking around to make sure there was no one eavesdropping on their conversation. Luckily, this area of the dock was mostly empty, the officers and sailors from the ship moored nearby having all left.
“No, don’t you defend her either, Laia, because this is equally your fault,” Rose said, turning back to her sisters. “I saw the way the two of you were fooling around, jumping in front of each other while I was trying to get information about the ship bringing our things from Greece.”
Laia and Thalia sat quietly, looking at her from under their eyelashes. They both looked so contrite that for just a moment Rose felt her heart softening. But she quickly snapped back to the reality of the situation.
“Don’t look at me like that. I know full well what you are doing and I am not Papa to be fooled by your sorrowful eyes. I taught you that trick, so it is not going to work with me.”
“But Rose, it truly was an accident,” Thalia complained. “I assure you, I had no intention of falling into that disgusting water.”
Rose frowned and looked at the swirling brown water of the Thames next to them. It was truly disgusting. “No, I am certain that you did not. However, if you two hadn’t been playing your silly game, whatever it was, then none of this would have happened.”
“But it wasn’t a silly game,” Laia said.
“Well, Laia was trying to get a look at the sailors...” Thalia started.
“The officers,” Laia interrupted.
“All right, the officers, on that ship and I was trying to stop her. You and Mama have said in the past that she shouldn’t ogle men.”
Rose looked incredulously to Laia, who had the grace to blush.
“Well, I...”
“I don’t want to hear any more of this. Laia, I think you will be staying at home for the next three days until you learn to control yourself.”
“But, Rose!” Laia objected.
“Not another word or else I will tell Papa what has occurred and let you see what sort of punishment he thinks is appropriate.”
Laia opened and closed her mouth a few times, finally settling on a pout.
“I don’t see why you’re so angry, Rose,” Thalia said quietly. “There was no harm done, if you don’t count the loss of my hat and this dress—I didn’t particularly like this dress anyway.”
“What do you mean, no harm done!” Rose nearly shouted, jumping to her feet. “What about Fungy? What about the fact that both you and he nearly drowned? You didn’t see how long he was under the water after he tore your dress free. I thought he was never going to come up again.”
Laia and Thalia both looked at Rose in great surprise.
She swallowed the sob that tried to break free from her throat. “He nearly drowned, saving you, Thalia,” she said hastily, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
“Rose, I am so sorry,” Thalia said quietly. “I didn’t know.”
“You really like him.” It was more of a statement than a question, but Laia was looking at her with wide eyes.
Rose felt her face grow hot. “No! I mean, well, I don’t know the man, do I? We’ve only met once. But he was very kind to me when I met him and he got me out of an awkward situation. And now he has risked his life to save Thalia.” She crossed her arms over her chest. The feeling of the soft wool of Fungy’s coat under her fists let her imagine, for just a moment, that Fungy himself was enveloping her in his warmth.
Her sisters just looked at her, almost as if they were trying to read her mind. She turned away; she didn’t know herself what the strange feelings running through were.
“Come, let’s see if we can’t find a hackney to take us home.”
After all, she had decided just the previous night that Lord Kirtland was the most eligible man she had yet met. She could never marry a dandy, and she had no idea what his financial situation was. No, she should put all these odd thoughts of Fungy directly out of her mind.
But his torso and arms had looked truly magnificent in his nearly transparent wet shirt. There would be no need to ask him to bare himself for her to inspect his muscles. He had practically done so already.
The girls were silent for most of the ride back to their rented house on Soho Square. The hackney was dirty, and stank—or perhaps that was Thalia. Rose couldn’t tell the difference. But it was not an altogether pleasant ride, despite opened windows.
“Why do you think he left so quickly?” Thalia asked.
Rose just looked at her, amazed that her sister should be thinking exactly the same thing that had been going through her own mind. She swallowed hard and shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“He seemed rather rude,” Laia put in, clearly thinking along the same lines. “I mean, I know he had just saved Thalia’s life, but you would think that he would have done the gentlemanly thing of seeing us home, or at the very least into a hackney to take us home.”
“I suspect he was just cold and tired,” Rose said, although she didn’t know why she defended him. It was true that he had been a bit rude. Perhaps it was a good thing she had settled on Lord Kirtland.
They arrived home just then, so Rose was spared thinking about this any further.
“Miss Thalia! Miss
Grace! What happened to you?” Reynolds, the Graces’ butler, exclaimed loudly as they came into the house.
Three hands went up. “Shhh! Papa will hear!” they whispered fiercely.
But it was too late. Lord Pemberton–Howe threw open the library door before they could even move toward the stairs.
“What is this? What has occurred?”
“Nothing, Papa,” Laia demurred immediately.
“It is all right, Papa. Thalia just had a little accident, but she is fine,” Rose said, trying to push her youngest sister toward the stairs before her father could see the state of her dress and hair. But it was too late for that too.
“Rose! Whose coat is that you are wearing? And Thalia! My girl, what happened? Reynolds! Hot water, quick.”
“Oh yes, Reynolds, Thalia is going to need a bath right away.” Rose said, ignoring her father’s questions.
“On my way, Miss Grace,” the butler said, slipping past them all on his way to the kitchen.
Lord Pemberton–Howe moved to get a closer look at his youngest daughter. Immediately, his hand went up to his nose. “Oh, my dear, the stench! And you are soaking wet.”
“I, er, fell into the river. But I am perfectly fine. I swim quite well, only...”
“Only?”
Thalia looked down at the puddle she was making on the floor. “Only my dress got caught on something and a gentleman had to jump in to save me.”
“He was so brave, Papa, and handsome,” Laia gushed. “Especially soaking wet.”
“What? Who was this gentleman? Did you get his name?”
“It is perfectly all right, Papa. It was Mr. Fotheringay–Phipps, whom we met the other night,” Rose said, giving Laia a quelling look. “Now, please, Papa, Thalia should not stand here any longer. We must get her out of those clothes and into a hot bath.”
“Oh, yes, yes, of course.” Her father backed away, allowing the girls to pass by him in the narrow hall.
Before they could get to the top of the stairs, however, he called up, “Rose, I would like to see you in the library as soon as may be.”
“Yes, sir,” Rose answered with a sigh, before following Laia to the room she shared with Thalia.
She had hoped her father wouldn’t find out about this particular little adventure. It was difficult enough taking care of her younger sisters, but to have to explain everything to her father as well...
If only he didn’t worry so, she thought. But years of experience of dealing with Rose and her sisters had taught him well; they may be just girls, but they did rather have a penchant for getting into trouble.
Rose quickly saw Thalia into the bath and then left her to the care of Laia and their only maid.
Entering her own room, Rose felt like doing nothing more than collapsing into her own bed. But she was still wet, from having clasped her sister to her after she had been pulled from the river, and her father was waiting for her downstairs.
She slowly pulled off Fungy’s coat, but she could not resist the temptation to press the warm wool to her nose. It smelled like him, musky and clean. It was a lovely smell, although just now it was tinged a bit with the smell of that awful dirty river. She carefully folded the coat, to be returned later, and set it aside.
Quickly divesting herself of her own dirty muslin dress and underclothes, she bathed herself, using the mug of warm water she had taken from her sister’s clean bath.
It was turning out to be much more difficult to watch out for her sisters here in London than she had anticipated. She had always known that her mother had, at times, wanted to tear her hair out at the girls’ tomfoolery. But she had never realized how much worrying was a part of caring for someone.
She loved her sisters dearly, and she would continue to do her best in spite of their efforts to get into trouble. But really, it was past time that they learned to behave like proper young ladies.
The thought made Rose stop. It was not too long ago that she would have thought this the greatest lark, if not for the fact that Fungy and Thalia had nearly drowned. But somehow, now that she was the one responsible, it no longer seemed so much like fun. Now she saw how inappropriate such behavior was—and why. If she and her sisters were to marry well, they could not afford for society to see them behaving this way. It was not acceptable.
Just the thought of that sent a chill through Rose. Her mother had never strongly reprimanded Rose or insisted that she behave herself when she was Thalia’s age, and Rose had, naturally, never minded. But now, she knew she was seriously lacking in her social education. She would have to see that her sisters did not have the same problems as she did when they became old enough to make their debuts into society.
Rose stopped in the middle of lacing her corset. In less than two years, Laia would be old enough to make her come–out. Already she had more than a healthy interest in men. Rose didn’t just need to marry a man who was wealthy, but preferably one who had a mother or older sister who could help Rose oversee the girls’ social education and entrance into society.
Rose resumed tying her corset. She was just pulling a clean dress over her head when there was a little knock and Laia crept into the room.
“Rose? I just wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier,” she said quietly.
Rose turned and gave her sister a hug. “It is all right, Laia. Here, help me with my buttons.”
She turned her back to her sister, so that she could button up the back of her dress.
“Life was so much easier when we had more maids,” Laia said, trying to change the subject.
Rose would not allow it. “Laia, I know it is difficult to behave properly sometimes. But really, you must try to restrain yourself. You are old enough now to know better.”
Rose sat down in the chair at her dressing table and began pulling the pins from her hair.
Laia stood behind her and picked up Rose’s hairbrush. “I know. It’s just that sometimes I forget. And the officers on that ship looked so handsome in their uniforms...”
Rose gave her a little smile in the mirror. It was enjoyable watching handsome men dressed in uniforms. She could not deny it. Sometimes even she indulged as well. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax and enjoy the feeling of her long hair being brushed. “And how typical it is of you to notice, even from that distance,” she teased, unable to resist.
Laia gave a guilty giggle, lowering her gaze. “And of course, you did not notice how well Fungy looked after he climbed out of the water?”
Rose felt herself color. “Well...” She fiddled with her hairpins on the table in front of her.
“I saw the way you looked at him... And the way he looked at you, in your nearly transparent dress before you put on his coat.”
“Laia!” Her own cheeks flushed bright red in the mirror.
“But he is very handsome. And he was so brave to jump into the river to save Thalia. You are lucky, Rose, to have found a husband so quickly!”
Rose looked up at her sister’s reflection and swallowed hard. “What do you mean? I have not found a husband.”
“But Fungy...”
“I am not going to marry him, Laia,” Rose said flatly, ignoring the hollow feeling in her stomach.
“Why not? He may have been a little rude, but as you said, he was probably just tired and wanted to go home to change.” Laia put the last pin into place to hold up the simple knot into which she had twisted her sister’s hair.
Rose thought about Fungy, and tried to put her misgivings into words.
“It is true that he is a very kind man, and for what he did today I shall forever be in his debt, but...” Rose got up from her dressing table and walked slowly across the small room toward the door. “But he is a dandy. He is all posturing and airs—more concerned about how he looks, and how he is perceived by others, than about anything else. I am not at all certain that he engages his mind very often, if ever. Truly, I could not marry a man like that.” Not when there was Lord Kirtland to compare him to.
/> “You would prefer someone more intellectual, like Papa?” Laia asked.
Rose turned back to her sister and smiled. “Yes. And besides, we don’t even know what sort of fortune Fungy has, if any. Even if I decide on Fungy, or on anyone else, there is the small problem of making sure they would want to propose to me in the first place, isn’t there? I must go down and face our father before he wonders what has become of me.”
Chapter Eight
ROSE slowly made her way down the stairs, her mind churning with thoughts of Fungy, Lord Kirtland, and her need to marry quickly. She did wonder what sort of fortune Fungy had. There was probably a way to find out.
Of course, she wouldn’t need that information if she decided to marry Lord Kirtland. He, she was certain, was quite wealthy. Why, someone who could stake five hundred pounds in a card game had to have quite a fortune.
She knew she could never even dream of winning so much. However, she did hope to have the opportunity of winning at least enough to cover their bills and give her a little more time to find a husband. She just had to find a way to do so.
She wondered if she could ask her father to bring her into the card room at the next ball they went to. If not, she supposed she could ask Lord Kirtland if he knew of a way for her to play cards again.
She paused just inside her father’s study. He was standing with one foot on the fender, staring into the empty fireplace, a drink in his hand. She noticed that he was wearing his old breeches, and a shabby, if serviceable, brown coat. His boots had seen better days, too—although she was sure Reynolds, who was now acting as his lordship’s valet as well as their butler, had done the best he could with the old things.
No, she could not ask her father for help. He had enough troubles on his shoulders already. It would have to be Lord Kirtland to whom she would turn.
Lord Pemberton–Howe turned around with a start. “Oh, Rose! I did not hear you come in.”
A Dandy in Disguise Page 5