Wallflower (Old Maids' Club, Book 1) by Catherine Gayle

upon him, at least in
that instance.
    And, as luck would have it (at least
as far as Noah was concerned), the ailment seemed to still have
Lady Tabitha in its grips. Meaning she would not also be
accompanying them that evening. He wasn’t sure he was ready to see
her again, especially since he had caused her such distress without
knowing how he’d done it.
    A night without her company would
allow him to search out some of his other options. He’d heard a
rumor that the young Miss Jennings would be present at the
musicale. If fortune truly wanted to favor him, perhaps he would
discover another heiress or two while he was there, with Claremont
and Leith’s help, of course. They seemed to be more in the know
when it came to which young ladies might have a settlement coming
into her marriage than Noah was.
    He really ought to have been paying
more attention to these things. He’d known this would eventually
come to pass since well before his father had died. There was no
excuse for not taking matters into his own hands a long time
ago.
    When they were all situated in the
carriage and on their way, Noah’s mother faced Raynesford and
Elaine. “And you assure me Lady Tabitha will be quite well soon?
You’re certain? I was so terribly worried when I saw her rushing
away last night. Glastonbury refused to let me take off after her
since we were about to make our announcement, you know. But we
found Miss Faulkner a few moments later instead, and she seemed
cock-sure she could handle the matter.”
    Elaine reached across the carriage and
took her hand. “Yes, Mother. She’ll be fine. Already today she is
doing much better. But you know how the megrims can be.”
    “ Oh, that I do. How could
I not, with five daughters?” She laughed and sat back in her seat,
fidgeting with the grayed knot at the nape of her neck. “And
Raynesford, how is your horse breeding coming along? Any foals
yet?”
    Raynesford started, then sat ramrod
straight, staring at Noah’s mother like a mouse that wanted to
scurry away when caught in the light. “Two foals, madam.” He didn’t
elaborate. Hardly surprising.
    “ Oh, how delightful. Will
you be letting Lily ride one of them?”
    His eyes came close to bulging out of
his head. “My daughter is hardly a year old. She has no need for a
horse.”
    “ It will be many years
before she starts to ride, Mother,” Elaine said, laughing over at
her husband. “There will be plenty of other foals before the time
for that arrives.”
    “ Where are you stabling
them?” Noah asked. Not that he needed to spend any money at the
moment on more horses. But he might like to go and take a look
sometime, at any rate.
    “ Tewkesbury Stables. Let
me know when you’d like to go and I’ll work it out. Perhaps you
could accompany Tabitha. She’d like to come and see them, too.
She’s not much on fully grown horses, but she’s always loved the
foals.”
    Splendid . Noah tried to quash a
frown. So Raynesford hadn’t given up on the idea yet. He knew
better than to expect Shelton to have forgotten about it all, but
some small part of him had hoped the elder brother would have let
the notion of his sister becoming Lady Devonport slip away into the
netherworld.
    “ Oh, I would quite enjoy
that too, Owen,” Elaine said. “Perhaps we could make a day of it.
I’m sure Noah would agree, won’t you?”
    “ I’d be delighted.” He
really had no choice now.
    Mercifully at that moment, the
carriage jostled to a stop and one of Raynesford’s men came around
to set down the steps. Noah climbed down and reached in to hand his
mother out, then waited for Raynesford to do the same with Elaine,
and then they went as one up the steps to Lady Kirkaldy’s
home.
    Glastonbury greeted them as they were
ushered into the salon. A cursory glance showed him that Leith and
Claremont had yet to arrive. But moments later, Noah was blissfully
able to slip away from the group and comb the gathering for young,
unmarried ladies who