Courting Miss Lancaster Read Online Free PDF Page A

Dalforth,” Athena replied with a smile.
    Harry was quick to reassure himself that Athena’s smile for him had been far broader.
    No sooner had Mr. Dalforth slipped from sight than Mr. Howard picked up the discarded topic of only moments earlier. “What other trees are among your favorites, Miss Lancaster?” he asked Athena.
    “Well . . . I . . .” Harry fancied he could see her thoughts tumbling in her head as she strove for an answer. “There is a very fine holly tree near the gates to Falstone Castle.”
    “Holly,” Mr. Howard replied, nodding gravely, brow furrowed with contemplation.
    “Shall we escort the ladies to their seats?” Harry suggested to Mr. Howard.
    His suggestion was taken up with enthusiasm by Mr. Howard, if not by Athena. She cast him a very brief but very loaded glance of surprise. In the end, civility required she accept the arm Mr. Howard offered and endure the ongoing list of trees he continued to belabor as they moved slowly back to the spot she and her sister had occupied during the first part of the evening.
    Mr. Howard took his leave of the ladies in the ponderous way Harry had come to expect before making his way back to his own seat. Harry, by virtue of having accompanied the ladies to the Hardfords’, had a seat between Athena and her sister and was not obliged to remove himself from their presence.
    “Was there a reason, Mr. Windover,” Athena whispered over the sounds of the assembly settling in, “for your rather pointed introduction to Mr. Howard?”
    She sounded slightly put out. Harry took that as a good sign.
    “Did you not like Mr. Howard?” Harry asked.
    “It is not a matter of dis liking him,” Athena replied. “I simply wonder if you had anticipated that I would like him so very much. I have never known you to be so obvious in making Persephone and I known to your friends.”
    Friend? Mr. Howard hardly fell into that category.
    “Am I to assume then, my dear”—Harry kept the endearment light all the while assessing her reaction to it. She seemed not to notice—“that Mr. Howard has not proven the object of your matrimonial searching?”
    “I beg your pardon?” Athena replied, her voice a shocked whisper.
    “He is, I assure you, both a gentleman and quite eligible. You informed me only last night that those were your only requirements.” Harry managed to keep his tone and expression innocent. “I thought you would be pleased to meet the fulfillment of all your hopes and dreams.”
    “What do you know of my hopes and dreams?” Athena asked, turning her face away from him and toward the pianoforte at the front of the room.
    I guarantee I know more of yours than you know of mine. “Again, I remind you of your declarations of not twenty-four hours ago,” Harry said aloud, though quietly. “A gentleman who is eligible. I see no way in which Mr. Howard does not meet those requirements. Unless there are other things you desire in a potential suitor of which you have not made me aware.”
    Athena turned back to look at him, her mouth set in a line of growing annoyance. “I should very much like any suitor for my hand to have more conversation than a ceaseless listing of flora.”
    “So the man who will win your heart ought to be a gentleman, eligible, and conversant.” Harry made a show of setting this bit of insight to memory.
    “And not be so decidedly serious,” Athena added, shaking her head. “I would hope he would improve upon greater acquaintance, but somehow I find myself doubtful. I could not bear the continuing company of a man who was so very grave all the time.”
    “A gentleman, eligible, conversant, and with some degree of lightheartedness.” Harry nodded in approval. “Should I find myself in company with such a one, I shall be certain to introduce him to you.”
    Any response Athena might have made was prevented by the resuming of the musical showcasing common to the ton ’s musicales.
    Harry’s mind was already turning. Athena’s