Page 27 of Miss Flibbertigibbet and the Barbarian
“I know!” Bemused, Dickie shook his head. “I have no idea how that happened. It seems nonsensical to me—as if the ton doesn’t know her at all.”
Nicholas tucked that insight away for later examination. After searching for a way to learn what he wanted to know about the siblings, he settled for asking, “Have you been in London since the start of the Season?”
“More or less. I went up as soon as the hunting wound down.”
“Ah.” Nicholas made a show of nodding wisely. “Doing the dutiful, squiring your mother and sister around.”
“No, actually. At least not this Season.” Dickie kept his gaze on the bacon he was slicing. “This year, Mama and Addie decided to give the whole circus a miss. I can’t say I wasn’t grateful!”
“So you’ve spent until now in London?”
Dickie nodded. “Always plenty to do there. M’friends and I generally head out to the ancestral acres about this time every year.”
Meaning that for much of the time, he left his sister to shoulder the burden of managing the large household as well as, if Nicholas’s guess was correct, dealing with all manner of estate matters, such as selling a valuable horse.
Recalling the vagueness he’d sensed in the ageing earl, Nicholas ventured, “Still, I suppose that, for the rest of the year, you’ll be assisting your father, taking up the reins and learning the ropes, as it were.”
Finally, Dickie shot Nicholas a glance. “I’m not my father’s heir.”
Genuinely surprised, Nicholas blinked. “You have an older brother?”Whom no one has yet mentioned.
Dickie’s lips tightened. “Half brother. Lord Phillip Sommerville. I expect no one’s mentioned him, and that’s because he’s estranged from Papa and all our family.”
Nicholas regarded Dickie through newly opened eyes. “I see.” And he did. Dickie’s hedonistic lifestyle was the natural outcome of a young gentleman of wealth and position who lacked all purpose. He was drifting through life with no real aim.
Feeling rather more sympathetic, Nicholas caught Dickie’s eye. “I made the acquaintance of your younger siblings when I called at Aisby Grange. They were investigating the utility of balloon bombs in the defense of their castle.”
Dickie chuckled. “They’re an entertaining lot.”
From his expression, it was clear he was fond of the youngsters.
Nicholas smiled. “I also met your parents, of course.”
Dickie’s eyes widened. His “Oh?” sounded far less assured.
Before Nicholas could wonder at that, the door opened, and Adriana swept in.
Nicholas rose and drew out the chair between his and Dickie’s.
She nodded in thanks and sat. As he resumed his seat, she surveyed the dishes. “Good. You left me some toast.”
As she reached for the toast rack, a maid bustled in with a pot of tea. Nicholas watched as Adriana set about consuming a slice of toast and a cup of tea and wondered, as he frequently did, how young ladies managed to survive on such meager rations.
Dickie laid down his cutlery, pushed aside his empty plate, and took a healthy swallow of his coffee. Lowering the mug, he looked at Adriana. “As I’m here, I rather think I should join you in the hunt for The Barbarian and the villain who took him.”
Adriana frowned, then swallowed and said, “I thought that you returning home would cover my absence.”
“Yes, but,” Dickie countered, “as you know, there’s not much to be done in this season, and besides, all the staff know what they’re doing. They don’t need me hovering, and”—he cast an appealing look at Nicholas—“it seems to me that you could do with an extra pair of eyes and hands, let alone the whole question of propriety—and don’t say you have Sally with you.” Dickie rolled his eyes. “Regardless of Sally, if you stumble across any tonnish matron, there’ll be gossip aplenty, while if I’m with you, no one will say boo.”
Nicholas silently applauded Dickie’s willingness to state that simple fact.
Predictably, Adriana frowned more definitely.
When she cut a glance Nicholas’s way, he met it with rising brows, but was too wise in the ways of independent sisters to advance any opinion. In this situation, him siding with Dickie wouldn’t be well received.
Dickie, too, was experienced enough not to push, and after heaving a put-upon sigh, Adriana picked up her cup, sipped, then lowered it and said, “If you’re set on accompanying us, we’ll need to send word to Mama and Papa. They’re expecting you.”
Dickie brightened and pushed back from the table. “I’ll fetch pen and paper, and we can send off a note immediately.”
