Page 33 of Irresistible
Jess managed to keep herself from jumping in surprise. Mrs. Farr’s eyes rounded, however.
“Mrs. Farr was just telling me about the house.” Jess clasped her hands and smiled broadly. “I’m afraid I was interrogating her because Mr. Smythe and I are smitten with your lovely home. We think we may want one of our own here in Dorset.”
“How splendid!” Mrs. Chesmore moved swiftly to Jess’s side and swept her to a settee. She looked to Mrs. Farr. “Tea, if you please, Mrs. Farr. It was intolerably windy on the beach, so we cut our jaunt short. I could do with something to warm me.”
The housekeeper nodded and left. Jess hoped she’d given Dougal enough time. If not, at least the housekeeper wouldn’t be going to her chamber.
It seemed Mrs. Chesmore hadn’t overheard anything, or if she had, she wasn’t perturbed by it. Still, Jess felt compelled to compliment the housekeeper. “Mrs. Farr seems very capable.”
“She is, in spite of her young age. The former housekeeper that worked here when we purchased the house disappeared not long after we arrived.”
Jess’s interest piqued. “What do you mean she disappeared?”
“Just that. One day, she simply left. No one knows precisely when she departed or where she went. She was there at breakfast and then gone before luncheon.”
“I presume her things had gone too?”
Mrs. Chesmore nodded. “Yes, it was very strange. I wonder if she just didn’t like us.” She sniffed. “That happens sometimes,” she whispered.
Jess had the sense there was more to that story, but wasn’t sure this was the right moment to pry. She’d store the information away for another time, after she’d gotten to know Mrs. Chesmore a little better.
“Well,Ilike you,” Jess said, perhaps because of the forlorn expression that had passed across the woman’s features. Truthfully, she could like the woman. But that would be difficult if she turned out to be a French spy. “I wondered if we might take a picnic to the beach tomorrow if the weather is fair.”
“A spectacular idea and one I should have suggested. However, tomorrow is typically the day my knight and I shoot on the beach. We do it weekly when the weather permits.”
“Shoot what?” Jess kept her voice innocent and inquisitive despite being aware that they went shooting.
“At a target, of course. My knight possesses a number of firearms—rifles, pistols.”
“Does he like to hunt?” Jess asked.
Mrs. Chesmore smiled brightly. “No.”
That wasn’t at all odd. “He simply likes to shoot at targets?”
“He’s quite good. He taught me, and now I’m accomplished too—so my knight tells me.” She reached over and patted Jess’s arm. “You and Mr. Smythe are welcome to join us. Does he shoot?”
“Yes.” They hadn’t discussed it, but since he’d served in the Black Watch, Jess felt comfortable saying he did. She just hoped Mrs. Chesmore wouldn’t ask if he was any good, because that she couldn’t answer. She supposed she could say he was terrible and just tell him to shoot badly. Yes, that was what she would do if necessary. “We’d love to accompany you.”
“Wonderful! We’ll bring a picnic too. Why not? We shall pray for a nice day.”
Mrs. Farr returned with tea and biscuits, and Jess transferred the remainder of the questions she’d planned to ask the housekeeper to her hostess. And instead of praying for good weather, she hoped Dougal achieved what he needed.
Jess had just donned her dinner wig when she heard Dougal enter the bedchamber. Hurrying from the dressing room, she stuck the final pin into her hair as she made her way to greet him.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
He’d removed his spectacles and was once again massaging the bridge of his nose. “Yes, and you?”
“Fine. I didn’t expect you to take this long.”
Setting the spectacles on the mantel, he sat to remove his boots. “I didn’t either. I confess I spent more time in the stables than I needed to. The two grooms liked to talk.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Typically, but most of what they discussed wasn’t anything I needed to know,” he said wryly. “Hopefully, you had better luck with Mrs. Farr.”
“I think so, but Mary interrupted us. For a moment, I was distressed that I hadn’t given you enough time to search her room. Then Mary requested tea, and I knew Mrs. Farr wouldn’t be going there.”
