Mally : Signet Regency Romance (9781101568057) (20 page)

Janine said nothing.

Peg put down the cloth and turned on the stool to look at her daughter. “I've been feeling a little under the weather. Plays havoc with your looks.”

“You're still the most beautiful woman in London.”

“Ah, the most beautiful on the London stage maybe. Do you know, I was invited secretly to Carlton House last week.
Secretly!
Peg Oldfield goes nowhere secretly, not even on an assignation with the Prince Regent! I sent a very to-the-point note, I can tell you!”

Janine smiled, slipping her arms around her mother's shoulders and resting her head against the dark, smooth hair. “I'd like to have been a fly on the royal wall when he received that note!”

“No one, but
no one
commands Peg Oldfield anywhere.”

Janine straightened. “Except Lord Wolfe?”

Peg breathed in slowly. “Janine, that is none of your concern.”

“He's very notorious, Mama.”

“A fitting partner for Peg Oldfield, then, don't you think?”

“He's gambled away his entire fortune, everyone knows that he has.”

“And now he's gambling mine away too? Is that what you're on the verge of suggesting? Look, sweetheart, I don't want to quarrel with you, not on your first night in London.”

“When are you seeing him again?”

“Tonight.”

“Oh.”

“Don't say it like that, for I'm very fond of David. Very fond.”

There was a tremble in her voice and Janine touched her cheek quickly. “I'm sorry, Mama, truly I am, I didn't mean to upset you—”

“I know, sweetheart, I know. I just wish—well, I wish that you and David got on a little more, that's all.”

“If he were to make an honest woman of you, I'd think more of him.”

“I've been an honest woman once and that was taste enough for me. Now, where's my pink muslin?”

“Here,” said Dobby who had been waiting patiently and silently by the dressing table.

Dickon knocked at the door. “His lordship's here, Miss Peg.”

***

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Sandra Heath
is one of the most popular and prolific Signet Regency authors, with more than fifty Regencies featuring traditional, paranormal, and fantasy plotlines to her credit. She has won the
Romantic Times
Reviewers Choice Awards for Best Regency Author and Best Regency Romance.

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