Free Finding Miss McFarland by Vivienne Lorret Page A

require enough movement, not to mention, all that sitting. . . .Frankly, the idea of sitting still for longer than absolutely necessary sets my teeth on edge . Nonetheless, she really liked spending time with her friends, and she couldn’t very well sit there with nothing in her lap while everyone else kept punching a needle through fabric as they chatted away.
    So when she’d watched Tillie’s quick needlework that first week, Delaney had been inspired. She’d made a bargain with her maid: if Tillie could produce a partially finished bit of needlework for her twice a week and keep it a secret, then Delaney would style her own hair. Needless to say, the former kitchen maid had leapt at the chance.
    Now, a year later, Tillie wrapped up the bundle of muslin that Delaney would take to Penelope Weatherstone’s parlor this afternoon.
    “I used a bit of wax to mark the space of your next stitches,” Tillie said, her mouth turning into a frown. “It’s no more than a row of half stitches. Just take it slow.”
    In the past year, her maid had expressed disappointment over several projects Delaney had managed to ruin because of her desire to rush. She’d ended up with holes in more than half of them.
    “Not to worry. This one will turn out fine.” Delaney always said that. Still, in her own defense, she had been right some of those times. More or less.
    Tillie sighed. “I’m almost finished adding the extra flounce to your gown for the theater this evening.”
    “Oh, blast!” A sudden realization struck her hard. It wasn’t that she’d forgotten about her plans for the theater. No. It was that she remembered her father’s box was situated directly below the Earl of Marlbrook’s.
    No doubt Griffin Croft would be there. She didn’t know if she could bear to see the man who’d kissed her solely to prove a point. For an all too brief moment, she’d actually imagined he’d been swept away in the moment. She should have known better.
    There was only one thing she could do. She needed to go shopping.
    Also . . . “Tillie, is there time to add one more flounce?”
    S hopping with Calliope and the twins had drained every last ounce of energy from Griffin. He’d barely returned from his outing with Father when they’d dragged him into the waiting carriage, eager for new bonnets and gloves. He hadn’t even had a chance to eat.
    Now, hours later and with packages piled high beside the driver, his lack of sustenance was taking its toll. He yawned and leaned back against the squabs, tilting his beaver hat over one eye.
    One of his sisters called for the driver to stop. Again.
    This day would never end. In fact, he still had to escort the lot of them to the theater this evening. “There couldn’t possibly be a shop you’ve not yet explored.”
    Phoebe grinned. “Bree McFarland mentioned that she frequents Haversham’s in favor of Forrester’s and, since we are passing by, I thought it the perfect time to see why she prefers it.”
    “Likely the reason is because this shop is closer to Danbury Lane, where she and her sister live,” he said, hoping against hope that it was enough to convince her to continue homeward.
    “How do you know where the Misses McFarland live?” Asteria grinned broadly.
    He cursed himself for supplying any sort of encouragement. “The longer you are in society, the sooner you’ll learn where everyone lives.”
    “And speaking of Miss McFarland, I believe that is Bree’s sister outside of Haversham’s this very moment,” Calliope offered. Her sly, sideways smile told him that she knew very well what she was doing.
    He was glad for only one thing—that the betraying leap of his pulse was not observed by the three of them.
    The kiss in the Dorsets’ conservatory had been a mistake, an undisciplined impulse, to which he’d never given in before. Yet he couldn’t deny that the memory of it kept stirring inside him like a bubbling cauldron. Perhaps Miss McFarland had been right all