Free How to Woo a Reluctant Lady by Sabrina Jeffries

his mouth. “Twenty, maybe?”
    That should keep her brothers out of the way for a bit.
    “At first I thought the fellows might be here for the race,” Freddy went on. “Then I remembered that the race is tomorrow.”
    Minerva narrowed her gaze. “What race?”
    Freddy looked at her, then blinked. “Dash it all, I forgot I wasn’t supposed to say anything to you ladies.”
    “The race involves Gabe, I take it?”
    “How did you guess?” he said, alarmed.
    She eyed him askance.
    “Oh. Right. He’s the only one around here who races.”
    “He’s a complete and utter fool, is what he is,” Minerva grumbled. “Even after breaking his arm racing a few months ago, he’s driven his phaeton in three more. Gran chides him every time, but it seems to make no difference.”
    Freddy sucked calmly on the lemon drop. “I think that’s why we’re not supposed to tell her about it.”
    “I daresay you’re right.” And that’s why the only ones in the family who’d seen him race were her brothers, since the private affairs generally involved Gabe’s rather fast set. Women weren’t supposed to attend them because of all the drinking, gambling, and soiled doves.
    Hmm. Perhaps there was a way she could use this in her fight with Gran. “Are Jarret and Oliver going?”
    “They said they were.” He gave a heavy sigh. “I wanted to go myself, but Jane wants me to take her and Maria shopping in town tomorrow. I hate shopping. There’s never anything to eat. Just gowns, gowns, and more gowns. Why do you ladies need so many gowns, anyway? You can only wear one at a time.”
    “We have to have something to fill up the closet, or the mice move in and build nests,” she joked.
    “Really?” he said with perfect sincerity. “I had no idea.”
    Sadly, he probably didn’t. “What time is this race?”
    He looked uncertain. “I don’t know if I should say.”
    “If you tell me, I’ll tell you where Cook puts the kidney pies to cool.”
    His eyes lit up. Freddy was remarkably easy to bribe. “It’s at ten in the morning.”
    “And where is it taking place?”
    “Not quite sure. Near some inn in Turnham. That’s all I know.”
    The door to the drawing room opened and Giles and Gran came out, looking suspiciously convivial. Minerva tensed. That wasn’t a good sign.
    Gran started. “Where did the lads go?”
    “Apparently, the gentlemen who’ve come to be interviewed are overrunning the house,” Minerva said with some satisfaction. “Freddy tells me they’re filling the Crimson Courtyard.”
    “God help us all,” Gran muttered. “I suppose I shall have to go marshal more servants.”
    When she headed down the hall, Minerva called out, “Wait! What about me and Giles?”
    “I gave him permission to court you,” Gran said with a dismissive gesture. “At least
he
is a legitimate suitor and not some riffraff who answered an advertisement.” She shot Freddy a dark glance. “Keep an eye on those two, will you, lad?”
    Minerva was still gaping at her when Gran hurried off. Drat the woman. Minerva should have known that Gran wouldn’t give in so easily.
    “What does she mean, ‘keep an eye’ on you?” Freddy asked.
    “I believe she wants you to chaperone,” Giles said drily.
    “Oh, God,” Freddy said with a hint of panic. “Don’t know a thing about chaperoning.”
    Mischief glinted in Giles’s eyes. “Don’t worry. We’ll justchaperone ourselves.”
    “That’s like asking a dragon to guard the virgin,” Minerva mumbled under her breath. She smiled brightly at Freddy. “There’s no need for you to chaperone anyway. Our guest was just leaving.” Though she meant to get some questions answered privately before he did. “I’ll see him out and be back in a flash.”
    Freddy looked nervous. “Should I go with you?”
    “Don’t be silly,” she said lightly. “What could possibly happen between here and the door?” Leaving a place as large as Halstead Hall required navigating several