Free An Affair of Honor by Amanda Scott

bound with fillets, à la Greque, and her slimly tailored walking dress showed her trim figure to advantage. She grinned at her uncle, already half out of his chair.
    Kit straightened. “Good morning. I trust you slept well.”
    Nell hid a smile. Clearly, her brother was determined not to be drawn. Rory stepped forward to inspect the dishes laid out for breakfast “I slept very well, thank you. Good morning, Grandmama, Aunt Nell. Are there any sausages? I adore sausages.”
    “Under the silver cover on the left,” Kit directed. “Good day to you, ladies. I’m off.”
    “I hope I didn’t scare him away,” Rory said sweetly as she took her place.
    “Don’t be absurd, child,” Lady Agnes said with a warm smile. “Gentlemen are always in a rush to begin the day, don’t you know.”
    Rory returned the smile and brought her plate to the table, declining Jeremy’s offer of tea and requesting chocolate instead. “Shall we go to Donaldson’s directly after breakfast, Aunt Nell?”
    Nell nodded, her mouth full of Yorkshire ham.
    “’Tis a fascinating place, Donaldson’s,” offered Lady Agnes. “I purchase my paints there.”
    “Goodness! Do you paint, Grandmama?”
    “Mama paints elegant little things on velvet and satin,” Nell told her.
    “How clever of you! Is it very difficult?”
    “Well, not if one finds the proper paints,” Lady Agnes explained. “So many of the dyes are quite wrong and will run or bleed or simply fade away. That is why I go to Donaldson’s. Their supplies are always to be relied upon.”
    Once breakfast was over, Nell and Rory collected their hats and gloves, and Nell ordered the landaulet.
    “I frequently walk,” she explained, “but Mama would prefer that we take the carriage,” She paused in the entry, waiting for Rory to finish pulling her pink kid gloves on. It would never do for a lady to be seen departing the house while still in the act of donning her gloves. Soon they were both ready, however, and Pavingham escorted them to the waiting carriage with a properly stately air.
    The carriage took them by way of Edward Street to the Steyne, past the Duke of Marlborough’s house and past Mrs. Fitzherbert’s house with its three arched bays and distinctive first-floor balcony. The balcony was deserted when they passed, but Nell explained that Mrs. Fitzherbert and the prince often sat there together or with friends and nodded graciously to such passers-by as might merit their notice.
    They were set down at the door of Donaldson’s Library, and Nell instructed her coachman to collect them again in an hour.
    “That will allow plenty of time for you to become acquainted with the best of the little shops hereabouts. Is there anything in particular you desire to purchase?”
    “Only some green ribbons, if I can discover the correct shade,” Rory replied. “I have a bit of the material I want to match in my reticule.”
    It was a matter of but a few moments for Rory to inscribe her name and direction in the visitors’ book. Looking about the library afterward, she professed herself charmed by the decor, but Nell noted that her glances fell a good deal more readily upon the various young men visiting the place than upon the books, art supplies, or card tables. She hid a smile.
    “Shall we look for your ribbons now?”
    Rory, gazing in rapt admiration at a tall, dark-haired young gentleman in the dashing blue and gold uniform of the prince’s regiment, did not seem to hear her, so Nell patiently repeated her suggestion.
    The younger girl turned quite pink and glanced sharply at her. “Oh, yes, of course,” she replied quickly. But she could not resist a look back over her shoulder as they passed out of the library.
    “That is not the only uniform you will see, my dear. The town is quite heavily littered with them.”
    “Uniform?” Rory shot her a saucy grin. “’Tis not the uniform but the young man in it, Aunt Nell. Was he not the most shockingly handsome gentleman you