Free Bath Scandal by Joan Smith

Now before you feel constrained to deliver me a lecture, let me assure you I do not talk so broad in front of your little sister. Between us enlightened adults, however, there is nothing amiss in a joke, I hope.”
    He lifted his brows and gazed at her. “Nothing amiss in such jokes to Leonard’s cousin,” he agreed. “I fear certain gentlemen might misread you.”
    “Very likely, but I do not associate with rakes or rattles of that sort. Now—no, before we begin, I shall have coffee. Would you like some tea?”
    “I’ll have coffee if that’s what you’re having.”
    Over coffee they racked their brains for some means of advancing Gillie’s romance at top speed. “A little jealousy might help,” Bea said. She sat with her chin in her hands, staring at her lap.
    Even in that mundane pose, Southam found some charm in her. He looked at her long lashes, curling over her lids. Sunlight from the window painted her raven hair in hues of indigo and amber, with flashes of crimson. Odd that jet black hair should hold so many shades.
    She looked up as the silence stretched and found him gazing at her. “You mean, another beau for competition?” he asked.
    “No, stoopid!Tannie is already half in love with her. I mean, another girl to make Gillie look lively. All the mamas are after him like foxes after a hare. They recognize a prime parti when they see him, if their foolish daughters do not. The difficulty is that Tannie never looks at them unless they are riding. And then he only looks to see how they sit their mount.”
    “Then we should enlarge the riding parties.”
    “Except that he is leaving for Bournemouth tomorrow.”
    Southam rubbed his chin with his fist and took his decision. “We’ll just have to follow him.”
    Her head lifted, and her eyes were like smiling emeralds. “Go to Bournemouth, you mean?” she asked.
    “Why not?”
    “It’s fifty miles away! It would take a day to get there. And what is there to do, other than looking at the hurdle races?”
    “We need not attend all the races. We’ll take Miss Pittfield with us. She can play propriety. Why, it is a famous watering place. There must be many facilities for tourists. There is the New Forest for drives....”
    “We? Did you mean for me to go with you?” she asked, startled. “I thought you meant you and Gillie.”
    Southam gave a conscious look. In his mind it was a holiday with Beatrice he was envisaging. Gillie and Tannie had fallen to the bottom of his mind. “Yes. I would like to repay you in some manner for having Gillie. It will be a short holiday, at my expense.”
    Bea drew her brows together in consideration. “Holidaying with a gentleman at his expense sounds a trifle—irregular,” she said. “I don’t know what my friends would think.”
    “Why, they would think you are moving heaven and bending earth to land the duke for your charge and commend you for your efforts. If it is the proprieties that deter you, let me remind you Miss Pittfield would be along.”
    “Yes, it is the proprieties,” she admitted. “I would love to go. Naturally I did not mean your intentions were evil, Southam. You are engaged to Deborah.” Her frown deepened. “She might not like it,” she warned, and looked for his reaction.
    “I’ll handle Deborah,” he said airily. His tone said, “If she don’t like it, then she can lump it.” But in his mind he knew she would dislike it very much, and he had no intention of telling her.
    “I suppose there is no harm in it,” she said pensively. “Yes, why not? It might be the very thing to seal the romance. I doubt the place will be crowded in March, but perhaps we ought to send a request for rooms today. I have a book of travel here somewhere that will tell us what is for hire.”
    She called her servant to fetch the book. She and Southam pored over it while they had their coffee. When Beatrice lifted the pot to pour herself another cup, Southam held his cup out without thinking.
    “The