Read Online A Prudent Match by Laura Matthews - Free Book Online Page B

moment.”
    Quickly shrugging her arms through the sleeves, she adjusted the gown so that it covered her sufficiently before allowing her husband into the room.
    “I trust you didn't mind my having tea sent up,” he said as he strolled into the room. He was dressed in country garb, buckskin breeches and top boots, with a handsome brown riding jacket. “I did want to speak with you before I rode out.”
    “Of course. I had no intention of sleeping so late. At home I'm up much earlier.”
    “Yes, so you've said.” His gaze drifted from her face to the mirror behind her, and he smiled. “Turn around. I'll do you up.”
    “That's not at all necessary,” she protested, flushing. “Betsy will be back in just a few minutes.”
    “Turn around.”
    Prudence did as she was bid.
    His hands came to rest on her shoulders, where they remained as he regarded the two of them in the mirror. “I hadn't realized how tall you were, Prudence,” he remarked. “And in your stocking feet, too.”
    Prudence looked with chagrin at the stockings she had already pulled on. They were not new ones by any means. In fact she could see that the right one had been mended. There had seemed so many more important things to be taken care of in the short time she'd had before her wedding, that she'd ended up having to bring all the stockings she had owned for the last few years. Trust Ledbetter to notice.
    For he had noticed. She could see that little quiver at the corner of his mouth, and the way his eyes almost teased her. Well, she would buy new stockings the first time they visited the village shops and in the meantime she would give any mended stockings to Betsy for a charity drive.
    “If you would just do up my gown,” she suggested with some asperity.
    “Certainly, my dear.” His fingers on the buttons were nimble and he was almost finished when Betsy arrived to assist his wife. The little maid looked surprised to see him there. She curtsied and offered to come back later but Prudence firmly stated that she was ready for Betsy's help with her hair.
    Ledbetter reached up to place a hand on either side of Prudence's head, his fingers weaving into her thick auburn tresses. “You know, I'm of a mind to ask you to leave your hair down, Prudence. It's very becoming when it's loose, don't you think, Betsy?”
    “Oh, yes, my lord. Lady Ledbetter looked ever so much like my school mistress yesterday with it all pulled back and pinned so tight.”
    “There,” he said, smiling at her in the glass. “You don't wish to look like a school mistress, do you, Prudence?”
    “Perhaps I would prefer that to looking like a green girl with my hair springing about with a mind of its own. Pinning it is the only way to gain some control over it.”
    “I like it loose.” Ledbetter ran his fingers through her heavy mane of hair, making her almost shiver. “Controlling it seems such a shame. Would you, just for today, indulge me in this?”
    Prudence sighed. “It is very odd of you. I shall present quite a slovenly appearance to your staff, sir.” When he continued to regard her with raised brows, she said, “Oh, very well, if it is what you wish.”
    “Thank you, my dear.” To her astonishment, and Betsy's delight, he placed a kiss on her nape. “I'm afraid I must be off now. Look for me in the early afternoon and we will make a visit to Sir Geoffrey Manning and his good lady to apprise them of my marriage. They are our closest neighbors and he is a lifelong friend of mine.”
    “I shall look forward to it,” she said, though nothing could have been further from the truth. She did not feel ready to make the acquaintance of so old a friend of his, let alone appear before Lady Manning with her wild hair undone. She would wear a hat, she decided, which would sufficiently curb its excesses. Ledbetter could not complain of that. And, honestly, if he intended to dictate to her on matters of appearance, he would do well to think again.
    When the baron had