Read Online Amanda Scott by Dangerous Games - Free Book Online Page B

she could do to keep her voice from betraying her feelings.
    “That’s better,” he said, putting an arm around her and giving her a hug. “It would not do for me to be giving Yarborne a disobedient bride, now, would it?”
    She stiffened. Then, to cover the involuntary movement, she slipped from his embrace and turned to pour water from the washstand ewer into the basin. The water was tepid. She splashed some on her face, realizing only when she straightened that Sir Geoffrey had moved up beside her and was holding out her towel.
    “Thank you.” Taking it from him and patting her face dry, she moved away toward the fireplace.
    She could sense him watching her, could feel the silence lengthening uncomfortably, before he said lightly, “You know, my darling, I don’t believe you are entirely reconciled to this marriage.”
    “I do not want to marry a stranger old enough to be my father,” she said, struggling to keep her voice calm. “Surely that is n-not so odd.”
    “Are you thinking of disobeying me again?” His voice, soft and silky smooth, sent icy prickles of fear shooting up her spine.
    “N-no, sir.” She could manage little more than a whisper.
    “I did not quite hear you.”
    She did not think she could utter the words again. Recalling a similar scene in the distant past, she remembered wishing then that she had a fairy godmother who would whisk her away to a distant country, preferably one where females were not ever burdened with fathers or husbands.
    “Look at me, Melissa.”
    From somewhere deep inside, drawing on long buried instincts, she summoned up the strength not only to turn and face him but to manage a small, rueful smile as she did. Tears clung to her lashes, and her smile lacked confidence. She moistened her lips and said, “I have not behaved well, Papa. No doubt you were right to say I have become spoilt over the years. I will try to do better.”
    “You must do more than try,” Sir Geoffrey said. “Yarborne will know how to manage you, I expect, but I’ll be very much displeased if you embarrass me when you meet him, or do anything to disgrace the Seacourt name. Do you understand?”
    “Yes, sir.” She understood that he intended to beat her into submission if she defied him, and she knew he was perfectly capable of doing so. Using her fingers as makeshift combs to push her hair back from her face, she said as matter-of-factly as she could, “Did you say you’ve had no chance to speak with him yet?”
    “He is staying at the White Hart, but he did not dine there tonight and the porter did not know where he could be found at that hour. I had a few drinks to pass the time, not wanting to traipse all over town, but I came away when the fellow told me at last—as he ought to have done at once—that Yarborne wouldn’t return before midnight.”
    “Then you will speak with him in the morning,” she said with relief. Perhaps she might yet find a means of escape.
    Sir Geoffrey did not respond at once, and she realized with a flutter of fear that he had been watching her. She smiled again, smoothing her skirt with nervous hands, before he said, “I think perhaps it would be wise to look Yarborne up tonight. After all, one does not like to put off settling one’s debts of honor.”
    A glimmer of hope stirred. “As you please,” she said, striving to look and sound submissive as she turned to pick up her brush from the dressing table. “Perhaps you could ask someone to send Mag to me before you go. I would like to go to bed.”
    “You will not require Mag’s services.”
    Confidence surged through her. If he left her alone while he went to find Yarborne, surely she could manage to slip out to the stables again. This time, with no large stranger to stop her, she could be well away from Newmarket long before Sir Geoffrey returned. Knowing that she must not agree too quickly, however, lest she renew his suspicions, she peeped up at him from beneath her lashes and said in a