Read Online Amelia Grey - [Rogues' Dynasty 06] by The Rogue Steals a Bride - Free Book Online

against the plush velvet seat.
    He couldn’t seem to stop himself. He’d been back to the square every day since the little imp had made off with his dagger and Miss Hart’s purse. He liked to tell himself the reason he was so bent on finding the lad was because he didn’t want the bugger to best him. And it was a damned expensive knife, but it was more than either of those two things. Even though it irritated the devil out of him that Miss Hart was Sir Randolph’s ward, Matson wanted to get her brooch back for her. It didn’t seem right that she had lost an item that had belonged to her mother to a street urchin who saw its value only in terms of money and not as a precious treasure.
    He’d find the brooch for her, and then he’d consider himself done with her.
    Completely.
    For good.
    Forever.
    But only after he stopped by for a visit later today to find out what else she knew about his past.

Five
    Wise men never sit and wail their loss, but cheerily seek how to redress their harms.
    —William Shakespeare
    “Sophia, please do try to be still and stop fidgeting. Mrs. Franco will never be able to get your hem the right length if you keep squirming like a worm in hot ashes.”
    “Sorry, Aunt June,” Sophia said, looking down from the seamstress stool she was standing on. Being still for so long was next to impossible to do. “Honestly, I don’t know why we are doing this. I already have more clothing than I can wear this Season, and next year you’ll just want to make new gowns.”
    “Of course we will,” June said as she studied a piece of lace. “You’ll be a new bride by then, and you’ll definitely want to be fashionably dressed for your husband. Now, you’ll find it much easier to be still if you aren’t talking so much.”
    Sophia squeezed her hands into fists and held them tightly by her sides, hoping to force herself to remain still. She centered her attention on the window in front of her. The panes were framed with a strikingly bright shade of red draperies. Each velvet panel was tied back with large gold-corded tassels, exposing fancy lace covering the panes. Looking out at the gray, windy day made her realize it was possible to be sad, happy, and angry at the same time.
    She would always be sad when she thought about losing her mother’s brooch. She would always be angry at the lad who stole it from her. But other, happier feelings and emotions crowded inside her as well. She would always remember her first kiss, brief as it was, in the dark corridor last night. She had never felt anything like the thrilling sensations that had rippled through her when Mr. Brentwood’s lips touched hers. It was exhilarating and breathtaking to be kissed by a gentleman whose name she didn’t know at the time.
    Sophia closed her eyes and remembered the light caress of Mr. Brentwood’s lips on hers. What a dashing and brave man he was to risk scandal to fulfill her dream. She wished the kiss had been longer, but now knew if it had, they would have surely been caught by the obnoxious Lord Waldo.
    Disappointment was another emotion she could add to the other ones swirling inside her. Mr. Brentwood was easily the most intriguing gentleman she’d met since arriving in London, but it would not do her any good to daydream about him. He was not titled, and her oath to her father was far more important than her budding feelings for Mr. Brentwood. It was best for her to think about becoming the bride of a gentleman such as Lord Bighampton, Lord Snellingly, Viscount Hargraves, and the other titled gentlemen she met last night. Though none of them had stirred her womanly desires like Mr. Brentwood had.
    But thankfully she had his kiss, her first kiss, to daydream about over and over again.
    “Oh, excuse me, ladies.”
    Sophia turned at the sound of Sir Randolph’s voice. He had walked into his spacious drawing room and was surveying the scene before him. Sophia watched his curious gaze sweep over the bolts of