Read Online Babe by Joan Smith - Free Book Online Page A

driver cachet and an unaccustomed air of respectability. She drove down Bond Street at a careful pace to avoid any accident, while she looked about for friends or a guardian. When Lord Ellingwood waved, she pulled up beside him for a chat, for she felt just a little fear that Clivedon would take revenge on her, and wanted to appease him in advance.
    “Can I take you for a spin, sir, or are you afraid I’ll land you in a ditch?” she asked.
    “It would not be too high a price to pay for the honor,” he replied, feeling himself very chivalrous.
    “Will it be the park, or the Chelsea Road?” she asked.
    “Let us go to the park,” he answered promptly. It was not often Ellingwood had such a dashing companion to show off to the town, and he wished to make the most of it.
    Colonel Gentz had slipped out of her mind entirely, but he was there at his post, hoping for a glimpse of her, and was the first to accost her at the barrier. “Babe—good of you to come. You got your prads back, I see. Good show.” They chatted for a few moments, and while still she leaned over talking to him, Clivedon reared up behind her carriage, in his own curricle, harnessed tandem.
    It was sheer vexation that lent the rosy hue to her cheeks as she made them known to each other, and that caused her to babble a host of irrelevancies. Vexation had the opposite effect on Clivedon. He was next to mute with anger, but he managed to get out a few commands.
    “Ellingwood, take that rig to my stables, if you please. Lady Barbara is coming with me.”
    “I have permission to keep my phaeton at Lady Graham’s,” she replied, with a bold tilt of her chin.
    “Lady Graham is not your guardian, ma’am. She is only your chaperone. I say what you are to have, and I say the phaeton goes to my place. I will take you home. Come along.”
    Gentz looked on with the keenest interest. The embarrassing scene caused a smile to light on his face, and he observed Barbara eagerly to see what she would do. She thought there was a challenge in his look, an urging to come to cuffs with her guardian.
    “Now!” Clivedon rapped out. His tone was glacial, but she discerned fire beneath the ice. The next step, she feared, would be for him to remove her by force, and to forestall this degrading step, she spoke to Ellingwood.
    “Would you mind terribly? Such an imposition, but you see this Gothic guardian of mine is an utter dictator. If I refuse to humor him, he’ll send me to my room for the night with bread and water, and I wouldn’t like to miss the play at Drury Lane. Shall I see you there?”
    “I hope so indeed,” Ellingwood answered, while Gentz took note of the fact as well. It was Gentz who helped her down from the phaeton, swinging her lightly in his arms, and Gentz again who aided her into the other curricle.
    “Thank you, Theo,” she said, embarrassed, annoyed, and also a little fearful.
    “Always a pleasure, Babe,” he replied, and lifted a hand to salute her as she was driven off.
    “I hope you’re satisfied, making a fool of me in front of my friends!” she said to Clivedon as soon as they began moving.
    “You do a pretty good job of that by yourself. I have spoken to you before about Gentz. I now tell you categorically, you are not to speak to him again. If you so much as look at him, steps will be taken to remove you from the city.”
    “It is hard not to speak to one’s friends when they are met.”
    “Yes, particularly when they are met by prearrangement.”
    “It was not arranged in advance.”
    “I have reason to know otherwise.”
    “You have been gossiping with Lady Angela again, I see. I marvel you two lovebirds can find nothing more interesting to discuss than me. I know well enough where you received this misinformation.”
    “The information proved accurate enough.”
    “I didn’t plan to meet him there. I only meant to drive out the Chelsea Road. It was Ellingwood who suggested the park.”
    “He would not be hard to lead