Read Online Candice Hern by Once a Scoundrel - Free Book Online Page A

in her usual place behind the desk, her head bent as she made corrections to loose, printed pages. She looked up briefly at his entrance, then returned to her work.
    “You again,” she said. “I’m quite busy, as you see. Go away.”
    Tony ignored her petulant tone and strode into the room. He tossed his hat on a table, set asidesome papers stacked on the armchair, and took a seat. “My dear Edwina,” he said, “the warmth of your welcome never ceases to brighten my day.”
    “Those are page proofs,” she snapped, and pointed to the papers he’d moved from the chair. “If you have put them out of order, I swear I will have your guts for garters.”
    Tony leaned over and picked up the pages. “No, no. Nothing amiss, I assure you.” He placed the papers on the desk. “No violence is necessary.”
    “Hmph. Is there something specific you wanted? I’m very busy.”
    “Nothing specific. I just like to observe, as you know, to learn more about my business. What are doing, if I may ask?”
    “If you must know, I am correcting page proofs for the next issue. And it is not going well.”
    “Oh? That explains why you aren’t your usual cheerful self today. What is the problem?”
    She gave an exasperated sigh. “Imber has mixed up the columns so nothing flows properly, and he’s placed one of the engravings upside down. He is usually so competent. But we added one extra engraving this time, and more advertising at the end, and it seems to have thrown him off. Oh, this is maddening.”
    With so many pages printed on the uncut sheets, some facing one way, some facing the other, Tony didn’t know how anyone could tell if the columnswere mixed up. But Edwina seemed to know what she was doing.
    “I hesitate to offer,” he said, “but if I can be of any help—”
    “You could leave. That would help. Imber’s assistant will be here in a few minutes and I must finish with these proofs.”
    “Suppose I sit here quietly instead, while you finish the corrections.”
    “Why?”
    “There is still much I’d like to know about your operation here. I thought we could have a nice chat, perhaps over tea?”
    “There is other work to be done.”
    “Ah, but I’ll wager you could spare a half hour.”
    She groaned. “Heavens, not another wager.”
    Tony laughed. “No, my dear. It was only a figure of speech. What do you say? I’ll be silent as an oyster while you work, then we’ll have tea. Agreed?”
    She glowered at him, but finally said, “All right.” She then went back to her work and ignored him.
    Or pretended to. Tony slowly removed his yellow kid gloves, one long finger at a time, and could not help but notice when Edwina’s eyes flickered up briefly. He smiled to realize she was not indifferent to him. He was not the world’s most handsome man, but he did have a certain charm and knew how to use it. He placed the gloves in the upturnedhat on the table beside him, and sat back to see how much he could discompose her without moving a muscle or saying a word.
    She wore a simple muslin dress, as she usually did, with tight-fitting sleeves reaching almost to the elbow. The glories of her white bosom were left to the imagination by a striped muslin fichu crossed high in front and tied in the back. The dress, which had bits of white-on-white embroidery along the sleeve edges, had seen too many washings and was looking a bit thin. Even so, she wore it well, with a natural grace that would have made a feed sack look elegant. Lord, how he would love to see her in a fine ball gown, with a minuscule bodice cut low at the neck and with no lace or fichu to disguise her bosom.
    Her fingers fiddled with her hair as she worked. Tony was pleased that she had not succumbed to the rage for cropped hair. Her face was framed in short black curls, a nod to current fashion, but the rest was gathered up in the back in some sort of complicated arrangement of plaits and combs, with two long, loose locks curling down her back and