Read Online Come Near Me by Kasey Michaels - Free Book Online Page B

brother,” Lord
Dagenham said as Sherry blushed to the roots of her hair—she really
had been doing that a lot today. “However, as I’m finding myself
unmanned by your mooncalf ways, I believe it’s probably for the
best that I take dear Mr. Victor away. You’re embarrassing, old
son, really you are. Miss Victor,” he said, bowing, “my
condolences. Don’t let him drool on you, all right?”
    “Eh?” Stanley Victor grunted. He looked to the
marquess, then to his daughter, and shook his head, dismissing
whatever thought had tried to enter it. “No. Couldn’t be,” he said,
oblivious to anything but his dogs, just as he ever was, then he
shook his head again and followed after Lord Dagenham, asking him
how many pups the bitch had birthed.
    “Well, that was uncomfortable,” the marquess said,
waving away a footman and holding the chair for Sherry himself so
that she could rise, then offering her his arm. “Shall we take a
stroll in the gardens? The roses are particularly fine this year;
unusually early, the gardeners tell me, and almost shamefully
abundant. Perhaps you noticed a few in the drawing room?”
    “A few? There were at least four vases of roses, as
I recall,” Sherry smiled up at him as he pushed open French
windows, leading to a wide flagstone patio. They’d have
conversation now, she knew, and she’d probably embarrass herself,
and him. After all, what did she have to say that could possibly
interest a marquess, a gentleman used to London debutantes? She
could only hope she didn’t say anything too silly.
    “Oh, my,” she said a moment later, forgetting her
fears as she let go of his arm and hastened to the stone stairs
leading down to the gardens.
    She tripped down the stairs, holding her skirts
above her ankles, and took a half dozen steps into the rose garden,
then turned to gaze up at the marquess. “I can’t believe there are
so many different roses in the whole world, yet alone in one
garden. I’ve never seen... never imagined!”
    She raced to her right, cupping an immense yellow
bloom in her hands. “Why, it’s as big as a dessert plate! And
here,” she said, her gaze falling on a bush nearly as high as she
was, its inky dark leaves fitting frames for several dozen blooms
as white as snow, each as perfect as a snowflake. “And over there,”
she continued, lost in the beauty that surrounded her inside the
huge, walled garden, “that pink. I’ve never seen such a pink as
that. This isn’t just a garden, my lord. It’s paradise!”
    Adam Dagenham descended the steps slowly, his eyes
never leaving Sherry’s face, never looking at the flowers. Her
heart stood still, waiting for him to take her hand, to lead her
along the curved paths of the garden.
    “Yes,” she heard him agree as the buzzing in her
ears grew louder, as her heart pounded not in fear, but in
anticipation. “That’s just how I would have put it, Miss Victor.
Paradise. A veritable Eden. And not a snake in sight. Shall we take
that stroll now?”

Chapter Five
    After...
     
     
    I answer in the affirmative
    with an emphatic “No.”
    — Sir Boyle Roche
     
     
    A dam was late
arriving at the Oxford Arms to meet his friends, and he was still
frowning over the memory of Sherry’s maid, Emma, as he’d last seen
her in the upstairs hall in Grosvenor Square.
    She had been carrying a full vase of roses,
muttering under her breath as, ignoring him as he stepped out of
her way, she headed toward the servants’ staircase.
    “Ringin’ that bell, orderin’ me ta take the
flowers away. Like it was me what brung them up here? No. I didn’t
bring them. Think the woman was goin’ ta have a liedown, give me
some peace. But she rings that bell, then sits there all
high-and-mighty in her bed, orderin’ me to dump the posies
in the rubbish...”
    “Enjoying your own conversation, are you,
Emma?” Adam had asked, eyeing the flowers as he stood in the
hallway and carefully shot his cuffs. “Is something amiss with