Read Online Elisabeth Kidd by A Hero for Antonia - Free Book Online

same.
    “She will not accompany you to London, then?” he enquired.
    “Good heavens, no! She will be delighted to have the run of the house—figuratively speaking, of course—and no one to censure her behaviour or screen her guests when we are away.”
    “Do you do so?”
    “Not at all. But it pleases Maria to believe I do.”
    There was a pause before he said, “How is it that your younger brother did not sell out at the time of your elder brother’s death?”
    “There was no immediate need for him to do so. Anthony had named me to the temporary charge of Wyckham, with power of attorney. I expect he was taking into account Carey’s great eagerness to join up. He knew that he would not come back if it could be prevented.”
    “Army-mad.”
    “Yes.” She laughed ruefully, saying, “Oh, dear, what a set of irrespon sible characters you must think us! I suppose it is too much to expect of you to believe that, despite our overrated charm, we Fairfaxes also enjoy a wide reputation for loyalty and kind intentions?”
    She glanced up, hoping for an understanding smile, but the look he gave her, while not unsympathetic, unsettled rather than reassured her.
    “I can believe it of one Fairfax,” he said. “Especially the charm.”
    Unexpectedly shaken by this offhand tribute, she turned her head away from the warm glow in his dark eyes. It had not, until just that moment, occurred to her that he was flirting with her, and the notion that he was merely beguiling the tedium of a winter visit to the country by teasing her into indiscreet conversation unaccountably sank her spirits. But then it also occurred to her that she might enjoy such a harmless flirtation as much as he; indeed, what else had they been engaged in since the moment they met? The thought of Charles need not deter her from such a pleasant, but meaningless, pastime.
    As if sensing her momentary discomfort, he said, more easily, “What I am attempting to ascertain, in my clumsy way, is whether I may look forward to the day your responsibilities here are at an end and you may visit London more frequently.”
    “Are you looking for a third sponsor for your coming-out, my lord? Are two aunts not sufficient? Isabel has but one, poor child.”
    “Isabel has many other advantages which I have not. But I meant, fair aunt, that you deserve another opportunity to dazzle London.”
    “I do not think, even if I would, that I could do so,” she said. “I was on the town quite long enough to make an undesirable reputation for myself amongst the very persons you have been so careful to cultivate. Indeed, I once had the effrontery to cut the Duke of Cumberland! It is quite a distinction.”
    “Well for you that it was not Prinny himself. Whatever possessed you to do such a thing?”
    “He looked at me in a way that was not precisely ... that was not what might have led me to believe him a gentleman, much less a royal one.”
    “Do you always act on your scruples?”
    She smiled. “Say, on my impulse, rather. But as I had no position to maintain, I was free to do so. He could scarcely have blighted my career.”
    Kedrington regarded her quizzically, and she realised that he had not been informed of the means by which she had ended her own career. Not wishing to become the cause of his enlightenment, she did not enlarge on her remark.
    “Remind me not to be seen in your company,” he said lightly. “I have no wish to have my career blighted.”
    She smiled in spite of herself and thanked him sincerely for his courtesy to Isabel at dinner. “You put her quite at her ease, you know, by comparing—however implausibly!—your situation to her own.”
    “I see nothing implausible about it. I assure you, I am as much a commodity as any damsel on the marriage mart, and must be every bit as careful to maintain my eligibility.”
    “Have you ‘an intent to turn husband,’ sir?”
    Recognizing her source, he responded, “ ‘Will you have me, lady?’