Read Online Ravishing in Red by Madeline Hunter - Free Book Online Page B

wanted to warn you that the first sign of bad gossip has occurred. There was a mention in a scandal sheet this morning.”
    She paused and stomped her little foot in frustrated anger. Her face grimaced with worry. “Already?”
    “Only the coaching inn gossip. No names. It may come to nothing.”
    “Or it may get much worse, with names named, or alluded to in ways that everyone knows who it is. How soon will we know which way it will be?”
    “These things have a common pattern. In four days or so it will either die away, or be much more public. If the latter happens, I will send you a warning and, of course, do what is necessary to protect your reputation as much as possible.”
    “Mama will be certain to tell me first, Lord Sebastian. If she is embroiled in more scandal, I will never be able to apologize enough to her. And she will be too good to scold that my mission, although noble, was foolhardy.”
    She had completely missed his reference to protecting her. Of course she would. She hated him for his role in her father’s disgrace. She would never speculate on what might be necessary, let alone agree to it. She would think social damnation preferable to accepting his protection, no doubt.
    “Foolhardy, yes. Also ill-advised, dangerous, and as it turned out, disastrous. Also—”
    “There is no need to go through the entire dictionary. I have upbraided myself plenty, and do not need scolds from you .”
    “ Also brave. It is admirable that you wanted to be a champion for his name, mistaken though your faith may be.”
    She glanced askance at him, frowning with suspicion. She no doubt thought that he was flattering her to his own ends again.
    He probably was. He hadn’t decided yet.
    “I have been thinking about the Domino,” she said. Mention of her father had opened a topic that made his presence tolerable, although it was the last one he would have chosen. “In my mind, I study what I remember of his appearance. He had red hair, I am almost positive. Also, I am wondering if he was a foreigner.”
    Their path turned around the corner of a simple stone structure with large windows on all its walls. This was the true conservatory that Mrs. Joyes had mentioned, he guessed. They entered a little wilderness that flourished along its side, in the garden’s back corner.
    “Why do you think he might be foreign?”
    “His hat was odd. Soft and deeper brimmed than seen here. Perhaps his coat was odd too. The cut of it. The weight.” She shrugged. “I cannot explain it, but he just did not look English.”
    “You may be correct.”
    “It would make it easier to find him if I am. There are far fewer foreigners in England than Englishmen.”
    “Unfortunately, men do not wear colored feathers in their hats proclaiming which they are.”
    “The foreigners congregate in certain places in London, though. Certain inns and taverns. Lizzie—she is another member of our household—she says that there are hotels preferred by foreigners too. If I were to visit the places such a man might be, I could—”
    He stepped ahead of her and stopped walking, requiring her to stop as well. “You must not do that. It would be unsafe.”
    Her drawn expression made it clear what she thought of his command. “I will be perfectly safe. I will bring someone with me this time. And of course, I now have the pistol again.”
    He could not tell if she was teasing him or if she truly intended to repeat such recklessness. “I shall instruct Mrs. Joyes to lock it away. A weapon only increases your danger. The next time you point a pistol at a man, he may not be a gentleman about it.”
    “Now, that is a warning worth the words, Lord Sebastian, since you know so well of what you speak.”
    Her mocking eyes arrested him. And the slight curve of her mouth. And her familiar manner, which revived memories of the intimacy that they had shared in that inn.
    “You refer to that kiss,” he said, remembering it more distinctly than was wise.