Read Online Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn - Free Book Online

“Wouldn’t that be a clever joke on everyone?”
    Colin looked over at the elderly lady, who was having agrand old time talking up her latest scheme. She was thumping her cane on the ground, chattering animatedly, and smiling like a cat with cream, fish, and an entire roast turkey. “It makes sense,” he said thoughtfully, “in a rather perverse sort of way.”
    Penelope felt the corners of her mouth twist. “She’s nothing if not perverse.”
    She watched Colin watching Lady D for another few seconds, then quietly said, “But you don’t think it’s her.”
    Colin slowly turned his head to face her, raising one brow in silent question.
    â€œI can tell by the expression on your face,” Penelope explained.
    He grinned, that loose easy grin he so often used in public. “And here I thought I was inscrutable.”
    â€œAfraid not,” she replied. “Not to me, anyway.”
    Colin sighed. “I fear it will never be my destiny to be a dark, brooding hero.”
    â€œYou may well find yourself some one’s hero,” Penelope allowed. “There’s time for you yet. But dark and brooding?” She smiled. “Not very likely.”
    â€œToo bad for me,” he said jauntily, giving her another one of his well-known smiles—this one the lopsided, boyish one. “The dark, brooding types get all the women.”
    Penelope coughed discreetly, a bit surprised he’d be speaking of such things with her, not to mention the fact that Colin Bridgerton had never had trouble attracting women. He was grinning at her, awaiting a response, and she was trying to decide whether the correct reaction was polite maidenly outrage or a laugh and an I’m-such-a-good-sport sort of chuckle, when Eloise quite literally skidded to a halt in front of them.
    â€œDid you hear the news?” Eloise asked breathlessly.
    â€œWere you running ?” Penelope returned. Truly a remarkable feat in such a crowded ballroom.
    â€œLady Danbury has offered one thousand pounds to whomever unmasks Lady Whistledown!”
    â€œWe know,” Colin said in that vaguely superior tone exclusive to older brothers.
    Eloise let out a disappointed sigh. “You do?”
    Colin motioned to Lady Danbury, who was still a scant few yards away. “We were right here when it happened.”
    Eloise looked annoyed in the extreme, and Penelope knew exactly what she was thinking (and would most probably relate to her the following afternoon). It was one thing to miss an important moment. It was another entirely to discover that one’s brother had seen the entire thing.
    â€œWell, people are already talking about it,” Eloise said. “Gushing, really. I haven’t been witness to such excitement in years.”
    Colin turned to Penelope and murmured, “This is why I so often choose to leave the country.”
    Penelope tried not to smile.
    â€œI know you’re talking about me and I don’t care,” Eloise continued, barely pausing to take a breath. “I tell you, the ton has gone mad. Everyone—and I mean everyone—is speculating on her identity, although the shrewdest ones won’t say a word. Don’t want others to win on their hunch, don’t you know.”
    â€œI think,” Colin announced, “that I am not so in need of a thousand pounds that I care to worry about this.”
    â€œIt’s a lot of money,” Penelope said thoughtfully.
    He turned to her in disbelief. “Don’t tell me you’re going to join in this ridiculous game.”
    She cocked her head to the side, lifting her chin in what she hoped was an enigmatic—or if not enigmatic, at the very least slightly mysterious—manner. “I am not so well heeled that I can ignore the offer of one thousand pounds,” she said.
    â€œPerhaps if we work together…” Eloise suggested.
    â€œGod save me,” was