Read Online Simply Magic by Mary Balogh - Free Book Online

had not minded at all having to listen to them. But she had felt not the smallest spark of romantic interest in him. Or he in her, she guessed.
    Miss Calvert was indeed interested in Mr. Finn—and he in her.
    â€œAh, you are ready,” Frances said from the open doorway of Susanna’s room. “Viscount Whitleaf is here. He is downstairs, talking with Lucius.”
    Susanna grimaced and reached for her gloves. Her stomach felt suddenly queasy and her knees less than steady.
    â€œI wish I were going to
walk
to Miss Honeydew’s cottage,” she said.
    â€œYou know we would have called out a carriage for you before we allowed that to happen,” Frances said.
    â€œBut he was there when I offered to go read to Miss Honeydew,” Susanna explained, “and he felt obliged to offer to take me in his own conveyance. Poor man! I was horribly embarrassed.”
    Frances laughed and moved aside to allow Susanna to step out of her room.
    â€œI do not suppose he minded in the least,” she said. “He is nothing if not gallant to ladies. It is very sweet of you, Susanna, to be willing to give up an afternoon for Miss Honeydew. I try to call on her a few times whenever we are at home. It has never occurred to me, though, to offer to read to her, despite the fact that I remember you did it the last time you were here too.”
    By that time they were downstairs and approaching the front doors. They were open, and Susanna could see the Earl of Edgecombe and Viscount Whitleaf standing just outside them at the top of the horseshoe steps. They turned at the approach of the ladies, and the viscount swept off his hat and bowed.
    â€œIt is a glorious day again,” he said, his eyes laughing at Susanna. “Today there are definitely a few clouds in the sky—I counted twelve on my way over here—but they are small and white and harmless and actually add to the beauty of the sky.”
    Susanna might have laughed out loud or at least smiled if she had not just stepped outside and seen the vehicle in which she was to ride—Frances and the earl must wonder why he was making such an issue of what ought to have been a passing mention of the weather. But she
had
seen the vehicle. He had said last night that he would escort her in his curricle, but she had been too caught up in the knowledge that
he
was going to drive her to reflect upon the fact that she had never ridden in one before. And this was no ordinary curricle. It was, she guessed, a gentleman’s racing curricle, light and flimsy, its wheels large, its seat looking small and fragile and very far up off the ground.
    â€œAnd the occasional shade is welcome,” Frances said. “It is very warm today.”
    â€œMiss Honeydew seems determined to ply us with tea and cakes after Miss Osbourne has read to her,” the viscount said. “We may be gone for quite a while, but you may rest assured that I will return Miss Osbourne safe and sound.”
    â€œWhitleaf is a notable whip, Susanna,” the earl said with a laugh as they all descended the steps to the terrace. “You need not fear for your safety.”
    â€œI am not afraid,” she said. “It is just that I have never ridden in a curricle before.”
    And the seat looked even higher and the whole thing flimsier from down here—and marvelously elegant. The horses, which were being held by one of the grooms from the stable, looked alarmingly frisky. But even before she need start worrying about the journey itself…how on earth was she going to get
up
there?
    Fortunately it proved easier than it looked. She climbed up to the seat with no dreadful loss of dignity, though she clung to the viscount’s hand as she did so. She moved over on the seat as far as she could go, but even so…
    But even so, when he joined her there and gathered the ribbons into his hands, his outer thigh and hip were touching hers—and there was nothing she could