Read Online Sweet Madness: A Veiled Seduction Novel by Heather Snow - Free Book Online Page A

her phrasing simply meant to mollify, as she would a child before requiring him to down a particularly revolting remedy?
    Either way, he had to trust that she would treat him with as much concern and sensitivity down this path as she had that wedding dance.
    “If it is any consolation, what I have in mind does come with certain benefits,” she promised.
    A wholly inappropriate thrill charged through him. He tamped it down. She hadn’t meant anything close to what his body heard. Still, he couldn’t resist asking, “Such as?”
    “Freedom.” Pen flashed him a grin that turned a bit wry at the edges as she tipped her head back and to her left to indicate an unhappy-looking Carter. “Or at least the illusion thereof. Mr. Allen insists I bring
him
along.” Pen made a moue of distaste. “I explained that it would not be necessary, but he refused to allow us out of doors otherwise.”
    The attendant stood in the corner, bundled up in a greatcoat and scarf and sporting a fierce scowl—clearly not relishing his role as outdoor watchdog any more than Penelope did.
    “Go on.” She flicked her fingers toward Gabriel in a backward wave. “Don warm boots and a coat. It’s chilly today.”
    Enthusiasm buzzed through him at the very idea of a day spent outside. And yet it was February. He glanced toward the window. The day loomed gray, and forbidding clouds blotted out the sky, threatening to wring sheets of rain down upon them.
    He looked back at Penelope. Her cheeks appeared chafed and the tip of her nose had a pink tint to it. While it rarely got overly cold in this part of the country, the wind and moist air could quite chill one to the bone. “Perhaps we should wait for a sunnier day. I wouldn’t risk your health.”
    Penelope waved a dismissive hand. “Pish. You knew me only as a London society wife, but I was raised on a country estate. My only playmate was my cousin Liliana, and she abhorred being cooped up indoors where my mother might hound her into some feminine pursuit. If I didn’t wish to be lonely, I had to keep up with her.”
    Gabriel frowned, unconvinced.
    “Did I mention her favorite places to play were muddy swamps and bogs?” Pen wrinkled her nose. “Believe me, I am far from fragile.”
    Hard to imagine her, who he’d once heard a group of ladies grousing always looked as if she’d stepped off of a fashion plate, traipsing around after her cousin through the marshes, her clothes covered in mire.
    Still . . . “I’ve seen many an able-bodied soldier fall prey to the elements,” he argued. “One doesn’t have to be fragile to catch one’s death.”
    “No, I suppose one doesn’t. However, I must insist.” She cocked a challenging brow. “Unless
you
are not feeling up to it, of course.”
    Gabriel hastened to fetch his winter garments.
    Minutes later, he stepped past a frowning Allen into the outside air for the first time in weeks. Penelope stayed close to his side, while Carter followed behind after grumbling something indiscernible to the director.
    As they reached the bottom stair, Gabriel paused and simply breathed it all in. Damned if he didn’t have to force himself not to throw out his arms, turn his face up to the dreary sky and turn in circles as he would have in his nursery days.
    He caught Penelope’s knowing smile out of the corner of his eye just before she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head.
    She turned to him, looking very much like Red Riding Hood would have were the girl dressed in black rather than crimson. “Mr. Allen tells me there is a path through the gardens that leads into the wood. Shall we venture there?”
    She might look like Red Riding Hood, but she sounded very like the Big Bad Wolf . . . a little too innocent to be safe. He had a feeling this was where whatever horrid treatment she had in mind began. Still, he nodded. “Lead on.”
    Penelope set a brisk pace. They walked in silence for some time, the only sound being their boots crushing