Read Online Taming an Impossible Rogue by Suzanne Enoch - Free Book Online
Authors: Suzanne Enoch
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Sophia.
“I didn’t hear them earlier,” her friend whispered back. “Let’s just go.”
“Did I miss something?” Keating broke in, frowning.
“No. They merely … say things I don’t like to hear. I should be getting back, anyway.”
“Ah.” To her surprise, Keating took her arm, and then Sophia’s. “Watch this.”
Short of yanking her arm bodily out of his grip, she seemed to be trapped. Camille felt trapped, being dragged toward her worst nightmare. Heavens, she even recognized two of them. One had been a dear friend, until—until she’d upended her own life.
“Stop,” she hissed, putting as much authority into that word as she could.
They kept moving.
At less than a dozen feet distant from the five young ladies, Blackwood released her. Then, just as Amelia Danning’s pretty face, framed in its usual bouncing black curls, began to sneer out the syllables of her name, her escort surged forward.
“Ladies,” he exclaimed, and, grabbing Amelia’s shoulders, he tugged her forward and kissed her full on the mouth. He released her so quickly she stumbled, and then he repeated the action with Olivia Harden. Screeching, the girls fled like a flock of terrorized chickens. In a moment they were alone again, except for the other strollers on the fringes who all stared at Keating and muttered to each other. She was certain she could hear a chorus of “Of age but one-and-twenty, / By three years in Town he’d burned, / All his candles, all his bridges, / His friends and family spurned.”
“What the devil was that?” she demanded, glaring at him.
“I’ll wager you a thousand pounds that no one here is gossiping about you, Camille Pryce,” he said with a jaunty grin that didn’t touch his light brown eyes.
“But … but what happens when the angry papas come after you?”
“I don’t think they’d dare.” He motioned for her to continue along the path with him. “Shall we?”
Well. He had the reputation for being a notorious rogue, and he’d certainly just looked like one. But he hadn’t scandalized her former friends because of his own lack of character. He’d done it to protect her.
With all the upset her actions had caused, she felt like the largest blot on the landscape of Mayfair. It was odd to realize that she’d stumbled across the one person whose reputation and standing were more damaged than hers. And even stranger was the idea that having him about might offer her some respite from those stares and sneers. Yes, they would still be scowling, but they wouldn’t be doing it at her.
Sophia made a snorting sound, and Camille realized that her friend was laughing. “What’s so amusing?”
“I don’t know those girls,” the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Hennessy returned, chuckling, “but I imagine none of them has ever been so surprised and scandalized in her entire life.”
“I should hope not,” Keating put in. “I’d hate to think all that effort went for nothing.”
“What effort? You merely pursed your lips and walked forward in their direction.”
“I had to steel myself for the contact. Virgins and I generally avoid each other. Something about heaven and hell and the fires of damnation.”
“And what about merely strolling with a pair of young innocent misses?” Camille asked, grinning despite herself.
“With limited physical contact, we should be safe.” Reaching over, he tugged on the brim of her bonnet. “Tell me that wasn’t fun.”
The most fun was the realization that this man who’d crossed her path just yesterday had already shown himself to be more her ally than her parents, her sisters, or any of her previous “friends” had been in over a year.
She had thought that she’d used the last bit of her luck and fortune in finding The Tantalus Club advertisement for hostesses on the same day she’d found herself down to her last shilling at a disapproving relative’s house in Chatham. And then she’d found other young ladies
“I didn’t hear them earlier,” her friend whispered back. “Let’s just go.”
“Did I miss something?” Keating broke in, frowning.
“No. They merely … say things I don’t like to hear. I should be getting back, anyway.”
“Ah.” To her surprise, Keating took her arm, and then Sophia’s. “Watch this.”
Short of yanking her arm bodily out of his grip, she seemed to be trapped. Camille felt trapped, being dragged toward her worst nightmare. Heavens, she even recognized two of them. One had been a dear friend, until—until she’d upended her own life.
“Stop,” she hissed, putting as much authority into that word as she could.
They kept moving.
At less than a dozen feet distant from the five young ladies, Blackwood released her. Then, just as Amelia Danning’s pretty face, framed in its usual bouncing black curls, began to sneer out the syllables of her name, her escort surged forward.
“Ladies,” he exclaimed, and, grabbing Amelia’s shoulders, he tugged her forward and kissed her full on the mouth. He released her so quickly she stumbled, and then he repeated the action with Olivia Harden. Screeching, the girls fled like a flock of terrorized chickens. In a moment they were alone again, except for the other strollers on the fringes who all stared at Keating and muttered to each other. She was certain she could hear a chorus of “Of age but one-and-twenty, / By three years in Town he’d burned, / All his candles, all his bridges, / His friends and family spurned.”
“What the devil was that?” she demanded, glaring at him.
“I’ll wager you a thousand pounds that no one here is gossiping about you, Camille Pryce,” he said with a jaunty grin that didn’t touch his light brown eyes.
“But … but what happens when the angry papas come after you?”
“I don’t think they’d dare.” He motioned for her to continue along the path with him. “Shall we?”
Well. He had the reputation for being a notorious rogue, and he’d certainly just looked like one. But he hadn’t scandalized her former friends because of his own lack of character. He’d done it to protect her.
With all the upset her actions had caused, she felt like the largest blot on the landscape of Mayfair. It was odd to realize that she’d stumbled across the one person whose reputation and standing were more damaged than hers. And even stranger was the idea that having him about might offer her some respite from those stares and sneers. Yes, they would still be scowling, but they wouldn’t be doing it at her.
Sophia made a snorting sound, and Camille realized that her friend was laughing. “What’s so amusing?”
“I don’t know those girls,” the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Hennessy returned, chuckling, “but I imagine none of them has ever been so surprised and scandalized in her entire life.”
“I should hope not,” Keating put in. “I’d hate to think all that effort went for nothing.”
“What effort? You merely pursed your lips and walked forward in their direction.”
“I had to steel myself for the contact. Virgins and I generally avoid each other. Something about heaven and hell and the fires of damnation.”
“And what about merely strolling with a pair of young innocent misses?” Camille asked, grinning despite herself.
“With limited physical contact, we should be safe.” Reaching over, he tugged on the brim of her bonnet. “Tell me that wasn’t fun.”
The most fun was the realization that this man who’d crossed her path just yesterday had already shown himself to be more her ally than her parents, her sisters, or any of her previous “friends” had been in over a year.
She had thought that she’d used the last bit of her luck and fortune in finding The Tantalus Club advertisement for hostesses on the same day she’d found herself down to her last shilling at a disapproving relative’s house in Chatham. And then she’d found other young ladies
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