Read Online The Laird Who Loved Me by Karen Hawkins - Free Book Online

said drily.
    The viscount’s plump, childish face cleared. “Thank goodness for that. I think he prizes that gold snuffbox more than his wife, anyway. It never leaves his hand, and they say he sleeps with it under his pillow.”
    “Poor Georgiana,” Dervishton murmured.
    “Don’t waste your sympathy,” Alexander said. “She isn’t suffering overmuch; you’re sitting in one of her many consolation prizes. Roxburge paid over eighty thousand pounds for this house.”
    Dervishton whistled silently while Falkland winced.
    “At least she got something out of it.” Falkland glanced at the buffet. “I’d better get something to eat before the ladies arrive. I came down late to breakfast yesterday because I had trouble getting my cravat to look just so, and by the time I arrived, there wasn’t a single egg to be had.”
    Dervishton eyed the viscount’s neckwear. “Yes, we can see that you decided to give up your cravat for eggs today.”
    “What’s wrong with my crav—” Falkland gaped at the doorway, then frantically adjusted his cuffs and smoothed his waistcoat.
    Alexander followed the plump young lord’s gaze and found Caitlyn entering the room arm in arm with Miss Ogilvie. They made a pretty picture, and Alexander would wager the family castle they knew it.
    “Good God, she’s—” croaked Falkland, turning bright red. “She’s an
angel
! A true angel!” He subsided into wide-eyed bliss.
    “Easy, fool,” Dervishton muttered. “You’ll embarrass us all.” He stood and flourished a bow. “Good morning! I trust you both slept well.”
    “I certainly did,” Miss Ogilvie said.
    “As did I. I slept until almost ten,” Miss Hurst added in her rich, melodious voice.
    Falkland visibly shivered, and it was all Alexander could do not to chide the fool. The youth was smitten, and judging from the way Dervishton was watching Caitlyn, he was in no better shape.
    Good God, did every man except him fall madly in love with the chit? It was damnably annoying.
    Falkland leaned forward eagerly. “Miss Hurst, can I carry your plate at the buffet and—”
    “Don’t even try it.” Dervishton slipped his arm through Caitlyn’s. “Miss Hurst needs someone with steadier hands to hold her plate.”
    Falkland stiffened. “I have steady hands, and I can also—”
    “For the love of God!” Alexander snapped, unable to take another moment. “Leave the chit alone! She can get her own damned breakfast.”
    Falkland turned bright red. “I was just—”
    “Sausage!” Caitlyn looked past him to the buffet. “There’s only one left and I intend to have it. If you will pardon me a moment, please.” She slipped her arm from Dervishton’s, whisked around him, and began to fill a plate while exclaiming at the sight of kippers.
    “Excuse me!” Falkland scurried off to pester Caitlyn.
    Chuckling, Miss Ogilvie followed him to the buffet.
    Dervishton returned to his seat. “Well! I’ve never been dismissed for a plate of sausage before.”
    Alexander had to hide a reluctant smile. He should have been irritated, but his sense of humor was too strong to allow it. He watched Caitlyn chat animatedly to Falkland about the variety of fruit on the buffet as she filled the plate he dutifully held. Last night she’d been equally enthusiastic about their dinner, her reaction immediate and genuine. Their previous relationship had happened so quickly, so fiercely, that he hadn’t learned her everyday likes and dislikes. Not that it mattered, he told himself, dispelling a flicker of unease. He knew her character, and that was all he needed to know.
    “Falkland is a fool,” Dervishton said into the silence. “He is escorting the charming Miss Hurst this way. I’d have taken her to the other end of the table, away from the competition.”
    Alexander watched as the weak-chinned viscount assisted Caitlyn to a chair down a little and across from Alexander. Caitlyn was chuckling at somethingthe viscount said while he watched