Read Online To Love a Wicked Scoundrel by Anabelle Bryant - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Anabelle Bryant
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pursuit of adventure. This gown would fortify your cause.’
Meredith’s words persisted the next morning when Isabelle and Lily set out for Hyde Park. The sky was overcast, but the dull clouds did not dampen their excitement. Lily carried a velvet bag for keeping safe all the treasures she hoped to find and her animated chatter filled the carriage as they rode through the city streets.
Meredith slept in and did not see them off. Relieved, Isabelle considered what her stepmother would say were she to discover who had told them about the weeping beech and the spectacle of its strange growth. Had Meredith shared the same witty conversation with Lord Highborough as she? The lingering question excited and troubled her at the same time. Good heavens, she needed to stop her ridiculous behaviour. If only she could dismiss his words with the same ease with which she scolded herself for remembering them.
The evening they met in Lord Rochester’s study, Lord Highborough had called her hair magnificent. She’d never received a compliment as grand. No matter that his opinion did not signify, a tiny part of her brain insisted on repeating his words like a litany, even as Lily filled the carriage with chatter.
The park bustled with activity although the hour had just turned eleven. The driver knew the area well and took them in a direct route to the upside-down tree where he parked alongside the thoroughfare. One couldn’t help but be amused while viewing the tree. It did appear as if it sprouted from the ground backward, the base quite narrow and the top grown wide. Lily investigated the area around the tree’s trunk and Isabelle delighted in the serious expression her sister donned as she combed over every blade of grass in search of treasure.
‘I hoped you would come.’
Isabelle’s breath caught when she heard
his
voice behind her. She almost dropped the little velvet bag Lily had entrusted to her for safekeeping. With simple logical, she dismissed the obvious question as to how he found them and the realisation of his masterful play of the scene took hold. She whipped around to abrade his trickery.
‘It does not seem an especially clever notion to mention an upside-down tree in the presence of a six-year-old child and not expect there to be an urgency to see it.’ She hoped her tone echoed the condescension of her words. The rakish devil merely quirked his lips before he offered a deep bow and his silence compelled her to continue. ‘Or do you normally malinger here in the park and lurk behind trees, ready to pounce upon unsuspecting females?’
He appeared amused by her admonishment. ‘I am at your service, milady. Not just here in Hyde Park, but for the entire day if need be. I am happy you have acted upon my first suggestion. Mayhaps there are other natural sites that hold your interest this morning.’ He offered her a slow, lazy smile.
Impossible man.
She refused to look at his finely formed face and turned her attention to where Lily frolicked under the tree branches. ‘Be careful what you wish for, milord. Lily will keep you busy for hours.’ She couldn’t know he meant to keep her busy for just as long in a different manner, but something in the way he looked at her – his eyes full of mischief, his lips curled with a saturnine grin – caused an uneasy ripple of apprehension to surface even as she spoke the warning.
‘Constantine.’ He said the word as if a command. ‘I can no longer call you Isabelle, and not offer you the same kindness. We should be of equal accord. Please call me Constantine. Con, if you prefer.’
There seemed such finality to his statement she saw little reason to disagree. Besides, she already thought of him in that manner. Meredith’s incessant babbling removed all formality from the man’s mention. The sudden thought of her stepmother paired with the handsome man before her gave her conscience a firm shake, and an uncomfortable foreboding shadowed her earlier appreciation
Meredith’s words persisted the next morning when Isabelle and Lily set out for Hyde Park. The sky was overcast, but the dull clouds did not dampen their excitement. Lily carried a velvet bag for keeping safe all the treasures she hoped to find and her animated chatter filled the carriage as they rode through the city streets.
Meredith slept in and did not see them off. Relieved, Isabelle considered what her stepmother would say were she to discover who had told them about the weeping beech and the spectacle of its strange growth. Had Meredith shared the same witty conversation with Lord Highborough as she? The lingering question excited and troubled her at the same time. Good heavens, she needed to stop her ridiculous behaviour. If only she could dismiss his words with the same ease with which she scolded herself for remembering them.
The evening they met in Lord Rochester’s study, Lord Highborough had called her hair magnificent. She’d never received a compliment as grand. No matter that his opinion did not signify, a tiny part of her brain insisted on repeating his words like a litany, even as Lily filled the carriage with chatter.
The park bustled with activity although the hour had just turned eleven. The driver knew the area well and took them in a direct route to the upside-down tree where he parked alongside the thoroughfare. One couldn’t help but be amused while viewing the tree. It did appear as if it sprouted from the ground backward, the base quite narrow and the top grown wide. Lily investigated the area around the tree’s trunk and Isabelle delighted in the serious expression her sister donned as she combed over every blade of grass in search of treasure.
‘I hoped you would come.’
Isabelle’s breath caught when she heard
his
voice behind her. She almost dropped the little velvet bag Lily had entrusted to her for safekeeping. With simple logical, she dismissed the obvious question as to how he found them and the realisation of his masterful play of the scene took hold. She whipped around to abrade his trickery.
‘It does not seem an especially clever notion to mention an upside-down tree in the presence of a six-year-old child and not expect there to be an urgency to see it.’ She hoped her tone echoed the condescension of her words. The rakish devil merely quirked his lips before he offered a deep bow and his silence compelled her to continue. ‘Or do you normally malinger here in the park and lurk behind trees, ready to pounce upon unsuspecting females?’
He appeared amused by her admonishment. ‘I am at your service, milady. Not just here in Hyde Park, but for the entire day if need be. I am happy you have acted upon my first suggestion. Mayhaps there are other natural sites that hold your interest this morning.’ He offered her a slow, lazy smile.
Impossible man.
She refused to look at his finely formed face and turned her attention to where Lily frolicked under the tree branches. ‘Be careful what you wish for, milord. Lily will keep you busy for hours.’ She couldn’t know he meant to keep her busy for just as long in a different manner, but something in the way he looked at her – his eyes full of mischief, his lips curled with a saturnine grin – caused an uneasy ripple of apprehension to surface even as she spoke the warning.
‘Constantine.’ He said the word as if a command. ‘I can no longer call you Isabelle, and not offer you the same kindness. We should be of equal accord. Please call me Constantine. Con, if you prefer.’
There seemed such finality to his statement she saw little reason to disagree. Besides, she already thought of him in that manner. Meredith’s incessant babbling removed all formality from the man’s mention. The sudden thought of her stepmother paired with the handsome man before her gave her conscience a firm shake, and an uncomfortable foreboding shadowed her earlier appreciation
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