Read Online Untamed by Anna Cowan - Free Book Online Page B

me, trying to make me as uncomfortable as possible.’
    ‘That girl,’ – this louder –’she’s the devil’s own child . . . has made you look . . . reminds me of . . .’
    ‘Never mind that now, I’ll be selling them to Miss Faith, anyway.’
    ‘You needn’t —’
    ‘I’ve no use of these fine rags but what they’ll get me. But, Ma, do you remember I wrote to you that I’d be bringing a guest with me?’
    ‘. . . all very mysterious.’
    ‘She’s the cousin of a duke.’
    Darlington’s mouth pulled into a smile against the door at the distressed gasp this news elicited.
    ‘Oh, Kit, how could you – how can we – oh dear, oh dear.’
    There was a great deal of busy noise and Miss Sutherland laughed again.
    ‘Make yourself as respectable as you can. I’ll bring her in to introduce her to you.’ A few steps towards the door. A pause. ‘She’s very grand. But don’t mind what she says. Speaks a lot of nonsense, Lady Rose. Better not to try making sense of it.’
    He didn’t bother to step away; she pulled the door open and started back at the sight of him. Her face flushed and her back was as straight as an exclamation point when she turned and ushered him into the room.
    ‘Your Ladyship, may I introduce my mother, Mrs Sutherland? Ma, this is Lady Rose Everdale, cousin to His Grace the Duke of Darlington.’
    Miss Sutherland’s mother was shorter than she, and somehow faded. Or maybe that was the room, too full of furniture and all of it old. The woman gave a very creditable curtsey, and in the soft lamplight Darlington could see neither of her daughters in her watercolour features.
    He curtseyed in return. ‘I cannot thank you enough for giving shelter to a poor ruined woman. Oh, please don’t be uneasy, you and I both know society is a capricious lover and will take me back next month, or the next month after that. You are the daughter of an earl, are you not? May I call you Sophie?’
    He didn’t look at Miss Sutherland, but he felt her go very, very still. What had she thought – that he wouldn’t make it his business to find out what he could about her family?
    ‘Of course, Your Ladyship,’ said Mrs Sutherland, thrown into a delighted kind of confusion. ‘Please, have a seat. Kit will bring us some tea.’ A significant look, from mother to daughter. ‘And find that brother of yours. His books are poor company when we are hosting a duke’s cousin, and you can tell him so.’
    He caught Miss Sutherland’s eye and let his lips curl, by the smallest fraction. There was dismay on her dark face, but she did as her mother bid.
    ‘Tom!’ she yelled from the hallway. ‘Ma says you must come down!’
    Mrs Sutherland froze, and her eyes flitted to Darlington. ‘I have tried to instil manners in her, Your Ladyship. I am, as you say, the daughter of an earl. She’s a wild girl, though. Very spirited.’ Her fingers picked nervously at some sewing. ‘Not like her sister, who’s a countess now. Have you met Lady BenRuin?’
    He made light conversation and watched her. He could find nothing in the woman to merit how Miss Sutherland – that fierce, animal girl – loved her. She was like an old, well-washed shirt that would have blown away in the breeze were it not pegged fast to a line.
    Tom came into the room and bowed to Darlington. ‘Your Ladyship,’ he said in a quiet voice.
    ‘There you are, my darling,’ Mrs Sutherland murmured. When he made to take her hand she shooed him to the seat opposite Darlington.
    In the soft light he could see Miss Sutherland’s brother more clearly. He was very like his sister – dark hair, golden eyes, a strong face – but his nose was not broken, and he did not unsettle Darlington by seeming to see right into him. He didn’t meet Darlington’s gaze but looked down at his hands that were soft and still in his lap, as though reading some meaning from the ink stains on them.
    Darlington and Mrs Sutherland kept up a gentle, mutually