A Christmas Charade (34 page)
Read A Christmas Charade Online
Authors: Karla Hocker
Misunderstanding the “we,” Throckmorton said, “Come along, Decimus. Your man’s waiting by the chaise, not up here.”
When Throckmorton’s stentorian breathing receded in the corridor, Decimus said, “Run along, Annie. Stewart’s carriage is ahead of mine. You don’t want to hold up traffic.”
“No, my lord.” Her voice quavered. “Good-bye and God speed.”
“We’ll meet again, m’dear.”
He held out his hand. Hesitantly, she stretched out her own. To her utter astonishment, he raised her hand and kissed it, then turned and ambled off.
Annie stood motionless. London … she did want to see it again. Didn’t she?
Avoiding the corridor and stairs Lord Decimus would walk, she slipped straight into the Great Hall. No one was there.
Never before had she stepped outside the castle walls. She did now and stopped just outside the front door.
The last two carriages stood waiting. His grace was talking with Mr. Throckmorton. The major, splendid in his light blue tunic with gold facing, his pelisse draped over one shoulder, assisted Miss Juliette into the coach. He climbed in after her. John Piggott put up the steps, shut the door, and took his seat on the box.
“Annie!” Elizabeth stared at the little ghost on the portico. “Have you changed your mind?”
“I want to see London,” Annie said grimly. “But I also want to be a ghost.”
“And you cannot be one in London?”
The carriage started to roll.
“Miss Elizabeth, if only I knew!”
Hearing the agony of indecision in Annie’s voice, Elizabeth said, “When you followed the duchess into the burning nursery, you did not know if you’d come out alive. But you went ahead.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
The thin little face beneath the huge mobcap assumed a look of determination. Annie started to move, slowly at first, then, seeming to fly, swift as a swallow, caught up with the coach and disappeared inside.
Briefly, Elizabeth saw the mobcap again as Annie stuck her head out the window.
“I’ll find out what happens, Miss Elizabeth! All it takes is a bit of pluck.”
Foreign intrigue suited the young and beautiful Lady Georgiana Rutledge. The London dandies bored her, but her heart stood still when Barrett Gray entered the ballroom. Was it his good looks, brash strength...or American accent?Their countries were at war, but fighting was far from what Georgiana wanted of Barrett.
Besides, she had other battles ahead. There was purse-pinched Sir Percy to contend with. In his pursuit of a rich bride, Sir Percy would resort to trickery and scandal, jeopardizing Georgiana's happiness. Desires erupt as violently as battles, and Georgiana crosses bumpy seas on an equally bumpy quest for true love.
Lady Caroline Dundas may have been raised in New Orleans, but she knew how to comport herself as well as any London miss. But proper manners were quite impossible to maintain in the face of Simon Renshaw's arrogance. How dare he declare her father an impostor who had returned to England only to grab the family fortune and title. Renshaw was clearly a charlatan...and a rake as well! For he looked her up and down with an insulting familiarity that made her wish she were not such a lady after all.
Simon Renshaw could not believe the raven-haired Lady Caroline was an innocent in the Dundas deception. She was too clever by half—and suspiciously protective of her scheming papa. Though she appeared to be nothing more than a cold-blooded adventuress, Simon could not help but wish himself in her clutches. Perhaps a stolen kiss or two might melt her deceitful heart...and yield up something even more precious than the truth.
“Devil” Mackenzie, the Marquis of Ellsworth, has no concerns about propriety when he assumes the lease of his late great-aunt's half of the family town house for his lady. But that half of the house had been bequeathed to Nell Hetherington, whom Dev remembers as a hoydenish brat from his soldiering days in the Peninsula. Only Nell isn't a brat any longer—she's an attractive, fiercely independent young lady who summarily evicts Dev's ladybird and opens a school for "Young Brides of His Majesty's Officers" in her half of the house. The bold young miss even has plans to take over his half as well!
"Devil" Mackenzie is appalled. Such outrageous schemes! Such lack of propriety! What can he do but protect Nell from her own folly? And what better way than take her part of the house, by hook or by crook...or even in a game of cards.
Penelope Langham was all peaches and cream, but such stray thoughts made her blush bright red.At twenty-three, she was a model of feminine reserve and a dutiful niece to the aunt she lived with—yet secretly she yearned for a bit of adventure.
Now, with auntie's opals stolen and the household at sixes and sevens, Penelope was about to get her wish. But when a newsman from The Times came to cover the case, Miss Langham got more than she bargained for. Julian Rutherford was clever and nosy, as reporters are prone to be...and absolutely dashing. And while his sparkling eyes inspired lovely daydreams and his lively tales delighted her, Penelope maintained decorum; her heart had been broken once, and that was enough. However, when Julian insisted they team up to find the thief, Penelope's venturesome soul jumped with joy. To her surprise, her tender heart might soon follow suit.
Despite her fetching blue eyes and sable hair, Kate Elliott remained every bit the prim and practical schoolmistress. Few at Miss Venable's Seminary for Young Ladies would have dreamed that Kate had entertained romantic notions in her girlhood! At twenty-eight, she remained firmly on the shelf and—with the closing of the school—firmly unemployed. Hence, she welcomed the invitation to be Liza Ashcroft's chaperone for the Season at Bath. But how would she endure the girl's father? Patience was not in her nature...
Damien Ashcroft was certain that Miss Elliott would be the ideal companion for his daughter. A wallflower of quiet virtues, she would neither distract the handsome widower from scholarly pursuits nor be bothered by his impatient nature. So he was stunned to discover that the impudent Miss Elliott was outspoken to a fare-thee-well. And shocked when sassy Kate made his pulse race—and even more so when he began to not mind quite so much…
Level-headed Lady Maryann Rivington had never seen a love match that didn't end in disaster. She was determined to wed for all the practical reasons—lineage, security, and status. So the last thing she wanted to hear was a slanderous accusation against her carefully-chosen betrothed! She couldn't imagine why the handsome stranger who approached her in the Botanic Gardens was so intent on preventing her marriage. She only knew that she was so befuddled by the danger implicit in his words and the promise of passion in his eyes that she could no longer think of herself as rational in the least!
Major Stephen Fant had spent months gathering evidence against the man who had destroyed his brother, and the scoundrel was finally within his reach. Though he knew it could jeopardize everything, he simply had to warn his quarry's beautiful fiancée that her betrothed was under investigation. After all, Lady Maryann was far too delectable for the likes of the lowly Lord Tammadge. And as the major gazed into her wide gray eyes, he realized he'd do anything to keep her safe—except stay away.
Weary of playing the game of love, the sixth Earl of Fenchmore had a rather jaundiced view of the marriage-minded maidens who surrounded him. They all were simpering, manipulative featherbrains and he'd have nothing todo with them—or their ambitious mothers. So jaded was the arrogant lord that the forthright intelligence of Miss Deanna St. Cloud seemed nothing less than a miracle. But he was not about to surrender his hard-kept independence simply because her lovely grey eyes shone with wit and her riotous red curls spoke of inner passion and fire.
Having risen from the squalor of London's back alleys to be the darling of Drury Lane, Meg Fletcher was indeed the consummate actress. And it takes all her considerable skills to conceal her shock when she learns she was actually the legitimate daughter—and heir—of Sir Richard Carswell, an aging baronet. Determined to learn why her mother fled her husband in terror all those years ago, Meg journeys to Carswell Hall. There, in addition to the scandalized servants and a very surprised papa, she encounters the extremely unsettling Earl of Stanbrook, a deliciously handsome rake who seems intent on proving that her innocence was the most intriguing act of all!
Philip Rutland, the Earl of Stanbrook, was not at all amused when he saw the actress he'd been intending to seduce putting on airs at Carswell Hall in the role of virtuous, prodigal daughter.
There was only one way a girl of her station could have come so far in the world. She might enjoy pretending she wasn't to be won over with a few baubles, but he knew she was his for the taking. It would be trickier now that he knew she was of the Quality, but every gentleman understood there were ways to bend the rules when wooing a scandalous lady.
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