A Country Miss in Hanover Square Read Online Free PDF Page B

believed them selves to be masters of style and sport, allowing only a favoured few to their ranks. Having met his uncle by chance at a society affair, he seized his opportunity.
    ‘Dash it all, Harry! You know I’ve got good hands. You taught me to handle a team yourself. Why can’t you put my name forward?’
    ‘Because, my young friend, they would black ball me immediately,’ Harry replied with a teasing grin. He was very fond of his sister’s boy and he had taken him in hand from an early age, teaching him the things his father would have had he been able. Sir James Sinclair had married late in life and was now a semi-invalid, confined to his estate and quite often to his rooms with bouts of ill health. ‘For one thing, those clothes you are wearing won’t pass muster, not precise enough—and you’ve a way to go in your handling of a team before they would consider you up to scratch. Coleridge and Ravenshead are pretty strict about who they allow to join. If you keep your nose clean and show that you’re up to snuff this Season, I’ll put you forward next year.’
    ‘Next year,’ Toby said and pulled a disgusted face. ‘I know they are your particular friends, but I’d back myself in a race against either of them with your blacks, Harry.’
    ‘Always supposing I would allow you to handle my blacks,’ Harry replied and flicked a speck of non-existent fluff from his immaculate coat of super fine. ‘Don’t look now, but Northaven has just come in. Remember what I told you, Toby. The marquis is received everywhere and you cannot avoid him and his cronies, but be careful of them. The last thing you want is to be caught in their net. Your father asked me to look out for you. He would expect me to warn you of men like Northaven.’
    ‘Didn’t you say that you won a hundred guineas from him a couple of weeks ago?’
    ‘Yes. I found it impossible not to oblige him when he invited me to play, but I suspect he may not be completely honest at the tables.’
    ‘You mean, he cheats?’ Toby’s face showed his disdain as he glanced at the man they were discussing. The Marquis of Northaven was a tall, well-formed gentleman with black hair and very blue eyes. He was generally held to be handsome and the ladies liked him. His progress through the room was causing some thing of a stir amongst the fair sex, though most looked at him slyly when they thought he was not aware. All the match making mamas were sure to have warned their daughters that he was a rake and not to be trusted, though in some cases that probably only made him more attractive to very young ladies.
    ‘Well, I dare say he may think I am a flat, but, thanks to you, I am up to most tricks,’ Toby said, his gaze drawn to some newcomers. ‘I say…she’s a beauty, wouldn’t you agree? I believe she is new. I haven’t seen her before.’
    Harry followed his nephew’s gaze. A vision in white had just entered the room, accompanied by two attractive older ladies wearing grey and lilac respectively. His eyes narrowed, for the girl was certainly very lovely. Her hair was a dark honey blonde, and she stood out by virtue of the simplicity of her attire. Most of the younger ladies had frills and flounces on their gowns, but she had chosen some thing more elegant, plain even. Her hair was dressed simply in a loop of the back of her neck, yet it suited her perfectly. He thought perhaps she had taken her cue from the younger of her com pan ions.
    Harry frowned as he recognised the lady in grey silk. He had not seen her for some years and she had changed a great deal, but she was still beautiful, extremely elegant. Miss Amelia Royston! If he remembered correctly, his friend, Gerard Ravenshead, had once been interested in the lady, but some thing had gone wrong. Harry did not know all the details, but Gerard had certainly been cut up about it at the time. It was about the same time that a livid scar appeared at his left temple. Gerard had never spoken of the