A Guardians Angel Read Online Free PDF Page A

saw another shadow by the door.
    “You may as well come in,” Angela called. “Skulking about will do none of us any good.”
    A lad edged into the room. His reddish-blond head was bowed so she could not see his face. He was thin from too much growth in too few months.
    Angela stared as Miss Sutton asked, “Thomas, whatever is wrong?”
    He looked up and whispered, “I am glad you are here and unhurt, Miss—” He flushed as red as his sister’s hair. “I mean—I am sorry, Miss Needham. I did not see you. I—”
    “Thomas, what is this bibble-babble?” Miss Sutton asked, again assuming the tone she clearly hoped would make her sound more mature. “I do not understand.”
    Angela understood. Even if she had not heard his name, Master Thomas’s flustered words identified him as the wielder of the butterfly net. Taking sympathy on the lad, who could be no more than two years older than Miss Esther, she said, “Miss Sutton, your brother and I have already met.”
    “You have? Where?”
    She smiled. “You can rest assured, Master Thomas, that neither I nor my bonnet were damaged badly by your enthusiastic sport.”
    “What sport?” Miss Esther demanded. “Why are you always leaving me out of the fun?”
    Master Thomas asked at the same time, “Will you tell Rodney?” He gulped, his Adam’s apple bouncing wildly.
    Now Angela was bewildered. “Is there a reason why he should not know you were chasing butterflies?”
    “Butterflies?” Miss Sutton gasped. “Thomas, were you with Lord Harrington again?” Shaking her finger at him, she said in a scandalized tone, “You know Rodney has forbidden you to go to Harrington Grange.”
    “We were not at the Grange,” he returned, but lowered his head again. Poking his toe at the fringe on the rug, he sighed. “Leonia, I had told Justin that I would go with him before Rodney gave that order. Papa always said a man is only as good as his word. What good would I have been if I had left Justin waiting at the gate for me when I told him I would be there?”
    “Justin?” asked Angela, as she sat on a chair next to the dressing table. “Is that Lord Harrington?”
    “Yes,” Miss Sutton said softly, as if she feared being overheard. Angela understood when she added, “But please do not speak of him. Rodney wants no one in this house to have anything to do with him.” She fired a frown at her brother. “Ever!”

Three
    The next morning, Angela woke, certain she would find the household much more ordinary. She dressed in her favorite green sprigged muslin gown. Fresh flowers had been left on her dressing table, so she pinned a single rose to the modest curve of her neckline. The pink flower matched the line of embroidery decorating her bodice.
    She checked the glass. Last night upon her arrival at Oslington Court, she had looked as bedraggled as Miss Esther. No wonder His Grace had questioned her ability to serve as Miss Sutton’s companion. Now her hair was curled around her face beneath her lacy cap, and the green ribbons on her gown showed no sign of the days they had spent in her box while she traveled north.
    Angela sighed. By the end of her first day at Oslington Court, she must be termed a success. She had created a poor first impression, which she must rectify at her earliest opportunity. Although she had befriended Miss Sutton, neither Miss Sutton nor her siblings would explain why the duke insisted upon them staying away from Harrington Grange.
    That puzzled her. Lord Harrington might be bizarre in his interest in capturing butterflies, but his defense of Master Thomas had been heartfelt and logical. She hoped today would bring answers instead of more questions.
    Angela smiled as, picking up her lace-edged parasol, she wandered out onto a broad stone terrace. She heard a distant clip-clop of horses’ hoofs. Taking a deep breath of the dew that still clung to the grass, she smiled more broadly when she saw her hired chaise driving away from the house.