A Lord Rotheby's Holiday Bundle Read Online Free PDF

have
spoken with her, and perhaps softened her toward me, she will be
quite delighted to accept me. With your favor, how could I go
wrong?”
    How, indeed? Oh, dear. Now she might
truly end up crushing this man’s hopes and dreams, even though they
had nothing to do with her.
    This afternoon was most
decidedly not working out in the manner she had either expected or
envisioned.
    Blast it all.
    With his concerns appeased, Lord
Norcutt no longer seemed inclined to force his team to walk at a
snail’s pace. He nudged them with the reins, and they took off at a
canter. Before much time at all had passed, Aurora and Norcutt
arrived at Hyde Park and saw Lord Merrick’s curricle near the
Serpentine.
    Norcutt raised a hand in greeting as
he drew his vehicle closer. “Good afternoon to you both.” His face
beamed brighter than a full moon in a cloudless sky. Pure joy
etched itself across his visage. Such a pity that he would be
devastated when Rebecca rejected his attentions.
    That, she reminded herself, was none
of her concern. If he wanted to get his hopes up and think he could
possibly receive her favor, then so be it. Lord Norcutt was a grown
man. He could look after his own heart.
    They all exchanged various
pleasantries and the gentlemen discussed the lovely sunshine they
had been granted that day, and Aurora generally lost interest in
the entire matter. The only matter she wanted to focus her
attentions upon was the story in her journal, which felt like it
might burn a hole straight through the muslin of her afternoon
dress if she didn’t get back to it soon.
    There were scenes that needed to be
written, by gad. Namely, the wedding night.
    “ A race it is, then,” said
Lord Norcutt. “First to the end of Rotten Row wins, and the loser
buys the ladies an ice at Gunter’s.”
    Oh, blast. A race? She really ought to
object. Her hair would fly free of its pins, because she had
prevented Rose from securing it properly, and then the wavy mass of
it would be tangled into knots, and it would be pure and utter
torture to have it all brushed out. No, a race just would not do.
She turned to her escort, prepared to protest—but she was too
late.
    The curricle shot forward like a
cannonball, tossing her back against the seat.
    Her bonnet strings began to work loose
beneath her chin. She grabbed hold of the bonnet to keep it atop
her head and give her hair some chance at decency once it was all
over.
    In holding to her hat, she was forced
to let loose the parasol and her journal. The parasol caught a gust
of wind and whipped away from them, floating back to the ground and
settling beside a tree next to the Serpentine. “Oh, my.” Her voice
floated away in the wind, as well.
    Trees and horses and riders
whisked by, turning into a blur. Aurora looked down over the side
of the curricle. Bad idea. Very, very, very bad idea. She gripped the brim
of her bonnet tighter to her head and prayed that nothing would
cause the silly contraption to capsize.
    Lord Merrick drew up alongside them
and gradually slipped ahead. Norcutt whipped the reins again, and
his horses somehow gained more ground. The trees at the end of the
Row were coming upon them so fast it seemed hazardous.
    And finally they reached the end, with
Lord Merrick and Rebecca’s curricle drawing up just a nose ahead of
Lord Norcutt’s.
    Aurora breathed a sigh of
relief.
    “ Excellent race, my lords,”
called out a laughing Rebecca. Her hat had blown off her head and
her hair and cheeks were windblown, and she looked simply delighted
at the afternoon’s proceedings.
    “ Ices, it is!” called
Merrick. “But first, shall we collect the ladies’ bonnets and
parasols and such? And I suppose our own hats as well.”
    “ Yes, and in a hurry, my
man.” Norcutt had already turned his team around to make their way
back to the grove of trees where Aurora’s parasol lay. “I should
not wish to lose anything entirely.”
    Nor would she. Aurora straightened the
bonnet atop her