A Night Like This Read Online Free PDF

altercation, rather than whatever had occurred to cause it. “Is it all worked out, then?”
    His chin dipped in a magnanimous tilt. “Congratulations will be in order very soon.”
    “Oh. Wel. That is very nice.” She smiled, then nodded, then clasped her hands together in front of her in an attempt to keep herself still. This was all terribly awkward. What was one supposed to do with an injured earl? Who’d just returned from three years in exile? And had rather a naughty reputation before he’d been run out of the country.
    Not to mention the whole kissing business a few minutes earlier.
    “Do you know my sister?” he asked, sounding terribly tired. “Oh, of course you do. You were playing with her.”
    “Your sister is Lady Honoria?” It did seem prudent to verify.
    He nodded. “I am Winstead.”
    “Yes, of course. I had been informed of your pending return.” She stretched out another awkward smile, but it did little to set her at ease. “Lady Honoria is most amiable and kind. I am very happy for her.”
    “She’s a terrible musician.”
    “She was the best violinist on the stage,” Anne said with complete honesty.
    He laughed loudly at that. “You would do well as a diplomat, Miss . . .” He paused, waited, then pointed out, “You never did tell me your name.” She hesitated, because she always hesitated when so questioned, but then she reminded herself that he was the Earl of Winstead and thus the nephew of her employer. She had nothing to fear from him. At least not if no one saw them together. “I am Miss Wynter,” she said. “Governess to your cousins.”
    “Which ones? The Pleinsworths?”
    She nodded.
    He looked her straight in the eye. “Oh, you poor, poor thing.”
    “Stop! They’re lovely!” she protested. She adored her three charges. Harriet, Elizabeth, and Frances might be more high-spirited than most young girls, but they

    “Stop! They’re lovely!” she protested. She adored her three charges. Harriet, Elizabeth, and Frances might be more high-spirited than most young girls, but they had good, kind hearts. And they always meant wel.
    His eyebrows rose. “Lovely, yes. Wel-behaved, not as much.”
    There was some truth to that, and Anne could not suppress a tiny smile. “I’m certain they have matured greatly since you were last in their company,” she said primly.
    He gave her a dubious look, then asked, “How did you come to be playing the piano?”
    “Lady Sarah took il.”
    “Ah.” There was a world of meaning in that “ah.” “Do convey my wishes for a speedy recovery.” Anne was quite sure that Lady Sarah had begun to feel better the moment her mother had excused her from the concert, but she merely nodded and said that she would be sure to do so. Even though she wouldn’t. There was no way she was teling anyone she’d run into the Earl of Winstead.
    “Does your family know that you have returned?” she asked. She regarded him a bit more closely. He realy did look quite like his sister. She wondered if he had the same remarkable eyes—a vividly pale blue, almost lavender. It was impossible to tell for sure in the dim light of the halway. Not to mention that one of his eyes was rapidly sweling shut. “Other than Lady Honoria, of course,” she added.
    “Not yet.” He glanced toward the public area of the house and grimaced. “Much as I adore every last soul in that audience for bringing themselves to attend the concert, I’d rather not make such a public homecoming.” He looked down at his disheveled state. “Especialy not like this.”
    “Of course not,” she said quickly. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the commotion were he to walk in on the post-musicale reception bruised and bloodied.
    He let out a little groan as he shifted position on the floor, then muttered something beneath his breath that Anne was fairly certain she was not meant to hear. “I should go,” she blurted out. “I’m terribly sorry, and . . . ehrm . . .”
    She