A Scandalous Countess: A Novel of the Malloren World Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’ll bury it in the family records and hope someone finds it a hundred years from now.”
     
    He laughed. “The beau monde has been the Slough of Despond without Lady May. Please say you’ll let me read your account.”
     
    Georgia put down her cup. “Only if you suffer Christmas here with me.”
     
    “What? Outrageous.”
     
    “That’s my price.”
     
    “You’re a wicked wench. Oh, very well, but the adventures of the second countess had better be worth it.”
     
    “I think you’ll find they are. Here’s your dinner, and it looks very sustaining.” Georgia smiled at the footman. “Thank the cook for me.”
     
    When the man had left, she watched Perry attack a beefsteak and fried potatoes. She’d enjoyed watching Dickon eat too. Men did it with such appreciation, and she’d planned the meals to please him.
     
    “Why so sad?” Perry asked.
     
    She slid from the truth. “I had hoped to spend Christmas with the Torrismondes.”
     
    “You still could.”
     
    “No, I’ll not bring a scandal to their feast. Christmas has never been jolly here, has it?”
     
    “Neither Father nor Mother enjoys the traditions.”
     
    “They arrive from Town on Christmas Eve, go to church on Christmas Day, dispense largesse, then return to celebrate the New Year at court.” But Georgia smiled. “Which meant we could enjoy the rest of the twelve days, and especially Twelfth Night, without their interference. Will you stay for Twelfth Night?”
     
    “Georgie, you know I can’t. My place then is at court.”
     
    She sighed. Twelfth Night at court…
     
    “Ah well, I’ll make merry with the servants in the kitchens.”
     
    “You’re angling for me to encourage you to return with me, but it won’t do. The dowager’s stories are too fresh. Wait until after Easter.”
     
    Georgia picked a fried potato off his plate and ate it, considering.
     
    “No. If I must wait, I’ll wait my full term. I won’t return as the sober widow. I’ll return when my mourning’s over, as Lady May in full, glorious plumage.”
     
    Perry smiled. “You can probably carry that off.” He put aside his empty plate and drank some wine. “Behave with discretion even then, though. Avoid behavior likely to upset the censorious.”
     
    She pulled a face at him. “Spoilsport.”
     
    “You want to find a good husband. Good husbands will shy off a scandalous widow.”
     
    “Only the most boring ones.” When he raised his brows at her, she said, “Oh, very well. I’ll try to be good.”
     
    “You will be good, or you’re likely to be a dowager all your life.” When she stuck out her tongue at him, he grinned. “Do you have a victim in mind?
     
    “No, but I do have requirements.” She counted on her fingers. “One, rich, so he can be, two, a man of fashion and elegance, plus he will be, three, generous with his wealth and delight in Town life. Four, an earl, marquess, or duke.”
     
    “No viscount or baron need apply?”
     
    “Who would willingly step down the social scale? In any case, I’m looking upward. Don’t you think I’d make a splendid duchess?”
     
    She saw Perry make a quick assessment of the possibilities. “Beaufort?”
     
    Georgia didn’t reply, except with a smile.
     

Chapter 2
     
    May 1765
Herne, Worcestershire
     
    “Y ou’ve a cooler head than I,” Tom Knowlton said. “I’m sweating on your behalf.”
    Lord Dracy didn’t take his eyes off the two horses being walked nearby. “Comes from facing enemy shot while standing on a burning deck.”
     
    “Good God, did you really?”
     
    “Once or twice.”
     
    “That sort of thing develops insanity?”
     
    Dracy shot him a humorous look. “Undoubtedly.”
     
    He knew they were an unlikely pair. He was lean and solid from an active navy life, often on tight rations. His neighbor, Sir Tom Knowlton, had never known want, liked his comforts, and was prosperously round. Tom also avoided risk. He didn’t ride spirited horses or