Amanda McCabe Read Online Free PDF

you could say that.”
    He said it as if—as if—She had not meant it in
that
way! Really, this man was maddening, twisting a simple word about until she hardly knew
what
she had been thinking. “Was it something concerning Lady Violet?”
    The mention of his sister seemed to recall Lord Morley back to himself. He looked away from her. “Violet. Yes. She seems to like it here very much.”
    “I hope she does. We like
her
very much. She is one of our best students.”
    “Thank you, Mrs. Chase. I wanted to see you before I left today, to tell you how much I appreciate your kindness to Violet. I brought this for you, as a small gesture of thanks.”
    From inside his greatcoat, Lord Morley withdrew a small, tissue-wrapped package.
    “A—a gift, Lord Morley?” Rosalind said, eyeing the harmless-looking package almost as if it could reach out and bite her. “I am not sure I should accept it.”
    “Really?” He raised his brow at her inquiringly, turning the tissue invitingly in his hand. “It is not a great deal, Mrs. Chase, surely not improper. It is for your library here.”
    Rosalind’s curiosity got the better of her. She took the package from him, careful not to touch his fingers as she did so, and folded the tissue back. It was a book, bound in brown leather, decorated with gold gilt designs and lettering. She opened the cover to read the title page.
    Songs to Athene
, by Michael Bronston.
    “Your—your poems, Lord Morley,” she said. She did not know what she had been expecting. Rubies? Silken scarves? Though this was almost as disconcerting as those would have been.
    “Violet tells me that you enjoy poetry,” he said. He sounded a bit uncertain at her reaction.
    “Yes, of course.” She
did
enjoy poetry—Shakespeare, Donne, Spenser. The newfangled romantic, wild poetry of the sort Lord Morley wrote, it—well, it
disturbed
her.
    But it was kind of him to bring it for their library, even if it was not the sort of thing the girls ought to be reading. She should give him something in return.
    And there was only one thing she could think of that he needed. Needed in a most dire way.
    She stood up and crossed the office to one of her bookcases, and extracted a volume from the shelf. Lord Morley had also stood, and followed her.
    She held out the book. “Thank you for your gift,Lord Morley,” she said. “I would like to give you this in return.”
    “A
gift
, Mrs. Chase? I am shocked.” He smiled at her, with that quirk at the corner of his lips. Then he looked down at the book—and the smile faded.
“A Lady’s Rules for Proper Behavior.”
    “Oh, yes,” Rosalind answered firmly. She
did
feel more like herself, more like sensible, practical, proper Rosalind Lucas Chase. The strange spell Lord Morley had cast over her had obviously been a fleeting thing, brought about by their solitude in the office and her headache. “It is the one book that no one should be without. I believe that you in particular are most in need of it, Lord Morley.”

Chapter Four
    “The only proper gifts between unmarried ladies and gentlemen are flowers, sweets, or small books.”
    —
A Lady’s Rules for Proper Behavior
, Chapter Seven
    A
Lady’s Rules for Proper Behavior.
She had given him a blasted book of etiquette!
    Michael still could not cease thinking of it, even as he drove the phaeton out the Seminary gates and turned down the road toward London. Fortunately, Violet, on the seat beside him, was too preoccupied in studying the small silver locket Mrs. Chase had given her to notice his silence.
    It was not so much that Mrs. Chase had given him the book, Michael thought. After all, she was a schoolmistress and would naturally advocate proper behavior, even of the extreme sort promulgated in that book. It was that she implied he was so greatly in need of it. What was it she had said? Oh, yes. “I believe that you in particular are most in need of it, Lord Morley.”
    As if he was an ape of some sort! A bumbling