Bewitched Read Online Free PDF Page B

through Uncle’s collection of strange books here.”
    The three other women nodded in agreement.
    “Lord John will be attending the card party this evening . We must have a solution by the time he arrives .”
    *               *               *
    Snowflakes drifted lazily around the ornate sign hanging outside Colton’s favorite club, Townsend’s. John leaned against a lamppost , shoulders hunched against the cold, hat sitting low over his eyes. He’d learned of his brother’s usual lunch habits and headed for the club immediately after leaving Lady Penelope.
    Of course t hat was a good hour ago, and the February air was damn cold. Puffs of misty breath rolled out before him. About now he was sorely missing the Landon’s warm parlor and Penelope’s equally warm smile. Hell, even the girl’s hair looked warm . A s did her freckles . A man could wrap himself up in a woman like that for hours .
    T he whitewashed door swung open , jarring John’s trail of thought. Colton and a handful of his cronies ambled out, laughing heartily.
    “Finally,” John m uttered, draggi ng his hat even further down his brow. He was bound and determined to glean some answers in regard to Colton’s odd behavior . It wouldn’t do for his brother to spot him now.
    As soon as Colton and his friends disappeared around the corner , John cut a swift path across the snow littered street and strode u p the freshly shoveled steps of Townsend’s . He’d been out of the London scene for some time , but certain things never changed. The gossips for one. John entered the establishment and looked immediately to the back of the main dining room.
    He almost smiled. Almost. Just as he ’d suspected , three of the ton’s most notorious gentleman occupied a table beside the deco rative stone hearth. If anyone knew what trouble Colton had landed himself in it would be these three—Christ ian Poltier, Lord Jackson Dawes , and Thomas Roust.
    “Lord John.” The door attendant whipped officiously to his side. “Might I interest you in—”
    “No,” John interrupted, intent on his current mission. Without another word, John handed the attendant his c oat and hat, and moved toward the trio at the back of the room.
    A thin haze of cigar smoke hung above the table as the men roared over some joke or another.
    Dawes ’s shrewd eyes snapped up, instantly slicing through John. He grinned though the gesture was far more calculating than friendly. “John Breckenridge! By damn. Who’d have thought to see you in London?”
    Roust and Poltier swiveled instantly. “By God man. It’s been an age.”
    John simply nodded in greeting, taking the fourth chair at the table. He waved away a proffered cheroot, but accepted a sniffer of brandy, dragging a slow assessing gaze around the table . Insubstantial fops the lot of them. Naught but insecure men with nothing better to do than dri nk and bully those around them.
    Both Roust and Poltier shied from John’s direct gaze . Dawes on the other hand stared straight through John. “Breckenridge,” he drawled, leaning forward, squinty eyes fixed on John’s. “What brings you in? Why I haven’t seen you here since…”
    John narrowed his gaze dangerously.
    Dawes smirked. “Never mind. Your wife is old news.”
    John didn’t immediately reply. With effort , he quashed the acid reply sitting on his tongue , and forced himself to take a lazy sip of brandy .
    He gazed squarely into Daw e s ’s cruel blue eyes . “I understand my brother is in some trouble . ” John cut straight to the point.
    “ Trouble?” Dawes leaned back, dro pping the end of his cigar in his brandy. A long curl of smoke swirled out of the glass. “I understand congratulations are in order.”
    Roust snickered. “ Ah, yes. Congratulations indeed. Miss Featherton is exceedingly rich , and I understand His Grace had an exceptionally bad run at the tables of late. Some rather large markers were called in . ”
    John