Cupid's Mistake (Cupid Regency Romance) Read Online Free PDF

dejection.
    He noticed she blushed wonderfully. "I did not mean— That is to say—" She stopped, looked at him straightly, and lifted her chin. "You, my lord, are a terrible tease."
    " I?" He put on a wounded expression and spread his hand over his heart. "My dear Miss Hathaway, how can you say so?"
    " Very easily! Do you have sisters?"
    " Yes, I do."
    " Then I daresay you were a menace to them."
    " Not I! Rather the opposite. Never was a poor, helpless boy so besieged by his termagant sisters."
    " With reason, I am sure!" But her lips quivered upward.
    " Ah, there you are!"
    Blytheland turned to find that Lady Hathaway had arrived with Sir John in tow. Sir John had an abstracted air about him, as if he were in profound thought. The lady smiled benevolently at her daughter and the marquess.
    "I am terribly sorry we were delayed," she said. "I hope Cassandra has been keeping you entertained." Blytheland noted wryly that she did not look sorry in the least. No doubt she considered him a good "catch" for her daughter. He would put an end to that notion, and soon . . . although it could not hurt to linger in Miss Hathaway's presence for just a little longer.
    " Quite," he replied. "Miss Hathaway, I find, is a music connoisseur." He turned to Miss Hathaway. "Do you play your pianoforte often, ma'am?"
    " Oh, I try, but it is nothing—not with the skill you have at the violin, my lord." Miss Hathaway blushed, but the marquess felt perhaps this was not false modesty. There were very few ladies who played with much skill or talent, after all.
    " Perhaps I may ask that you play for me at some time, Miss Hathaway?" Blytheland surprised himself. He did not intend to say that at all. But as he looked into her beautiful eyes, he could not help but continue. "Tomorrow, if it is not inconvenient?"
    * * * *
    Lord Blytheland cursed himself roundly as he put away his violin and made ready to leave Mrs. Bostitch's house. If he had any sense at all, he'd quit society and become a monk. He'd only meant to seek out some flaw in Miss Hathaway when he had introduced himself to her and her family. Well, he'd found one, but had he concentrated upon it and politely detached himself from her and his attraction to her? No, he had not. Instead, he had asked to call upon the Hathaways and asked to listen to Miss Hathaway play the piano.
    An image of Lady Hathaway 's smug smile and eager agreement that Miss Hathaway should play for him came before him. He grimaced. Not only had he allowed himself to be drawn into the Miss Hathaway's company, he had raised Lady Hathaway's matrimonial hopes for her daughter. He sincerely hoped Miss Cassandra Hathaway was a wretched pianist and he could depress any pretensions in that quarter, and in her mother. He closed and latched his violin case with a decided snap.
    " Hit a sour note, old man?" said a familiar voice.
    Blytheland looked up to see his friend Lord Eldon, and he grinned. "No. Not that you'd notice if I did—which makes me wonder why you are here, El."
    " Oh, you know how it is with my sister and the mater. It isn't enough to have my younger brother caught in the parson's mousetrap—although I must say Susan is quite a pretty little thing—they must have me caught, too." Lord Eldon held up a hand. "And before you accuse me of being led around by the nose by the females in my family, I came only because St. Vire's here—damnably fond of music these days, it seems—he told me he'd reveal the trick to trying a perfect Mathematical."
    Blytheland eyed the impeccably tied neckcloth around his friend 's collar. "Seems like you already know the trick, El."
    Eldon looked pained. "One may always improve. A man of fashion does not rest on his laurels."
    " Nor does he ignore the ladies when his mother tells him he needs to produce heirs."
    Eldon gave a disappointed sigh. "How you malign me—" But a grin broke out on his face. "Well, there it is. If I don't see what's available in the marriage market this year, I'll