Dangerous to Love Read Online Free PDF

she could afford to leave the stifling circle of her family and move to town.
    She heard a scream—this time a little girl’s—and she sighed again. She had to find a way out soon. She simply had to!
     
    “She’s visiting the Fordhams,” Hortense informed Lucy the next afternoon. “Graham says we must all call upon her, even the children. It’s because she’s a countess, you know, and the Westcott fortune is legendary. Graham says it’s a great honor—”
    “She’s the dowager countess,” Lucy reminded her agitated sister-in-law. “I believe I read in the Times that one of her grandchildren has recently been invested as Earl of Westcott.”
    “Well, yes. But Graham says the grandson—her only one—is yet unwed. Graham was very clear in his directions to me. Prudence is to wear her best dress and be careful to ingratiate herself with the countess.”
    Lucy tried to hide her annoyance but it was awfully hard. Prudence was but twelve and only a child. For heaven’s sake, she hadn’t even begun her courses. Yet Graham was already hoping to whet the Earl of Westcott’s appetite for her? Lucy’s stomach clenched in disgust. The new earl was a man fully grown and well traveled, if the Times’ s report on his investiture was to be believed. What was her brother thinking?
    Then Lucy’s sense of fairness kicked in. Any man in his right mind would want to marry his daughter to such a wealthy and titled young man. Still, she’d always found the idea of such businesslike matchmaking more than a little repugnant.
    “Why is Lady Westcott in Somerset?” she asked, ruthlessly burying her feelings.
    Hortense frowned, all the while plucking nervously at her lace-edged cuff. “What if I say the wrong thing? You know I didn’t have a proper season. I never had the opportunity to become accustomed to the ton. What if I do something to embarrass Graham? He will never forgive me!”
    Lucy took Hortense’s fluttering hands into her own. “You are making yourself nervous over nothing, Hortense. Nothing, I say. Just be yourself and you shall be fine.”
    Hortense heaved a great sigh. “Easy for you to say. Nothing ever frightens you. But I’ve heard of Lady Westcott through Lady Babcock—you know, over Symington way? She’s cousin to Darcy Harrigan whose sister married Viscount Prufrock. They keep a house in town and so are privy to all the latest gossip.”
    “And what have you heard about Lady Westcott?” Lucy prodded her scatterbrained sister-in-law.
    Hortense’s eyes grew round. “She is said to be, well, rather severe.” She paused. “‘Harridan’ was the word Lady Babcock used,” she added in a whisper.
    “She and Graham shall get along very well, then,” Lucy quipped. She regretted her hasty words at once when Hortense gave her a hurt look.
    “That’s so unkind of you, Lucy. Graham is nothing but good to you. To everyone.”
    Lucy made a face. “I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right. I should not have said that.” At least not in your presence. “Is Mother going too?” she asked to change the subject.
    “Oh, yes. Graham says she must. We must all go, even you.”
    Even you . Lucy forced herself not to react to the reminder of her status as the least important member of the household. She was the spinster sister, too young to deserve the respect rendered one’s elders, and too old to be married off. She had no particular fortune, no title of her own, and though she knew she was considered quite handsome, that was not enough to offset her unfortunate predisposition to speak her mind. But she was expected to go to the Fordhams’ to call on Lady Westcott.
    She supposed she should be grateful for small favors.
    At least it would be entertaining, Lucy decided as she hurried to round up her nieces and nephews. At least she would have someone new to converse with, someone whose opinions and ideas she’d yet to hear. At least there would be a break in the unrelenting routine of lessons and