Devil's Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

your
grandfather."
    A disbelieving look was her reply. "I suppose
you're going to tell me I look like him?"
    A short laugh, soft and deep, feathered across her
senses. "Now you mention it, I believe there is a faint resemblance—about
the chin, perhaps?"
    Honoria glared.
    "Now that," her tormentor remarked, "is
very like old Magnus."
    She frowned. "What is?"
    He took a slow sip, his eyes holding hers.
"Magnus Anstruther-Wetherby is an irascible old gentleman, atrociously
high in the instep and as stubborn as bedamned."
    "You know him well?"
    "Only to nod to—my father knew him better."
    Uncertain, Honoria watched him sip; her full name was
no state secret—she simply didn't care to use it, to claim relationship with
that irascible, stubborn old gentleman in London.
    "There was a second son, wasn't there?" Her
rescuer studied her musingly. "He defied Magnus over… I remember—he
married against Magnus's wishes. One of the Montgomery girls. You're their
daughter?"
    Stiffly, Honoria inclined her head.
    "Which brings us back to my question, Miss
Anstruther-Wetherby. What the deuce are you doing here, gracing our quiet
backwater?"
    Honoria hesitated; there was a restlessness in the
long limbs, a ripple of awareness—not of her, but of the body on the pallet
behind them—that suggested conversation was his need. She lifted her chin.
"I'm a finishing governess."
    "A
finishing
governess?"
    She nodded. "I prepare girls for their come-out—I
only remain with the families for the year before."
    He eyed her with fascinated incredulity. "What in
all the heavens does old Magnus think of that?"
    "I've no idea. I've never sought his
opinion." He laughed briefly—that same throaty, sensuous sound; Honoria
suppressed an urge to wriggle her shoulders. Then he sobered. "What
happened to your family?"
    Inwardly, Honoria shrugged. It couldn't hurt to tell
her tale, and if it distracted him, well and good. "My parents died in an
accident when I was sixteen. My brother was nineteen. We lived in Hampshire,
but after the accident, I went to stay with my mother's sister in
Leicestershire."
    He frowned. "I'm surprised Magnus didn't
intervene."
    "Michael informed him of the deaths, but he
didn't come down for the funeral." Honoria shrugged. "We hadn't
expected him. After the falling-out between him and Papa, there'd been no
contact." Her lips lifted fleetingly. "Papa swore he'd never ask for
quarter."
    "Stubbornness is clearly a family trait."
    Honoria ignored the comment. "After a year in
Leicestershire, I decided to try my hand at governessing." She looked up,
into far-too-perceptive green eyes.
    "Your aunt wasn't exactly welcoming?"
Honoria sighed.
    "No—she was
very
welcoming. She married
beneath her—not the mild
mesalliance
the Anstruther-Wetherbys got so
heated over but truly out of her class." She paused, seeing again the
rambling house filled with dogs and children. "But she was happy and her
household was welcoming
but
…" She grimaced and glanced at the
dark face watching her. "Not for me."
    "Fish out of water?"
    "Precisely. Once I came out of mourning, I
considered my options. Funds, of course, were never a problem. Michael wanted
me to buy a small house in some safe country village and live quietly
but
…"
    "Again, not for you?"
    Honoria tilted her chin. "I couldn't conceive of
a life so tame. I think it unfair that women are forced to such mild existences
and only gentlemen get to lead exciting lives."
    Both black brows rose. "Personally, I've always
found it pays to share the excitement."
    Honoria opened her mouth to approve—then caught his
eye. She blinked and looked again, but the salacious glint had disappeared.
"In my case, I decided to take control of my life and work toward a more
exciting existence."
    "As a governess?" His steady green gaze
remained ingenuously interested.
    "No. That's only an intermediary stage. I decided
eighteen was too young to go adventuring in Africa. I've decided to follow in
Lady Stanhope's