Devil's Embrace Read Online Free PDF

all, but rather that you are not delighted to welcome Cassie into the family.”
    “People who know me, dear Edward, are quite aware that my illness is never feigned. Now, my dears, I believe I shall speak to Lady Halfax. Such a wasting cold she has suffered, and all because she wouldn’t heed my advice. Riding in the rain after the hounds with Lord Halfax. I trust that you, Cassandra, will be more alert to the dangers that can afflict a lady’s fragile health.”
    “Yes, ma’am, of course,” Cassie said.
    Edward grinned at his mother’s retreating back and said behind his gloved hand, “Don’t worry, Cass. She is leaving for Bath, to live with her sister.”
    “Oh, that is terrible, Edward,” Cassie said, truly distressed. “I am certain that we can deal well together underthe same roof. I promise you that I am not the managing type of female.”
    “It has nothing to do with you, Cass. If you must know, I told her that Miss Petersham would be making her home with us. That information quite resolved her to leave.”
    “You are a wicked man, Edward Lyndhurst.”
    “That is probably very true. Come, love, let us greet our guests.”
    They stood with Eliott and Miss Petersham beneath the great stone arch that led into the ballroom, an addition to Hemphill Hall made by the third Baron Tinnsdale, their father, some twenty years before, and accepted congratulations from the colorfully attired local gentry. Sir John Winslow, Old Winslow as Edward called him, greeted them; he was bluff, good-natured, and suffering from gout.
    “He always smells of the stables,” Cassie whispered behind her hand. “I think I should take him swimming with me in the sea.”
    “Lord and Lady Dawes,” Menkle said.
    Poor Lady Dawes, Cassie thought, as she bade them welcome, she must needs tolerate a profligate husband who treats her like a stick of wood, deaf and dumb to his rakehell behavior.
    Cassie was beginning to shift her weight uncomfortably on her high-heeled slippers when half an hour later, Anthony Welles, Earl of Clare, strolled negligently toward them, his powdered hair in startling contrast to his deeply tanned face.
    “Lord Clare, how kind of you to come,” Cassie said, smiling at the elegant man she had known most of her life.
    The earl lightly kissed the palm of her hand, then bowed slightly to Edward and Eliott. “You have assembled an elegant group, I see,” he said, gazing for a moment into the crowded ballroom. “Ah, the musicians from Colchester. They have a nice way with the minuet, I believe. I trust you will save a dance for me, Cassandra. Eliott, Lord Edward, Miss Petersham, your servant, ma’am.”
    “He is usually the last to arrive at any party,” Eliott said.
    “Poor Menkle will be quite hoarse in the morning if there are many more guests to arrive. I, for one, have verysore feet.” Even as Cassie spoke, Mr. and Mrs. Webster appeared, ready to be greeted and to be pleased.
    “I shall have to hide the brandy,” Eliott said.
    “Mr. Webster and your father were very close,” Miss Petersham said severely. She saw a drooping Menkle signal to her. “You may now rest your tired feet, Cassie, but first, of course, you must dance with the viscount.”
    “Such sacrifices I already make for you, my lord.” As she took Edward’s arm, she heard Miss Petersham say sternly to Eliott, “Do not spend the evening in Miss Pennworthy’s pocket, else her doting mama will have you to the altar before you catch your breath.”

C hapter 5
     
    E dward negligently wrapped a curl of golden hair about his finger as he looked past the tree branches overhead to the tranquil sea beyond the cliffs. During his five years of army life on the baked, miserably hot plains north of Calcutta and in the ruggedly beautiful Port of Pondicherry, he had almost forgotten the placid life of the English countryside, where foreign upheavals, the misery of war, even the growing political chaos surrounding King George III and his inept