How to Entice an Enchantress Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked rather nice, friendly even.
    She flashed a rueful smile. “I suppose I shall just put my bonnet over the whole mess and refuse to take it off until I’ve reached the safety of my bedchamber.”
    “Tha’ should work, miss.”
    “I hope so, although what shall I do if someone asks for my bonnet?”
    “MacDougal—he’s the butler—he will ask ye fer it, but jus’ tell him no and he’ll leave off. He dinna tease the guests as he does the footmen.”
    Miss Balfour sent Angus an amused glance that made his stomach do an odd flip. Though she was every bit as encased in lace and silks and other whatnot as the other ladies who graced Floors Castle like so many butterflies, Angus couldn’t remember a one who’d spoken to him directly, except to give him an order. Certainly none had sent him that laughing look through what he was now realizing were amazingly pretty gray-blue eyes.
    Miss Balfour finished tying her bonnet, making a large bow under one dainty ear before she pulled a pair of gloves from her pelisse pocket and donned them. She then retrieved a large reticule from the tangled blanket on the floor of the coach, and tucked her book inside. “There. I’m ready. I daresay you thought you’d never hear me utter those words.” She tilted her head to one side. “I know I’ve kept you waiting and—I’m sorry, but did you tell me your name?”
    “No, miss. It’s Angus.”
    “Very well, Angus, I’m finally ready.” Miss Balfour then climbed down from the coach, graciously taking Angus’s gloved hand to steady herself.
    She was short, barely reaching his shoulder, and he was far from a tall man. She was generously fashioned, too, unlike so many other ladies, some of whom were precariously close to having sticklike figures. Miss Balfour was rounded and pleasingly plump, rather like a certain rosy-cheeked milkmaid he’d once been enamored of.
    Miss Balfour stepped away from the carriage, tightening her pelisse about her throat. “Goodness, it’s cold here!”
    “Aye, miss. We’ve ha’ odd weather this year, warm one day and chilled the next. I ne’er know whether to wear me wool coat or the lighter one!”
    Dahlia decided she liked the freckled-faced footman. “I faced the same dilemma while packing—do I bring warm clothes or cooler ones? I finally just brought them all, which is why I have so much luggage.”
    “I’ll see tha’ it is unloaded and taken to yer bedchamber.” Angus motioned to some groomsmen who hurried over, and together they set about taking down Dahlia’s rather battered trunks and her precious bandboxes.
    Dahlia looked up at the castle she’d be staying in for the next three weeks, and her breath caught in her throat. I’ve stepped from a coach and into a fairy tale! She tried to absorb it all but couldn’t. Though she’d been here once before on the occasion of her oldest sister’s wedding, Dahlia couldn’t stop staring at the grand castle her godmother, the renowned Duchess of Roxburghe, deigned to call “home.”
    “Home,” Dahlia whispered to herself. Floors Castle was beyond beautiful. Large mullioned windows shone silver, reflecting the late-afternoon sun, as proud banners of the Roxburghe blue and gold flapped gently from the ramparts, while puffy ivory clouds lazed overhead in a crystal blue sky.
    This was it, what she’d dreamed about since the duchess’s invitation had arrived six long months ago. Both of her sisters had attended one of the duchess’s much-acclaimed house parties and balls, and both had fallen in love while under this very roof. Dahlia was ready for her chance at that precious thing she’d thus far only read about—true love.
    Her heart thudded with excitement. This was what she’d been waiting for her entire life, the culmination of all of her dreams, the—
    “Miss?”
    She turned to find Angus nearby. “Yes?”
    He offered a tentative smile. “Shall I escort ye to the door, miss?”
    “Not now, thank you. I wish to look