In the Shadow of Arabella Read Online Free PDF

sapphires. Katherine allowed her eyes to feast on these lavish ornaments and then resolutely turned away.
    As she emerged once more onto the street, she hesitated, wondering if Charity would have finished by now. Glancing across the roadway, she noticed a young man and woman emerge from a jeweler’s shop several doors to her right. She had been prepared to cross back to the dressmaker’s but now froze where she stood, for the fashionable gentleman across the way was none other than Lord Parnaby, her beloved James.
    Her eyes grew soft at the sight of him. Surely no man was so handsome. He was tall; the young lady on his arm barely reached his shoulder. His shiny beaver sat at a jaunty angle over light brown locks, while his lips offered the lady a tantalizing smile.
    Katherine had shifted her gaze to the brunette in a pink pelisse at the viscount’s side when a voice near her said, “Good day, Miss Stillwell.”
    She turned, startled, to gaze up into the face of the Lord Rudley. She returned his greeting pleasantly but could not resist glancing across the street again.
    “You know Lord Parnaby well, I believe,” the earl said. It was more a statement than a question.
    “Fairly well, yes. He has a property near us in Lincolnshire. I first met him several years ago at Lord Beecham’s. We are both avid riders.”
    “Ah, yes. Parnaby does sit a horse to perfection. Are you alone, Miss Stillwell?”
    “No,” she replied, wishing the earl would take his questions elsewhere and leave her alone. “Miss Harrington is with the couturière across the way. I am waiting for her.”
    Parnaby and the young lady were walking toward a point directly across from Katherine and Rudley. If he looks across now, he will see me, Katherine thought. She willed Parnaby to do so, but he did not. He was speaking earnestly to the young lady, who had her arm tucked through his. She was petite and stylish, Katherine noted, but not particularly handsome. Another woman, with the sober look of a companion, walked a few paces behind the couple.
    “Allow me to give you my arm across the roadway,” the earl said. “It is slippery from last night’s rain.”
    As Lord Parnaby and the lady in pink disappeared around a corner, Katherine accepted the earl’s offer and soon found herself at the dressmaker’s door.
    “Thank you, my lord. You are most kind.”
    “Not at all. I believe Lady Brent has accepted my invitation for Friday night. Will you be coming as well?”
    “Yes, I plan to be there.”
    “Then I will see you Friday,” he said as he took a step back, bowed slightly, and turned to walk away.
    Katherine entered the shop to find that Charity had finished. Charity chatted amiably on the way home, while Katherine listened with half an ear, her mind busy searching for a way whereby she might speak privately with Lord Parnaby.
    * * * *
    This opportunity presented itself much sooner than she expected, for the next day while Katherine and Charity sat sewing in the drawing room the butler announced Lord Parnaby.
    He entered the room with a quick step, his emerald riding coat contrasting sharply with the brilliant white cravat at his throat.
    Charity spoke first. “Lord Parnaby, how nice to see you again.”
    He smiled briefly at Katherine and then spoke to Charity. “I just met your uncle, Miss Harrington, at White’s. When he said you were in town, I came straightaway. I had no idea you were coming up this year. How delightful! I am told Lady Brent is not at home this morning.”
    “No, she is not,” Katherine replied. “She and Miss Brent have gone out.”
    “I am sorry to have missed her. You must give her my regards.”
    “We will certainly do so,” Charity answered.
    As the door closed behind the butler, the viscount immediately abandoned his formal speech and behavior and came to Katherine, taking both her hands in his. “Why did you not let me know you were coming?”
    “I decided at the last moment. We have been in town only