Kathryn Smith Read Online Free PDF Page A

It was new, too new for her to trust in it. In the past such attention generally meant that someone had made a wager about her, or that they were wanting to use her to get close to one of her sisters.
    Everyone who came near her had an agenda of his own—even dear Tony had approached her out of his own interests. It seemed her own interests would be met as well, and they were, for a time.
    “Tonight I wager Mr. Ryland will have found someone else to flirt with.” She dunked her last biscuit in her tea before popping the entire thing in her mouth. “He will ignore me once more.”
    Nathaniel brushed a smattering of crumbs from his coat with a careless wave of his hand. “And if he does not?”
    “Then I will ask him what exactly it is he is up to.” Too bad she didn’t feel as brave as she sounded. She would stay true to her word, however. She had been made to feel foolish one too many times in the past to allow it to happen again.
    “And what if he says he wants you?” her friend demanded, regarding her with more severity than Moira was accustomed to from him. “What if the only thing he is guilty of is wanting to be with you?”
    Flushing, Moira shook her head. “He does not want me.” He probably wanted Minnie, despite his blatant dismissal of her younger sister. He could be playing difficult to entice the younger woman—Lord knew her sister had talked of little else since the incident. One minute Minerva hated Wynthrope Ryland, the next she was determined to have him.
    “Whyever not?”
    “Because he just does not.” It was just that simple.
    A dog with a bone, he would not let go. “Yes, but how do you know?”
    The answer tore free of her with a nasty snap. “Because no one ever wants me!”
    Oh dear. That was more than she wanted to reveal. Poor Nathaniel, he looked so horrified. He really needn’t put so much upon himself. It wasn’t as though he was the pathetic one of the two of them.
    “My dear Moira.” She flinched at the sympathy in his tone, pulling her hand away as he tried to take it in his own. “How can someone so wonderful think so little of herself as you do?”
    She smiled sardonically. “It is surprisingly easy.”
    “Yes, I do not doubt that it is.” Nathaniel shot her a pointed stare. “Well, it stops tonight.”
    Moira chuckled. As though she could undo a lifetime of self-doubt in one evening.
    “Tonight you are not allowed to be so disparaging toward yourself. Tonight, if Wynthrope Ryland or any other man approaches you, you will believe that it is because he is intelligent to see just what a catch you are.”
    “Oh will I?” Why should she believe that when it had never been true in the past? For heaven’s sake, men had made sport of her! And all because she was so “unapproachable” and “immune” to seduction. How those descriptions had hurt. She was neither of those things, nor any of the other words they had used to describe her. She simply had no idea what to do when it came to men, and didn’t want to embarrass herself.
    Or reveal her secret and lose the life she had made for herself. She would rather die a virgin than return to her parents.
    “Yes, you will believe any man who approaches you does so because he cannot deny your charms. Now finish your tea and let us begin preparing for the evening.”
    Moira stared at him in disbelief. “But it is hours yet before the party!” Was she that unpresentable that she needed almost a full five hours to prepare?
    “Exactly. We must begin if I am going to make you see what a goddess you are by eight.”
     
    A goddess.
    Good Lord, Nathaniel hadn’t been kidding.
    “What have you done to me?”
    Standing before her looking glass, Moira stared at her reflection with fascinated horror. Was this truly she? Yes, she could see the lips move as she spoke. It was she—and yet, it did not look like herself.
    “I did not do a thing,” Nathaniel quipped, looking entirely too pleased with himself. “I simply told your