Lady Alex's Gamble Read Online Free PDF

she was arresting with her masses of auburn hair, her sea green eyes, and her tall, elegant figure.
    Bessie wished her mistress would find a gentleman who would rescue her from the humdrum life at Halewood and take her places where she would have a chance to talk to people about all the many things that interested her, where she would hear the concerts and see the plays she read about in the Times. But who was there who could possibly do such a thing?
    The gentry around Halewood were not so very different from Alexander, what with their hunting and drinking, though they did not gamble to the extent he did. The only two men clever enough for her mistress were Doctor Padgett, who was too old, and the vicar, who was too mousy. To be sure, whenever either one of them wished for intelligent conversation he would trump up some transparent excuse and ride over to visit Lady Alexandra, but intelligent conversation was all they had to offer and someone like her mistress needed more in a man—much more.
    At last a longtime prayer of Bessie's now was being answered, or at least partially so. Her mistress was going to London. Unfortunately she was going as a man. Bessie sighed and looked over at the housekeeper, who was also shaking 33
    Lady Alex's Gamble
    by Evelyn Richardson
    her head. The two exchanged commiserating glances and resigned themselves to the inevitable.
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    Lady Alex's Gamble
    by Evelyn Richardson

Chapter 4
    The other person who remained to be convinced in order to insure the success of Alexandra's scheme was the doctor himself. Trevor Padgett presented a far more formidable opponent to such a harebrained idea than either of the two women and he did not bother to mince words, informing Alexandra precisely what he thought of her notion the next day when he came to look in on his patient. "I realize that you have never been the least bit cautious in your entire life, Alexandra. Times out of mind I have known you to court the most ridiculous risk—in fact, one could safely say that despite your quiet existence you always manage to tempt fate in one way or another. But this goes beyond anything you have dreamt up before. Even you could not do such a buffleheaded thing." Alex smiled sweetly at him as she had done so many times before when he had been called upon to remedy the consequences of some outrageous act—the broken arm, a sprained ankle caused by a stranded kitten on a weak branch, the dislocated shoulder which had ensued as she wrested a whip from a vicious tinker—oh yes. Doctor Padgett knew that smile. Apologetic it might be, but there was not a hint of capitulation in it. Like Bessie and Mrs. Throckmorton before him, he sighed and gave himself up to the inevitable. "Very well. You might as well outline what my role is to be in this ridiculous escapade."
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    Lady Alex's Gamble
    by Evelyn Richardson
    "Thank you, Doctor. I know that this is a more serious endeavor than anything I have taken on before, but I truly do not know what else to do and I will not let Althea and the children suffer from Alexander's monumental stupidity and selfishness. If it were just for myself, I should never do such a thing, but..."
    "Your generous impulses will be the death of you, you know, Alexandra." The doctor shook his head gravely, but he could not help smiling.
    Devoted as he was to his work, he had had no time for love and marriage. The family at Halewood had been the only one he had allowed himself to have, and Alexandra, spunky and intelligent, shouldering responsibilities that were far too much for one so young, was his favorite. When the old Earl of Halewood had died, the doctor had done his best to be there for her if she needed it. He would have gladly taken over some of her burdens but she would never accept help, no matter how frequently it was offered. In fact the only weakness she had allowed herself was to confide in him her worries about the dangerously reckless existence Alexander was