Lady Beware Read Online Free PDF Page B

Maddy’s increasingly bold behavior with her coterie of officers and Thea’s attempts to restrain her.
    â€œDid you hear that a Cave’s here?” Maddy asked.
    Praying her high color was taken for alarm, Thea gasped, “No! Truly?”
    Maddy’s eyes sparkled. “Deliciously alarming, isn’t it? The new Vile Viscount. Mother’s certain we’ll all be murdered or worse. But I ask you, is being raped worse than being murdered?”
    â€œMaddy!” Thea protested, looking around to be sure no one was in earshot. “What does he look like?”
    â€œI haven’t met him yet, but I’ve been on the hunt.”
    â€œHow can you hunt someone if you don’t know what he looks like?”
    â€œDarkly demonic. That was Alesia’s description. He was pointed out to her and now she’s in a quake. Marchampton knows him,” she said, referring to one of the officers she’d been with. “Dark hair and eyes, he said. Foreign-looking because of an Italian mother. There won’t be many like that here, especially with horns, tail, and an odor of brimstone.”
    â€œMaddy…”
    Her cousin laughed. “Well, Alesia was so ridiculous. Cully adores him.”
    â€œWhat?”
    Cully was Lieutenant Claudius Debenham, Maddy’s brother.
    â€œDesperate case of hero worship. Terrifyingly terrific and at times insane, he says.”
    â€œThat’s adoring praise?” But it seemed frighteningly accurate to Thea and wrecked any hope of the hellish encounter being a joke.
    â€œThey even call him Mad Dog,” Maddy said with relish.
    â€œGood God….”
    â€œHe was wreaking his madness on the French , Thea! When did you become so chickenhearted?”
    Thea pulled herself together. “Everything’s been a bit fraught this evening.” Now there was an understatement. “I must go and find Dare.”
    â€œHe has enough caretakers,” Maddy said.
    Thea colored. If she’d niggled at Maddy over her behavior with officers, Maddy had niggled at her protective hovering over Dare. Thea knew that during her brother’s recovery she’d become obsessive, she and her mother both.
    â€œI have reasons for needing to speak to him now,” she said.
    Maddy’s eyes sharpened. “You have secrets. Tell!”
    Thea said exactly the wrong thing. “No.”
    Maddy grabbed her arm. “You do! What’s going on?”
    â€œI can’t tell you. Not now, at least. It’s nothing really, but I have to find Dare. Just to make sure everything’s all right.”
    â€œVery well, but I’m coming with you.” Maddy linked arms with Thea. “And keep a weather eye out for dark and demonic. I need to meet the dread Darien.”
    The thought of Maddy involved with her attacker was terrifying.
    They had only reached the door of the room when their way was blocked by a strapping blond officer in scarlet and gold.
    â€œDid you hear?” Cully demanded gleefully, in a voice loud enough for a parade ground. “Dare’s cleared! Canem Cave says he saw him fall. No question about it.”
    People around began to chatter.
    â€œHow extraordinary!” Maddy exclaimed.
    â€œHow wonderful,” Thea said, meaning it, but her heart suddenly threatened to choke her.
    â€œCanem Cave?” Maddy asked. “Do you mean the Cave? Viscount Darien?”
    â€œWho else? He says Dare was doing just as he ought,” Cully went on, deliberately making sure everyone heard. “Riding hell for leather with a message when a shot brought down his horse and he disappeared under a wave of hooves. Canem says it’s a miracle he survived.”
    â€œWhy Canem?” Maddy asked.
    â€œFrom cave canem , I think,” her brother said.
    â€œHe’s called Dog?” Maddy asked and laughed.
    Her brother flushed. “Not in that way. What a stupid creature you are, Maddy.”
    â€œWell,