Lord Will & Her Grace Read Online Free PDF Page A

But his loyalty and honesty had surpassed all
standards. Why, Will owed his very life to the man and vice versa.
The war years might have been the start of their acquaintance and
mutual admiration, but the months after had only strengthened their
reliance on one another to hold close their secrets.
    William turned to depart. But not before
watching his valet rub his hands together in anticipation and ask
to see the peach silk again. William shook his head. If Jack was
not the finest valet in all of Christendom, and an excellent foil
in their former spy games…

Chapter Three
     
     
    SOPHIE nervously tapped the cream-colored
velum card on her lap. She looked at it again.
     
    The Misses Anna and Felicia Mornington
    request the pleasure of the company of
    Miss Somerset and Miss Owen
    for dinner Wednesday next, five
o'clock .
     
    Oh dear. When she'd left London, Sophie had
hoped she was through with dressing up and primping. She loathed
the anxiety surrounding formal social occasions.
    She would prefer spending an afternoon
walking for miles along the beach or seeking out the two shepherds
and the large flock of sheep on her uncle's vast estate.
    There was nothing to be done. She must accept
the invitation otherwise the talk about her in Burnham-by-the-Sea
would include the term "hermit" instead of "eccentric," which she'd
overheard below stairs early one morning. While she might not have
appeared to care what others thought, there were times she was
deeply hurt by the cool reception of the people in the area.
    At least Mari would be happy about the
invitation, Sophie thought while she composed a reply. Perhaps this
would help her avoid her cousin's nightly harangue on her future
state of poverty should the inheritance slip through Sophie's
fingers.
     

     
    Miss Somerset was proving to be an amusing
diversion during the otherwise unimaginably dull visit in
Bump-in-the-Sticks, William's new appellation for this loathsome,
mucky corner of England.
    He smiled inwardly. When she entered
Mornington's formal salon, the look of horror on her face was
beyond price. He'd never seen such an expression directed toward
him. The gray-green fire in her almond-shaped eyes was as
intriguing as he remembered. And she possessed the most exquisite
creamy complexion with natural rosy cheeks, so unlike the painted
ladies in town. Her decided chin spoke of intelligence and
defiance.
    If he was honest, her features were hard to
fully appreciate from this distance. She'd seated herself as far
away from him as possible, using generations of Mornington antiques
to obstruct his view of her charming profile.
    Enforced celibacy made him long to tangle his
fingers in her thick dark blond hair, some of which had escaped the
strict coronet of braids she'd fashioned.
    William shook his head. Since when had gauche
country misses interested him? Charles's simpering sisters had
driven him to madness.
    "Miss Somerset, may I say again what pleasure
you and Miss Owens have given me and my sisters by joining us for
dinner tonight?" Charles Mornington asked.
    William's friend looked in good form tonight,
cutting a proper figure despite his short stature and stout frame.
It was a pity William had not been able to fit himself into any of
Mornington's more conservative garments.
    William looked down at the ridiculous
ensemble Farquhar had forced on him this evening. It was the worst
yet, involving a dark orange-colored satin coat, bottle green knee
breeches and a mulberry waistcoat with heavy gray brocade. He felt
like a bloody gourd.
    "Oh yes, Miss Somerset, Felicia and I are
delighted you have joined the neighborhood. There are no other
ladies"—and here Lady Anna sniffed—"who are of our caliber in the
neighborhood."
    "Anna and I were just saying that until we
learned Lord Will had arrived here, we were having a dreadful time
tearing ourselves away from the amusements in town," Lady Felicia
said and dissolved into a round of high-pitched giggles.
    Mornington's